Throughout the 2009-2010 academic year, Hopkins will celebrate the 350th anniversary of its founding in 1660.  (The history teacher in me is compelled to remind that 1660 was just forty years after the founding of Plymouth Colony; forty-one years before the founding of Yale; 116 years before the Declaration of Independence; and, 200 years before the American Civil War.)  We are both old – and new – at Hopkins every day.

The events that will constitute the year of celebration commenced, officially, at Reunions in May, 2009 and will continue throughout the academic year with special speakers, concerts, and art exhibits both on campus and in New Haven. The celebration will culminate at Commencement and Reunions in June, 2010 and with an academic Convocation in September 2010, which will enable all of us to share in our vision of Hopkins’ future. (download the calendar of events)

As important as the celebratory aspects of the 350th will be to the Hopkins community, it is also of fundamental importance that we use the occasion of the 350th anniversary to affirm and to advance the School’s most important institutional goals, i.e. to utilize the year-long series of events to make Hopkins a better and stronger school for the future.  Foremost among these institutional goals are the following:

·  assessing the School’s faithfulness to its mission and enhancing the School’s sense of academic purpose and community.  To this end, we have designed and this past Spring administered a school-wide student survey of our effectiveness in carrying out Hopkins’ purpose and values.  I look forward to making this type of survey longitudinal and, in the nearer future, to reporting what we learn; (read the related article)

·  advancing admissions and financial aid practices in order to sustain the School’s core purposes and values.  A Trustee committee on Admissions and Financial Aid has been established; as you have read in previous reports, we are in the second year of incremental financial aid increases that will, over six years, increase Hopkins’ budgeted commitment by 20%.  As we all know, funding for financial aid ultimately depends on the School’ s endowment.  The New Haven Initiative, our effort to raise endowment for financial aid for New Haven students, is well – and successfully – underway;

·  preserving Hopkins’ history while planning for its future.  We are planning for a Hopkins exhibit at the New Haven Museum and Historical Society; we have undertaken a long-term environmental assessment and plan for the campus.

Overall, we look to an exuberant celebration, one that will involve each of the School’s constituencies – particularly students, faculty and staff, parents, alumni/ae and Trustees.  Although from my point of view, every year is a banner year at Hopkins, I look forward, very much, to celebrating this particular milestone with each of you.