Dear alumni & friends,
One of the most rewarding aspects of my job as dean of the College of Letters & Science has been being “on the road,” meeting with our alumni and friends and sharing with them our initiatives to enhance the L&S student experience and our world-class research enterprise. I am also tremendously grateful for the talented team that accompanies me on these trips. Our development directors are as equally passionate about the L&S mission as I am, and it is a joy to work with them.
Wherever I go, I hear from our alumni how L&S shaped their lives. Alumni in Minneapolis shared stories of lifelong friendships made in Madison and of the importance of their alumni networks for opening doors of opportunity years and decades later. Our Washington, D.C., community talked about the transformational experiences they had in L&S and about the foundational skills they learned in their courses – skills that have allowed them to start their own businesses or to advocate for a better and more just world.
From Manhattan skyscrapers to Santa Barbara ranches, Letters & Science alumni are everywhere, and they are fired up about supporting the mission of our great college.
On each trip, I meet alumni and friends who want to give back and who understand the importance of supporting our students in whatever way they can, whether that’s by connecting our undergraduates with mentors, advocating for L&S or making sure our students have financial support so they can graduate on time. Many of our alumni are especially concerned about the increasing cost of tuition and students’ ability to access the resources they need to enter the workforce after graduation.
They are also amazed at the pioneering research that takes place in L&S, like our Origins of Life project. I spoke with the Valley of the Sun alumni chapter in Phoenix about this interdisciplinary project that brings together botany, chemistry, astronomy, geoscience and anthropology in order to understand the very beginning of our universe and of life on Earth. This is the type of research that simply was not possible a few decades ago but that is happening right here, right now in Letters & Science thanks to the support of our alumni and their belief in our mission.
Alumni remind my team and me what is special about L&S and provide a perspective and insight that really helps us be better. On a recent trip to California, I met with an alum who wanted to support serendipity – who wanted to encourage those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities that might forever shape a student’s life. As I reflected on that idea, I found it inspiring; I, too, appreciate how serendipity has played a role in my own career. And my message to our graduating students this spring urged them to be open to the possibility and opportunity that comes with serendipity.
Help us continue to build on our tradition of excellence by joining your fellow L&S alumni at supportuw.org/giveto/LSSummer23, where you can inspire the next generation of Letters & Science students.
Thank you, and On, Wisconsin!
Eric M. Wilcots, Dean
Mary C. Jacoby Professor of Astronomy
College of Letters & Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison