A Fear of Darkness We have nine grandchildren, all under the age of six. And they are spread out across the country — Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, and just down the road in West Lafayette. One of our granddaughters, Madelyn, just turned three and she got to have a sleepover at Grammy and Pap Pap’s this […]
Category: Speeches
President’s Opening Convocation Address 2019
THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT: FINDING YOUR PLACE IN THE VALPO COMMUNITY Today I’m going to begin by doing just the opposite of what I normally do when I begin remarks: I am requesting that all of our new students in the audience pull out your phones and turn them on — not off. That’s […]
President’s Baccalaureate Address 2014
Good morning! Welcome, everyone, to the Chapel of the Resurrection and to the Baccalaureate service for the Class of 2014 at Valparaiso University. After so much effort, so many sleepless nights, so many prayers and hopes, wondering if this day would ever come, here it is. And here you are, surrounded by some of the […]
President’s Baccalaureate Address 2013
Good morning! Welcome, everyone, to the Chapel of the Resurrection and to the Baccalaureate service for the Class of 2013 at Valparaiso University. So, graduates-to-be, here you sit at the nexus of your past and your future. How does it feel? Exciting? Terrifying? Surreal? After so much effort, so many sleepless nights, so many prayers […]
President’s Baccalaureate Address 2012
Good morning! Seniors and graduate students, family members and friends, faculty members and colleagues, this is the day for which we have toiled. This is the time that we have longed for and imagined together when the work seemed so hard and the end seemed so far away. This is the moment for which we […]
President’s Baccalaureate Address 2011
Good morning! Well, seniors and graduate students, this day is finally here! It doesn’t quite seem real, does it? Yet, here you are, sitting all together in the Chapel, perhaps like you did for Convocation on your very first day of school at Valpo. Only with these awkward robes on, everyone dressed alike.Maybe more than […]
President’s Baccalaureate Address 2010
Good morning! It doesn’t quite seem real. Here you sit. With these awkward robes on. Maybe more than a few butterflies in your stomach. Your family is here. Maybe your girlfriend or boyfriend, or your fiancé. People you love. People who love you. Here you sit in this place. Maybe you are Lutheran and this […]
President’s Baccalaureate Address 2017
Good morning! Welcome, everyone, to the Chapel of the Resurrection at Valparaiso University and to the Baccalaureate service for the Class of 2017. Everyone looks terrific this morning. Like a room full of gifts all wrapped up and ready for giving. Maybe you have a gift to give to someone today? A set of car […]
President’s Morning Prayer Remarks — Aug. 27, 2018
John 4:20-24 New International Version (NIV) 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the […]
President’s Baccalaureate Address 2018
It was the American Civil War. Neighbor killing neighbor. Family members fighting one another to the death. A nation torn apart by violence. And a president attempting to lead in the midst of national chaos. Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s Cabinet gathered one day during the war with one goal in mind —to convince Lincoln that […]