My February Blog: “The Future We Yearn to Return”

Dear Baruch Community,

With the vaccine distribution expanding and the City gradually coming back to life, now is the time for us to start a deeper conversation about the future to which we want to return—by identifying what parts of the past we want to reclaim and re-imagining a future we want to shape together. In the coming months, I will share my thoughts and observations for that future, with the goal of starting an ongoing dialogue with our community. A few topics to consider include:

• A future where we celebrate our diversity while attaining inclusion and equity by transforming our culture and institution;
• A future where we share a culture of creativity, curiosity, and engagement through institutional learning and collaboration;
• A future where our students experience seamless support to achieve success, meeting their distinctive needs and aspirations;
• A future where we leverage and meet the needs of the fast-changing, hybrid world around us; and
• A future where Baruch helps to re-invigorate a post–Covid New York City through economic, social, and cultural rebuilding.

What I share are my personal views, philosophies, and opinions of how I see the possibilities, informed by my understanding of the aspirations expressed by the Baruch community. They are by no means the final answer but rather starting points for deeper community conversations.

In this month’s blog post, “The Future We Yearn to Return,” I start with the first topic in regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

I invite you to read the post in its entirety and subscribe, comment, like, and sign up for notifications. Engaging in dialogue and sharing stories will help the Baruch community build a better future for us all.

To that end, I also encourage you to sign up for one of more than 40 Listening Sessions being coordinated in March by the Presidential Advisory Council on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. In the coming days, I will send a community message about these sessions, which will help inform decisions, policies, processes, and structural changes that will contribute to intentional and meaningful institutional transformation at Baruch.

Sincerely,

S. David Wu
President, Baruch College