Le Moyne College Campus Announcement 3/26

e e e number two repurposing the firehouse finally the two biggest priorities for the Athletics campaign are number one naming the event center number two building a state-of-the-art team performance center otherwise known as strength and conditioning now with that is context it is my great pleasure to invite president lira the podium to tell us the big news thank you Jim thank you all for being here wow this is this is truly exciting this is an important day in Le Mo's history as Jim mentioned we have been blessed by many alumni who have chosen to spend and send their philanthropic support to their alma mater I am pleased to announce the largest alumni gift in Le Mo College's history thanks to the extraordinary generosity of Dr James Carroll class of 1966 Wow and his wife Mary who unfortunately could not be with us today the college recently received a gift of $12 million sorry sorry as a result of Jim and Mary's Extraordinary gift Arts and Sciences the academic heart and soul of Le Moine college has a new name the Dr James J class of 66 and Mary a Carol College of Arts and [Applause] Sciences [Applause] L Mo college is blessed to have the generous support of Jim and Mary their belief in Le Moine will help us provide the values informed intellectually rigorous and student- centered education that has defined the college since its founding Jim and Mary exemplify one of our enduring values preparing our students to live lives of leadership and service that lead to a more just Society on a personal note this gift represents a full circle moment for me when my parents moved into their neighborhood on Syracuse's north side as new immigrants Mary's mother Anna was a neighbor who offered my mother friendship support and a sense of community little did I know that nearly 60 years later the royal family immigrants who like my family came to America from Italy would make such a profound impact on an institution that I love and that means so much to the region before I ask him to say a few words a little background on Dr Carol Jim is a native of Binghamton New York who attended the former St Patrick's Academy just two months before he began his studies at Le Moine his father passed away leaving his mother to make the tuition payments she was able to use her husband's savings along with some stocks to pay for Jim's first year of college during his time on the heights he took multiple jobs both on and off campus to pay for tuition and living expenses following his graduation from Le Moine in 1970 Jim earned an MS in social studies education at Syracuse University and a PHD in social sciences at su's Maxwell School in 1985 he taught social studies at Bishop Len High School from 1967 to 1973 at West Hill High School from 1973 to 1979 and at Su School of Education from 1983 to 1987 since 1987 Jim has served as a research associate professor at the Maxwell School of citizenship and public affairs a position he retired from earlier this year Jim and Mary married in 1967 and raised seven children all of whom went on to professional success in various fields including Clinical Psychology Social Work Dentistry education law and veterinary medicine it is now my pleasure my honor my privilege to introduce Dr Jim Caroll Le Moine class of 1966 thank you so much for that introduction Linda why would I give $12 million oh my God because Le Mo College totally changed my life and for those of you who are students we're the students in the group here I hope you also are experiencing the ca the same type of lifechanging moments here as Linda pointed out uh I had to struggle because my father had died about 10 days after I graduated from high school and the tuition back in 1962 the tuition and r board was an astounding $900 $ 4450th semester and that was way beyond our means I went to work that summer for the city of Bingington for $918 not an hour $9 18 cents a day so you couldn't save very much toward tuition so my mother as Linda said she she had just a few shares of cocacola a few shares of General Electric Etc she combined that with what I was able to save from my summer job and she wrote a check for the entire years and she writes a check for $900 and Le Moine had no idea what to do with a check for the whole year they never had one they had to go to Father Mitchell the treasurer and uh so he figured it out somehow and uh he says you're going to really struggle though getting through here fortunately I asked a secretary in the office any jobs available so I worked for city of the city of s of uh Syracuse Recreation Department which meant taking two buses starting around 5:00 I'd take a bus downtown I'd take another bus out to the school I'd work at from 6:00 to 9: and then take two buses back to campus about 11:00 and then along comes another opportunity when the cafeteria opened I quickly got a job in the dishroom so uh I had had to struggle but it was well worth it one of my favorite TV shows of all time was the paper chase how many of you are old enough to remember the paper chase yes it was uh it would begin each episode with Professor kingsfield saying you come in here with a skull full of mush and when you leave you leave think King like a lawyer and so that I encountered that experience with Professor Ed Conan I was a history political science dual major one of only two with such a dual major in my class of 1966 Ed Conan really inspired me to have a love for law and as a result when I went on to earn my masters in social studies and as Linda said I work first at Bishop Len then at at uh West Hill High School the last three of those years I wrote a highly competitive Federal grant under which I created project legal an infusion program for American history teachers it went on to achieve first New York State validation in 1979 and National validation in 1982 and I took it to 34 states doing teacher Workshop among literally hundreds of adoption schools and we were funded by the national diffusion Network and the Law related education program until 1996 because in 1994 new grid took over Congress with what he calls or what I call his contract on America and he took away my two funding sources so in the spring of 1996 I wrote seven different proposals the seventh was the worst it was a cut and paste but that was a Javits gifted Grant and that was the one that was funded so you never know the like our last proposal in February was we learned in we learned that we were not funded because I'm only 79 I wanted to go on like some of my Maxwell colleagues well into their 80s but uh I need to pay 100% attention though to my wife who suffers from Alzheimer's disease uh as father uh yes as he's aware as a clinical psychologist well my wife was first diagnosed by our oldest who's a clinical psychologist she had come home from from uh Rowan Oak Virginia and she said to me she's in the early stages of dementia so that's that's a big reason why she's not here today but she's coming along but uh so I I thanked Ed Conan I always remember him telling us the exciting thing about law about constitutional law is that the questions never change but the answers do so we have Row versus weight oh thank God that'll last forever won't it no there's something called the dabs decision that reversed that so that was that was the exciting thing about uh the Dynamics of constitutional law and so I had created project legal based on my knowledge of con institutional law first from Ed Conan and then from workshops summer institutes I went to at Cornell Law School the other two faculty members and there's so many I could single out here at this outstanding college but I just want to single out Joe Curran and Anthony buscaran they were Polar Opposites I had them my junior year backto back and Joe kerran was somewhat liberal to say the least and he loved FDR and he would imitate FDR as to how he spoke truly inspiring then the bell rang and I'd go across the hall to Anthony buaran who was a polar opposite and he he believed the Communists were under every chair around the corner everywhere and so I had to develop critical thinking skills to find out to what extent are they correct because they were both teaching about 20th century America but uh one quick anecdote about buaran that did surprise me uh how many are familiar with him at all anybody just few of the older folks but that's that's okay uh I mean the young at heart a few of the other young at heart folks but uh when I I had thought that he was totally exaggerating the threat of Communism until I had the opportunity to go over to Hungary and teach in 1991 a few months after the Soviets were pushed out and I got to have a meetings with the newly appointed minister of of uh education and she was around 70 years old I asked she said she taught history I says were you teaching back during the 1957 Hungarian Revolution and she says oh the first time we could talk about it was about three years later the government sent me my lecture and she began by saying to the class now some of you know I'm looking for an apartment so please please when I finish this lecture do not ask me any questions or I may not need to look for an apartment I said oh come on you're exaggerating Shirley and she says uh my name's not Shirley but but she said she said uh it it's true almost every year we would come in to school and we look around where's Ivan where's Stannis slos they're gone to Siberia it only took one student to go home and say something to his father who is in the Communist party and that teacher would be given a one-way ticket to Siberia so maybe maybe buaran wasn't always exaggerating but anyway I I don't want to go on too lengthy here I just want to thank all of you and make sure that you give it your best uh you can overcome any obstacle whether it's Financial academic if I could survive you can also so thank you for this opportunity we are blessed thank you I now invite provos Tannon to offer some remarks about the impact of Jim and Mary Carol's transformative gift on Arts and Sciences is that is what you're going to talk about [Applause] right hi everyone and thank you all for being here Tim Lee joked with me that this is a larger crowd than we had for our middle State's vice president and so I feel the pressure is on to perform well although that was a great turnout as well so so really thank you for being here on this beautiful day I'd like to begin by expressing my deepest and most profound thanks to Jim and Mary Caroll your support for Le Mo College humbles me it inspires me it gladdens me and it renews my faith and our common mission to provide an excellent liberal arts education in the Jesuit and Catholic tradition many many thanks and wow like just wow I was thinking I should be eloquent because that's my job but I'm also just thinking wow this is amazing the single largest alumni gift in the history of line college and it's going to support Arts and Sciences that's not a very elegant way to put it but I'll say it again wow recently someone noted that we sometimes need to remind ourselves to honor cherish and treasure the joy of moments like this so please with me let's be sure to keep our hearts and Minds focused on the joy of this moment of this Spirit of generosity of this gift to our great College in June 2023 Le Mo College launched our new strategic Plan called tomorrow together in the introduction to that plan we wrote the title and under optimism of our strategic plan are inspired by a TED Talk delivered by Pope Francis in which he observed quote we can only build the future by standing together including everyone so we adapted Pope francis's statement into our title tomorrow together we emphasized the word together in our strategic plan because we know that LE Mo's future as a vibrant higher education institution that changes lives for the better is Possible only with friends partners and collaborators who believe in and support our mission Jim and of course Mary through your generous and thoughtful gift you are helping us expand our impact today and for generations to come your generosity helps us to build a better tomorrow together for our students and colleagues and for the many and varied communities to which they belong now as Jim has already suggested it's no secret that the Crown Jewel and tomorrow together is to receive a naming gift for the College of Arts and Sciences home to the greatest number of students Majors minors and faculty as well as a Core Curriculum through which all undergraduate students build knowledge and intellectual skills to support a lifetime of inquiry the College of Arts and Sciences pardon me the Caroll College of Arts and Sciences which rolls off the tongue I have to say thank you for that possesses an enduring commitment to the rigorous and transformative liberal arts education and the Jesuit tradition for which Le Moy college is renowned it's also no secret that colleges and universities are competing fiercely for scarce resources to keep their Arts and Sciences programs healthy and robust thanks to Jim and Mary Carroll today Le MO is better positioned to succeed in our ongoing drive to support the liberal arts now for a few details regarding this naming gift with their $12 million gift the carols are first and foremost investing in Le Mo's most valuable asset our people $6 million of this gift will endow scholarships for students who enter Le Moine as Arts and Sciences majors [Applause] this funding will help us continue to offer an affordable and high value education to deserving students in need of financial assistance as we know families often need to make difficult decisions about their children's education now many of them will be able to count on the Dr James J class of 66 and Mary a Caroll scholarship fund to provide them with even more reason to attend Le Moine in addition $4 million will fund the creation of two endowed professorships the Dr James J Carroll class of 66 endowed professor in Arts and Sciences and the Mary a Carroll endowed professor in Arts and [Applause] Sciences faculty who hold in professorships are provided with career changing opportunities they are given more time to conduct research Advanced knowledge network with colleagues and enhance their professional credentials and at Le Moine as we all know our faculty are teacher Scholars the Carol's investment in our Arts and Sciences faculty will contribute not Excellence not only in their professional development but also in the curriculum and instruction that we provide for students in the Carol College of Arts and Sciences and speaking of instruction the carols are also providing $2 million to advance teaching and innovation in pedagogy at Le Mo College as we announced last week thanks to the generosity generosity of an anonymous donor Le Mo will establish a teaching and learning center Guided by Jesuit values at ignation pedagogy funding from the carols will augment the operating resources of the Bosch teaching and learning center and expand the reach and impact of the center for years to come through the Carol visiting scholar initiative Le Moine will have access to Leading research in the fields of emerging pedagogies and instructional practices as the Mo's Chief academic officer I could not be more thrilled than I am today so on behalf of the students staff and faculty in Arts and Sciences and indeed of the entire College I would like to conclude with two simple words that Express I hope the depth of our feelings today gratitude and joy thank [Applause] [Applause] you don't sit down Pete chairman Pete Dora please come forward to deliver a message on behalf of the Board of Trustees thank you and and not that I want to be brief but I will be brief um Jim I I just cannot thank you enough for what you've done but just listening to your comments and trying to follow our distinguished Provost um just had a few quick thoughts one is I am so thrilled that after 78 years we have named the College of Arts and Science so thank you that is that is just a huge huge accomplishment and and thank you to you and your wife for helping us do that as you were talking about when you first started Le Moine uh back in 64 and or I'm sorry 62 the the the uh the cost of tuition I paid three times that so and I started in in 74 so uh anyways obviously costs have increased with your scholarships hopefully we will be able to offer some former student or future students um the ability to not have to work three jobs in order to pay for college so with that and as you had said your professors were provided life-changing experiences for you they did for me and um I'm here to say they were the same professors that you mentioned so but uh but Dr Conan absolutely was an incredible inspiration as you will be and your wife to Le Mo College forever so thank you so very much thank you all for being [Applause] here so we're 15 short months into the academic campaign how are we doing recall that our Target for academics is $30 million as of this morning actually last Friday when the money transferred the Carol's gift puts us at 35 million 115% and here's the best news we got the target wrong we're going to raise the bar let's go for 50 [Applause] million psychology is a study of both the human mind and human behavior therefore it is said that psychology is the bridge between social science and natural science at Le Mo College the halo over that bridge is ignatian spirituality therefore on this most glorious day it seems quite fitting that Vinnie Heen an an esteemed member of the psychology department an esteemed member of the Society of Jesus he's our Bridge please offer the [Applause] benediction thank you Jim uh Jim everyone's Jim Jim Jim Jim I mean all the other thing is I'm sure that Dr Carol and I would have a lot to talk about not only am I a clinical psychologist as his daughter is but I was a history major in college I taught in two different high schools for 10 years before coming to L Moy and I even taught American history so we would have a lot to talk about and you're here to announce your $10 million gift no okay yeah right right okay so let us quiet our heart and um offer a prayer most loving and Provident God we enter this Holy Week once more with a profound sense of gratitude for your decision to redeem us and make us your very own daughters and sons you have chosen life for your people in the reading from the prophet Ezekiel in today's mass we are offered a vision of a Great River a great River of Life that flows from your temple as the prophet proclaims wherever the river flows every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live and there shall be abundant fish for wherever the water comes the sea shall be made fresh along both banks of the river fruit trees of every kind shall grow their leaves shall not fade nor their fruit fail every month they shall bear fresh fruit for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary their fruit Shall Serve for food and their leaves for medicine so on this day in this school which has brought so many of its students and their mentors to a greater understanding of the fruit fruitfulness which has ever flowed from your Sanctuary we celebrate and give thanks yet again for another expression of love and of life we ask your blessing in a very special way on Dr James J Carol of the Le Moine College of 1966 and on his dear wife Mary their generosity to Le Moy will allow so many students and their mentors for many years ahead to grow more deeply in the life and fruitfulness that Springs from the gift of Education that same experience of learning and integral uh formation which inspired the gift in the first place we pray for your grace and your guidance in the years ahead as this college continues its mission to form women and men who will change the world with your vision guiding them a world of justice of service to one another of sustainability and of ethical commitment in living out our lives our gratitude today joins to the Thanksgiving all Christians contemplate in this Most Holy season and so we bless you now and always in the name of the one who created and gave us life amen thank you for joining in this celebration stay mingle go back to class whatever thank [Applause] you want