Writings & Remarks

Welcome to the Fall 2025 Semester

August 26, 2025

Tags Public Statements

Dear Hamilton Community:

Welcome to the start of the semester! I have spent the last week engaging with the Class of 2029 as well as our transfer students – move-in-day, orientation trips, matriculation – and I look forward to Convocation this afternoon. I said after my first year as president that Hamilton is the most engaged campus I have ever seen. Everyone shows up – open, ready, curious, excited to learn and be together. This past week reminded me of how energy is amplified on this Hill. New students show up buzzing and humming with excitement; they are met by Hamilton students and staff who take in that energy and return it with even greater force. It is like the process that powers the sun, two nuclei are brought together in the right conditions, resulting in even greater energy – almost unlimited. College Hill burns like the sun as positive, curious people collide with each other, creating our distinctive and highly energetic and engaged campus culture. Then on Thursday, our faculty bring their own creativity and passion into our classrooms, studios, and labs.

If you missed orientation week, you can relive the energy through pictures and video on our website and on social media.

As we arrive on campus from our various homes, we carry with us the news and concerns of the wider world. How do these events impact the College? While higher ed continues to be challenged, and there is heightened uncertainty for many of us, I want to assure you that Hamilton will continue to operate and advance all of its academic and co-curricular programs as we always have, with no change in how we create an inclusive and open learning environment. Moving forward, senior leadership will continue to monitor our environment and provide updates at regularly scheduled assemblies and meetings. Remember – we are a small college. This is a human-to-human place. Reach out to those around you for the support that you need. And reach out to me directly at presiden@hamilton.edu with any questions you may have.

The College is built on a strong foundation of excellence, but requires constant renewal in a changing world. We are at an inflection point requiring us to ask, “What is Hamilton’s distinctive contribution to the world, and how can the liberal arts respond to and shape the changes ahead?” Last spring, in response to this challenge, we set an institutional strategic planning process in motion: Aspirational Design. It will require our focused attention from now until February, and it must be a priority for our entire community. This is our moment.

Aspirational Design calls on the entire College to work collaboratively in new ways. As we plan, design, and advance, I have created an executive committee within the senior leadership team to make sure that our efforts and resources are aligned around key objectives and coordinated with senior staff and the board. The executive committee is made up of myself, Ngoni Munemo, and Karen Leach. In recognition of their enhanced leadership roles, Ngoni has been elevated to provost and dean of faculty and Karen is now senior vice president for finance and administration.

Aspirational Design efforts are ongoing and will center on innovation, design and how we advance ideas on this campus. Joe Shelley, who is leading this work, will now serve as vice president for innovation and information services. Please look for an email from Joe and the Aspirational Design Core Team that will include a survey and information on how you can engage this fall. Please add your voice, your design, your creativity, your questions – get involved. You matter. Stay up to date at hamilton.edu/aspirational-design.

Over the summer the senior leadership team read The Fearless Organization by Amy Edmonston in preparation for our work ahead. In essence, great ideas come from people who work in organizations that support risk taking, failure, openness, and tolerance. We must listen to each other, suspend judgment, share ideas, ask great questions, and trust one another. These are the foundational pillars not only for Aspirational Design, but also for building the powerful learning environment that we cherish. 
 
I look forward to collaborating with all of you as we design the future of Hamilton. As our upcoming Sacerdote Great Names guest Lin-Manuel Miranda said, we are “not giving away our shot.” (I couldn’t resist!) 

Onward,

Steven