Dear alumni & friends,
Greetings from Madison! We’ve just about hit the halfway point of the spring semester, and our students are pushing through with mid-term exams and projects before departing Madison for a well-earned spring break. And, believe me, it isn’t just the students who are looking forward to spring break. It’s hard to believe that in just two short months we’ll be celebrating commencement with the class of 2024. Over the past four years, our graduating seniors have completed a remarkable journey of intellectual and personal growth that has prepared them to become tomorrow’s leaders. As they reach the end of their L&S careers, I congratulate them on their accomplishments and wish them all the best as they move into the next phase of their lives and into alumnihood.
As Dean of the College of Letters & Science, I take very seriously our commitment that the College not simply provide students with the skills they need to enter the workforce, but with the knowledge and experiences they’ll need to emerge as leaders in their communities and in their professions. Part of that commitment is an obligation to provide our students with the experiences they need to lead in a world that is increasingly diverse, multi-cultural and interconnected. And I strongly believe that the liberal arts education L&S provides — an education that is founded on both curiosity and respect for varied opinions and perspectives — is the best preparation that any future leader can receive.
We know that our commitment to curiosity and respect for varied opinions and perspectives is important because our alumni and industry partners tell us how central those skills are to their success. I’ll share a brief anecdote: I recently met with an alumnus who serves as a judge in the Minneapolis–St. Paul area, and he spoke with me about the experiences of Indigenous Americans that he’s facing in his courtroom. Being a history department graduate, he reached out to our faculty experts to seek their knowledge and perspective so that he could better serve the community’s needs. That’s how training is impacting our world and helping L&S develop the next generation of leaders, whose curiosity leads them to ask deep questions about the world around them and to expand their capacity for understanding.
We also have overwhelming evidence from industry leaders that building diverse teams leads to better outcomes. The employers I’ve met with repeatedly tell me that they want workers who have the cultural competency and human-centered skills like resiliency and flexibility to succeed in an increasingly global marketplace. Industry leaders like Deloitte Consulting regularly partner with our career center, SuccessWorks, to offer microcredentials and other programs that focus on developing students’ human-centered skills and their capacity for understanding and navigating today’s diverse marketplace. I am thrilled with this partnership and am looking forward to other opportunities to expand the impact of SuccessWorks on students and their employers.
I’m proud of what we’re accomplishing in L&S, and I hope you are, too. Thank you for your continued support, and On, Wisconsin!
Eric M. Wilcots, Dean
Mary C. Jacoby Professor of Astronomy
College of Letters & Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison