A Welcome from Mary Jane England '59, MD
President of Regis College 

Labor Day, 2008

Welcome to Regis College, a growing Catholic university sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston!

As students return to campus for the new fall semester, the operative metaphors for our vitality are the freshly paved roadways and the construction of the new athletic fields on our campus to accommodate the range of sports our women and men athletes participate in.

We are also soon embarking upon a major renovation of our library to accommodate new technology and new modes of gathering and learning.  Fully accessible, the new Regis College library will work as an information commons encouraging both social and intellectual patterns in the work of the mind.

Such physical change, of course, points to the deeper paths and drives of an institution.  We want all who study, live or work here to experience the deep satisfaction that comes from being a committed member of a vital and active community and to be prepared for significant engagement with the world.  To practice human thought, to learn leadership in various chosen paths, to discover the spirit, and to serve others is to receive this College's legacy - and to discover your own future.

Regis College is reaching dynamically into the century by building student-centered higher education in our two-school approach.  This summer the College welcomed Dr. Russ Pottle, the first academic dean of our School of Arts and Sciences, who joins Dr. Toni Hays, who was appointed as the first dean of our School of Nursing and Health Professions a year ago.  The faculty have worked faithfully on curriculum reform to meet the professional needs of contemporary students in a globally-conscious environment.

When I joined other Catholic educators in Washington, DC, last April to meet with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, I was struck by how much Pope Benedict's themes resonated with the declared values and goals of a Regis education.  Pope Benedict encouraged and supported Catholic educators who are trying to provide access to higher education to new first generation students and immigrant groups, minorities, and others.  He gave a clear call to all of us that the mission of Catholic colleges is to serve the underserved, and I welcomed his appeal for Catholic colleges to lift students out of poverty toward better lives.  He also affirmed academic freedom and emphasized the strengths and potential of Catholic institutions.

Here at Regis College, a genuine sense of excitement surrounds our effort to unite a rich heritage of academic excellence with a lively personal interest in the diverse students of the twenty-first century - you - and a deep legacy of striving to build a more just society.

To be here is to be challenged to personal and academic transformation.

Welcome to Regis!