Welcome

The More Things Change …

Good morning, Valpo!

All moved in … Check.

Class schedule sorted out … Check.

Syllabi copied … Check.

Notes compiled for the first class session … Check.

I guess we’re ready to get started.

To new students and faculty, welcome to your new home. We look forward to helping you pursue your academic goals and discover your personal journey at Valpo.

To returning students and faculty, welcome back. I hope your summer gave you time to relax and refresh, and that you accomplished much of what you intended to do during your time away. As you can see, many people across the campus have been busy preparing for your arrival, and there have been many changes.

The new College of Arts and Sciences building is now open and filled with faculty. Many of you will be enjoying classes in this state-of-the-art learning facility. Huegli and Miller halls are now but a memory, and the framework of the future Duesenberg Welcome Center now rises to greet everyone who enters campus from Route 30.

As you make your way around campus, you may notice other, more subtle changes: from the new restrooms in Guild-Memorial, to the sidewalks on Mound Street, to the fresh look in the halls of the Neils Science Center. When you see staff members from Facilities Management and Dining Services, please thank them for the thousands of hours they spent through this blistering summer, sprucing up the campus in preparation for your arrival. We are truly blessed by their dedication and hard work.

Like its physical campus, Valparaiso University is perpetually refreshing and reinventing itself. And while there is a sense of continual change and transition, two vital aspects at the heart of the Valpo experience remain the same: our sense of being called to be here together and that deep sense of community that comes from that calling. Even in the face of change, these fundamental fibers that bind our community together gain strength as we become more inter-reliant and support one another in our diverse backgrounds and beliefs, in our individual callings, and in our common pursuit of truth.

New students will join the Valpo community while others graduate. Buildings will rise and fall. Academic programs will wax and wane. The lush green landscape will transform into vibrant hues and the warm summer days will turn crisp with distinctive smells of autumn nights. Yet, the essence of the Valpo experience permeates our campus—celebrating our Lutheran ethos, discovering and re-discovering our God-given gifts, and discerning our calling as we put our gifts to work in service to the world.

May this semester be one filled with challenges, rewards, and God’s richest blessings.

Mark A. Heckler, Ph.D.

President