January 19, 2017
Dear Marietta College Family:
Welcome back and Happy New Year! I hope you had a great Winter Break — with time to relax and recharge for an exciting spring semester. We accomplished a lot in the fall, and there is much to look forward to in the coming months.
As we begin the new semester, I would like to share some of our accomplishments with you and discuss how we are moving Marietta College forward.
Winter Weekend
This Friday and Saturday we will celebrate the annual Winter Weekend, which includes inducting five members into the Athletic Hall of Fame. The 34th class includes David Brown ’65 (rowing), Allen Miller ’71 (football, wrestling and track), David Barton ’80 (baseball), Cynthia Boland ’96 (softball) and Lindsay Letterle ’06 (rowing). I am honored to join them this weekend as we recognize their accomplishments.
Founders Day
On February 16th, the College will welcome back its Board of Trustees and celebrate our 182nd birthday. This celebration includes honoring the institution as well as our faculty with a number of awards. We are also pleased to announce that our keynote speaker for the evening is Dr. Robert Boswell ’73, a Vice Chancellor at the University of Colorado-Boulder. I personally invite you to join us at 7:00 p.m. in the Alma McDonough Auditorium.
Fundraising
While visiting alumni and donors in Florida last week, I was reminded again why Marietta College is such a special place. Each person we met with spoke in glowing terms about their time at Marietta and the importance of giving back to support our students and faculty. I will continue traveling with VP for Advancement Angie Anderson to meet with more of our wonderful alumni and donors.
The College and the Advancement team are moving closer to a banner year. We are currently $2 million ahead of the 2015-16 year at the halfway point. Right now we are 150 percent ahead of where we were last year and nearly 275 percent ahead of two years ago. There is more to do, and the College’s fundraisers are committed to advancing Marietta financially to support the great work our students and faculty are doing every day.
Enrollment Management and Student Success
We continue working hard to share our vision with students across the country. Last fall we visited more than 400 schools and met with more than a 1,000 potential students. We have streamlined our admissions process, while strengthening it to facilitate admission of those having an earnest interest in Marietta College. With the support of our wonderful faculty and staff, we are implementing strategies that make a difference not only in student recruitment, but also in student retention and success at Marietta College — and we will continually look for ways to sharpen our focus in these areas.
Seeking the Best and Brightest
We are in the midst of conducting candidate searches for a senior level position: Vice President for Enrollment Management. We are committed to finding someone who is a fit for Marietta College and has a long-term focus on Marietta’s enrollment goals.
Academic Standouts
Near the end of the fall semester, eight students — Natalie Bender ’17, Robert Hennings ’20, Jack Hirschfield ’20, Kaitlin Klinchock ’17, Kristina LaRocca ’18, Brandon Larsen ’20, Brett Mattson ’18 and Emily Sabatino ’17 — in the Sports Management program gained valuable experience while job shadowing during sporting events at the University of Notre Dame, West Virginia University and Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.
Praise for Marietta Keeps Coming
Senior basketball player A.J. Edwards was recently named to the Bevo Francis Award Watch List. This honor is presented annually to the player who has the best overall season within Small College Basketball. Best of luck to A.J.!
The Ohio Athletic Conference recently recognized freshman cross country runner Lily Riffle as the Scholar-Athlete of the Month in January. Congratulations Lily!
We completed our first course in the new minor for Entrepreneurship this fall, and the student groups did research and made presentations to the community. Those who attended have given me a great deal of positive feedback about the quality and professionalism of our students. This new initiative is off to an exciting start.
Lastly, the College and the bookstore teamed up to open a “pop-up” store in downtown Marietta over a two-day period (January 6-7) as part of the inaugural First Fridays. Representatives from the Small Business Revolution were in the city to evaluate Marietta for a possible $500,000 makeover of downtown. We are a proud member and supporter of downtown and it was our pleasure to be a part of this special moment. We will continue to look at other opportunities to be involved on Front Street.
I look forward to seeing you on campus, and here’s to a great 2017!
Bill Ruud
President