{"id":12506,"date":"2020-07-07T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/1780\/?p=12506"},"modified":"2020-07-24T15:41:42","modified_gmt":"2020-07-24T19:41:42","slug":"remarks-by-brien-lewis-on-his-installation-as-transylvanias-28th-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/1780\/2020\/07\/remarks-by-brien-lewis-on-his-installation-as-transylvanias-28th-president\/","title":{"rendered":"Remarks by Brien Lewis on his installation as Transylvania’s 28th president"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Thank you, Mr. Cowgill and warmest congratulations to you on becoming chair of the Board of Trustees of your beloved alma mater. Thank you to you and Judy for the warm hospitality that you’ve shown to me and my family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a time of new beginnings, and new beginnings are typically full of hope. Perhaps the ultimate collegiate hope was expressed by the late Bart Giamatti, who issued the following memo on his first day in office as president of Yale University:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In order to repair what Milton called the ruin of our grandparents, I wish to announce that henceforth, as a matter of university policy, evil is abolished and paradise is restored. I trust all of us will do whatever possible to achieve this policy objective.\u201d<\/p>Bart Giamatti<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to my late mother, the English professor, I got not only my fair share of Mother Goose, Beatrix Potter and “Winnie the Pooh,” I also was exposed at a fairly young age to James Joyce, Jane Austen and Shakespeare. I was also exposed to Mozart, Rudolf Nureyev, Charlie Chaplin and, always, the evening news. In countless ways my parents exposed me to the life of the mind: to ideas, to artistic expression and to trying to reach some understanding of the human condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lest you think that our family dinner table was some stuffy affair straight out of “Downton Abbey,” let me assure those of you who don\u2019t know my parents that it was anything but. Throughout my childhood and youth, my father and I had an unofficial ritual of watching a weekly television series together. Which show it was changed over time as shows came and went, but it was always deep, intellectual stuff. The sequence was roughly this: “The Six Million Dollar Man,” The A-Team” and, of course, the one constant: “Hockey Night in Canada.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken together my childhood was, in retrospect, a remarkable liberal arts education. It was great early training for a college president. And I have my parents to thank for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collectively, my family has made many sacrifices over many years to allow me to pursue my dreams. My partner, my teammate in multiple adventures over the last 32 years \u2014 30 of them in marriage \u2014 has been my wife, my buddy, Laura. She is without doubt the most patient and supportive person I know and the most amazing mother I will ever encounter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our two children, Josh and Anna Louise, are already smarter, nicer and better people than I could ever aspire to be. They are my greatest pride and my deepest joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My thanks go to the Transy Presidential Selection Committee and the Board of Trustees. I am grateful for your trust, support and commitment to stewardship of this wonderful place and for being my partners in the endeavors to come. My job now is to make you look brilliant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks also go to Megan Moloney and all those who have worked so hard and so well to make this investiture ceremony come together. I trust you all took really good notes because I hope you won\u2019t need to put on one of these again for a long, long time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am also grateful to the Transy faculty, staff and alumni and members of the greater Lexington community \u2014 for the warmth of your welcome, the candor of your counsel, and your potent desire to give tirelessly of yourselves for our students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And to the students \u2014 you are Transylvania University! You are Transy today and tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People with hope, vision and commitment helped craft the Transy we know today, a place where we seek to provide not just a credential but an underpinning for lives of meaning. To kindle unknown capacities, to embolden and to empower. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An exciting but uncertain future faces Transy, faces higher education, faces all of us. So what does that future hold?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As some of you already know, one of my favorite philosophers is the venerable trainer of Jedi Knights, Master Yoda. As he says in one of the “Star Wars” movies, \u201cAlways in motion is the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In one scene, young Luke Skywalker is at the mouth of a dark, foreboding cave. He asks, \u201cWhat’s in there?\u201d and Yoda replies, \u201cOnly what you take with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what do we take with us into that uncertain future? We take our ideas, we take our optimism and our aspirations, we take our hope. This does not mean we simply rest on our many deserved laurels or do things the way we have always done them. Benjamin Franklin gave us all a pointed warning when he said, \u201cWhen you\u2019re finished changing, you\u2019re finished.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so in the coming months we will explore some challenging strategic decisions. Together, we will pursue bold paths for Transy. We will develop and implement comprehensive plans for:<\/p>\n\n\n\n