President’s Anderson Fall Convocation Address
ON BECOMING A GLOBALIST
Colleagues and Friends,
I love opening convocation. I love being together with all of you in this assembly as we together declare that summer is officially over, and that on this day a new season of learning begins.
Convocation is always a time of welcome. So today we gather, new and returning students, faculty and staff, members of the board of regents, delegates to our annual corporate assembly, pastors from area congregations, and great friends of PLU, and we say “welcome.” We also welcome those watching from afar via the Internet. Together all of you here, as well as our virtual audience, represent the breadth and strength of what we call the PLU community or, sometimes, the PLU family. You are a gift, and we are encouraged and enriched by your presence.
Convocation is always a hopeful time. For those of us who were here last year, our hope is grounded in a commitment to build upon last year and achieve new goals. For those of you experiencing your first convocation, you bring your hopes and dreams for this new PLU chapter of your educational story. For all of us, the hope we feel this morning is grounded in our faith and trust that this new academic year will be a very good year for this remarkable learning community. And the sense of hope we feel this morning is important, for as Nobel Peace Prize winner Oscar Aries Sanchez of Costa Rica wrote, “Hope is the greatest force moving people. (It is) hope that transforms, that creates new realities, and opens the way toward human freedom.”
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