Our Campus
A letter from President Phipps
Around the globe, murals adorn buildings and cityscapes, serving as beacons of creativity, community and hope. One Messiah College professor is creating murals to enrich the greater Harrisburg area’s cultural landscape. Daniel Finch, professor of art—with the support of colleagues, students and community partners—recently created the majestic mural “Lady Commonwealth” for the Susquehanna Art Museum “as an image of beauty, hope and optimism about Harrisburg’s future.” He’s currently working on another ambitious mural commissioned by the borough of Lemoyne to celebrate its historic role as a transportation hub. (See below.) As we implement the College’s new strategic plan, I’m inspired by the words of another muralist, Jane Golden, director of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, who told CNBC in a 2014 interview, “When you have success, it’s not a time to become complacent. It’s a time to become hyper-strategic. And people started to clamor for art because in that art … they saw hope and possibility . …”
At Messiah College, we see hope and possibility as we seek to create a secure and promising future of significance. Together, we cast our shared vision onto a canvas of societal and educational change, confident in the saliency of our mission. The College’s strategic plan for 2016 – 2020, “Embracing Change as Opportunity,” emphasizes the importance of preparing undergraduate and graduate students to be faithful servant-leaders who promote the common good by serving as redemptive voices and change agents. We will continue to work for a common good rooted in a Christ-centered commitment to the dignity and welfare of humankind, expressed as love for neighbor.
At Messiah, we educate reconcilers to be change agents in a time of national discord and division characterized by hyperbolic and poisonous rhetoric. The liberal arts and sciences, combined with our applied programs, nurture intellectual growth in our students along with expanding their capacity for empathy, hospitality and gratitude.
Even as we express our love for God and neighbor in a changing culture, we are creating a future of significance by embracing the opportunities presented by a changing student body. Inclusive excellence and diversifying our campus community must be core priorities if our institution is to remain viable and, even more, for our institution to flourish. Inclusive excellence is essential to obtaining a more holistic understanding of our academic disciplines, ourselves and an ever-changing world.
Times of great change compel each of us to do our very best work as together we create a future of significance by embracing change as opportunity. Author and columnist David Brooks described this high calling when he addressed a gathering of Christian college presidents last January: “You have what everybody else is desperate to have: a way of talking about and educating the human person in a way that integrates faith, emotion and intellect. From my point of view, you’re ahead of everyone else and have the potential to influence American culture in a way that could be magnificent.”
Together, let us commit ourselves to the magnificent work of educating our students. Then this season of change will truly be a time of hope and possibility as we work together to make God visible to the world through the creation of a future of significance for Messiah College.
At Messiah College, we see hope and possibility as we seek to create a secure and promising future of significance. Together, we cast our shared vision onto a canvas of societal and educational change, confident in the saliency of our mission. The College’s strategic plan for 2016 – 2020, “Embracing Change as Opportunity,” emphasizes the importance of preparing undergraduate and graduate students to be faithful servant-leaders who promote the common good by serving as redemptive voices and change agents. We will continue to work for a common good rooted in a Christ-centered commitment to the dignity and welfare of humankind, expressed as love for neighbor.
At Messiah, we educate reconcilers to be change agents in a time of national discord and division characterized by hyperbolic and poisonous rhetoric. The liberal arts and sciences, combined with our applied programs, nurture intellectual growth in our students along with expanding their capacity for empathy, hospitality and gratitude.
Even as we express our love for God and neighbor in a changing culture, we are creating a future of significance by embracing the opportunities presented by a changing student body. Inclusive excellence and diversifying our campus community must be core priorities if our institution is to remain viable and, even more, for our institution to flourish. Inclusive excellence is essential to obtaining a more holistic understanding of our academic disciplines, ourselves and an ever-changing world.
Times of great change compel each of us to do our very best work as together we create a future of significance by embracing change as opportunity. Author and columnist David Brooks described this high calling when he addressed a gathering of Christian college presidents last January: “You have what everybody else is desperate to have: a way of talking about and educating the human person in a way that integrates faith, emotion and intellect. From my point of view, you’re ahead of everyone else and have the potential to influence American culture in a way that could be magnificent.”
Together, let us commit ourselves to the magnificent work of educating our students. Then this season of change will truly be a time of hope and possibility as we work together to make God visible to the world through the creation of a future of significance for Messiah College.