It is my great privilege and pleasure to speak to you today as one of the Ohio Wesleyan faculty. As a graduate of a small liberal arts college myself, I was drawn to this place because of the dedication this faculty has to learning. Ohio Wesleyan has routinely earned praise as a College that Changes lives. Though the designation speaks to the lives of our students, this place changes all of us. Our community of lifelong learners shapes how we think about pedagogy, scholarship, and service, and I've learned as much from my colleagues as I have from my experience in the classroom.
To Kathy and Alton Smith, I don't believe that a "thank you" can express our gratitude for what you have given us. The Smith Center for Faculty Excellence is metaphorically–and actually--groundbreaking. Philanthropy has a historical and continued importance in maintaining the vibrance of American universities.Your gift joins that great tradition in higher education, directly supporting the faculty in our work to be exemplary teacher-scholars. Thank you, Kathy and Alton, for seeing us and appreciating our value.
To Matt, I love what you've done with the place! I'm still holding out hope for a petting zoo in the new library, but even without it, this is truly going to be a library of the future. Thank you for your leadership in creating this space.
To my colleagues, take a moment to consider what this gift means for us and what we can do with it. We feel deeply the challenges that Kathy mentioned. We are in the trenches with our students, trying to build competencies in reading, writing, and thinking, and to demonstrate the transformative power of education in an historical moment where our mission and values are being questioned and undermined.
But it is when times are darkest that our light, what we do, has to shine the brightest. This generous gift will ensure that we have the resources we need to continue engaging students. These resources will empower us to master the skills and strategies that continue to inspire learners and give us the capacity to shape the future of higher education.
You are all, each and every one of you, excellent. You deserve great things that honor that excellence. We all deserve the opportunity to reach our full, extraordinary potential. That is what this gift means to me.
I am grateful and humbled by the generosity of the Smiths, and I am thrilled to see what incredible, life-changing work my colleagues will accomplish with it.
It is always a great day to be a Bishop, but colleagues, today celebrates us. Thank you.
Kira Bailey
David O. Robbins Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology; Chair, Department of Psychology; Neuroscience Program Director