In the Company of Our Alumni

In this, my 11th year as president of this remarkable university, I remain as appreciative as I was on Day One for the time I am able to spend in the company of St. Ambrose alumni.

In our alumni, we see the true impact of the work we do, and through the success of our graduates, we hope today's students will be able to see their own immense potential.

I learn so much about this Ambrosian community through the stories and memories that alumni share with me about teachers, friends and classmates who have helped them along their journeys in life.

I also learn a little more each time about the culture that thrives at St. Ambrose, a culture of inclusion and community that builds bonds and engenders loyalty. That's something graduates might not always take away from larger schools; we try never to take that for granted. 

One of my earliest conversations with an alumnus was with Tom Higgins, the 1967 graduate and current trustee whose generous vision for our College of Health and Human Services is detailed in this issue of Scene.

You may know that Tom's remarkable talents and his brilliant and curious mind helped
him become a senior aide in President Jimmy Carter's White House barely a decade beyond his graduation. Those same attributes have helped Tom build a successful entrepreneurial career centered in a resolute commitment to achieve social justice and enrich lives. I am so very grateful for Tom's extraordinary investment and belief in our work.

And I am also
 grateful for countless
 conversations 
through the years
 with so many other
 St. Ambrose alumni. 
Whether they are 
just starting their
 post-collegiate lives, 
becoming leaders
 in their professions
 and communities,
 sending their college-aged children to their alma mater, or enjoying grandchildren and a well-earned retirement, these are the people who consistently validate a St. Ambrose education.

I am always pleased by the sincere satisfaction our alumni express for their academic experience, and I am often intrigued to hear how they discovered many years beyond their graduation some essential lesson they learned here without even knowing they had learned it.

Most rewarding, of course, are stories they tell of the ways they call upon their time at St. Ambrose as they work to improve their world and enrich the lives of others. These are stories that inspire all of us at St. Ambrose to invest ourselves fully in developing the students who will be our next generation of alumni.

Finally, to every member of our alumni family, let me say this: If I have met you, I am better for it; and if we've not yet met, I hope our paths may cross soon.

Sister Joan Lescinski, CSJ,