President’s Perspective
Rebecca Lobo, from left, Vice President for Inclusion and Community Engagement Calvin Hill, Artis Gilmore, President Mary-Beth
Cooper, Mannie Jackson, Ann Meyers, and Spencer Haywood take a moment from the second annual Education and Leadership
Luncheon, hosted in partnership with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on the campus in September, to pose with a statue
of basketball’s inventor, James Naismith. Lobo and Jackson, members of the Hall’s 2017 Class, are joined by Hall of Famers Gilmore,
Meyers, and Haywood.
Rebecca Lobo, from left, Vice President for Inclusion and Community Engagement Calvin Hill, Artis Gilmore, President Mary-Beth
Cooper, Mannie Jackson, Ann Meyers, and Spencer Haywood take a moment from the second annual Education and Leadership
Luncheon, hosted in partnership with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on the campus in September, to pose with a statue
of basketball’s inventor, James Naismith. Lobo and Jackson, members of the Hall’s 2017 Class, are joined by Hall of Famers Gilmore,
Meyers, and Haywood.
Dear Friend,
GREETINGS TO YOU, and best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year.
As 2017 drew to a close, I believe you would have been hard-pressed to come up with a “Top 10 List of the best Things that Happened at Springfield College” last year.
The problem is we had so many impressive and noteworthy accomplishments that narrowing the list down to 10 would have been a challenge. We like those kinds of “dilemmas.”
So, we’re letting this issue of do the work for you.
For starters, the campus played host to a group of inspiring former professional basketball players who participated in our second annual Education and Leadership Luncheon during the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame induction weekend. Who could forget Mannie Jackson recalling his incredibly humble upbringing or Rebecca Lobo’s drive to make female basketball players as relevant on the court as men. These and other revered basketball stars shared with local high school students in the audience the importance of a college education.
Years of collaborating and planning with the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation came to fruition with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in October at which Ripken’s son, professional baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr., told the audience on the new Archie Allen Field about how our one-of-a-kind intercollegiate and adaptive baseball field will help build character and serve as a model for inclusivity.
As if those weren’t enough, best-selling author Mitch Albom shared with attendees of the Arts and Humanities Speaker Series how his life experiences informed his own work as a humanitarian, NCAA President
Mark Emmert spoke with our teacher-coaches and student-athletes, and we also dedicated our beautiful Harold C. Smith Learning Commons. You will read about all of these things in this issue.
You also will read about our strategic visioning process, which we began with our design team in 2015, and which has resulted in a total of 21 current working groups that are bringing our mission and vision to life on the campus. Everywhere you look, there are signs of a vibrant and living strategic plan, signs of the progress that has been “brought to you by our strategic plan.” In this issue, we will share our unique approach to creating a strategic plan that your own organization may benefit from.
Then, in the summer issue ( 88.1), we will highlight in detail the many changes—both physical and process-oriented—that are allowing Springfield College to answer the needs of a changing student population and society, while honoring our mission and tradition.
We can’t wait to share more good news in 2018.
Sincerely,
Mary-Beth A. Cooper, PhD, DM
