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Dear Members of the Sarah Lawrence Community,
During these early days of the semester, I have often been asked, “What are you excited about for this year?” My answer highlights three things, the first of which is our Being Human series. If you missed the faculty panel that launched the series, I encourage you to watch it: it’s a terrific example of what we all know and value at Sarah Lawrence: the many ways in which our dedicated faculty (yet again recognized as the best by The Princeton Review) come together to frame a critical issue for and with our students.
The other two things I’m excited about are a pair of very different initiatives coming to fruition, each of which could warrant its own From the President’s Desk. I want to go a bit long and talk about both, because taken in conjunction they represent critical aspects of the College’s vision as we look to our second century:
- The renovation of the Siegel Center, a beloved century-old original building, to meet the needs of our current and future students.
- Our Institute for Genomics Education, Workforce & Leadership, which is poised to help realize the promise of truly personalized healthcare and access to precision medicine for all people.
What undergirds and connects these two very different initiatives? Our foundational commitment to the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice.
While higher education increasingly experiences polarized political attacks on those values, Sarah Lawrence stands firm and proud in our commitment to recognize, to engage with, and to appreciate difference, and to do so with a deep understanding of historical inequities and what is required to address those inequities. This lens informs our work from the very local level of the daily experiences of our students on campus to the global level of leading the way in addressing the urgent need for a genomics workforce to meet critical societal needs. This is an integral value of our mission to prepare our students to thrive in and solve the problems of a complex and rapidly evolving world.
Reimagining the Siegel Center
The original Lawrence estate at the center of our campus consisted of three buildings completed in 1915-16: the family home (Westlands), the gazebo (now the Teahaus), and the gardener’s cottage. Over a century, the gardener’s cottage grew in scope and purpose, beloved by generations of students who experienced it very differently: first in 1931 as the infirmary and then 40 years later as “the Pub”! With the addition of a second wing and an outdoor deck in 1983, the Pub became “Charlie’s Place” (in honor of President Charles DeCarlo) and a further extension in 1998 created the building we know today, the Ruth Leff Siegel Center. (See a photo history of the building’s many incarnations here.)
The opening of the Barbara Walters Campus Center in 2019 provided an opportunity to revisit our existing campus masterplan and to chart the next chapter for the Siegel Center. Based on architectural advice coupled with extensive listening sessions and significant student input, we concluded that a repurposed Siegel Center could offer a unique and much-needed opportunity to celebrate community and relationships, to bolster a sense of belonging on campus, and to cultivate a range of diverse experiences and points of view. We returned to those preliminary plans last spring, and confirmed that a renovated Siegel Center could be an ideal home for our various student affinity spaces, including Common Ground, LGBTQIA Space, and Spiritual Space. We are excited for the potential the unique layout of the building offers for dedicated spaces for these affinity groups as well as communal spaces for all students to foster intersection and intercultural exchange. These include two kitchens for shared student use (one of which is expected to be Kosher/Halal certified), an eating area for sharing common meals, lounge spaces for student use, and offices for staff in the areas of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
The project is now moving into action and I am delighted to announce that after a thorough selection process we have chosen the architecture firm DIGSAU to undertake the design and construction process, with the goal of opening parts of a renovated Siegel Center in fall 2024 and completion to follow shortly after. Immediate next steps include engaging members of the campus community to inform key decisions regarding space allocation, layout and configuration, and preliminary ideas concerning the “look and feel” of the space. Students, watch for an invitation from the Dean of Students on the variety of ways you can be part of the process. And for those interested in investing in this project—and in the lives of our students—our Advancement and Alumni Relations teams are looking forward to having conversations on how you can get involved and make an impact on this beloved building’s next chapter.
Institute for Genomics Education, Workforce & Leadership
The recently announced Institute for Genomics Education, Workforce & Leadership is a timely response to a pressing societal issue that our College is uniquely positioned to provide. Sarah Lawrence launched the first masters degree in Human Genetics more than 50 years ago, effectively creating a new workforce of genetic counselors. In 1969, the visionary step of creating that master’s degree and what would become the Joan H. Marks Graduate Program in Human Genetics above all demonstrated the absolute necessity for a humanistic, ethical, multidisciplinary intervention in the development and delivery of a rapidly evolving scientific-medical technology. Sarah Lawrence was naturally the place to not only see the necessity, but to do what was required to address it.
The present rapid expansion of genomic science and technologies again positions Sarah Lawrence to lead in identifying and meeting the need for a humanistic, ethical, multidisciplinary intervention. Diane Baker MS ’79, a distinguished alumna of our genetic counseling program and a pioneer in the field, served as a trusted advisor as we undertook a “listening tour” during which we met with scores of academics, researchers, clinicians, program directors, foundation heads, patient advocates, and industry leaders from across the genomics ecosystem.
What we heard was a clarion call—a desperate need—for a new workforce that could remedy gaps and disparities in the delivery of personalized healthcare and precision medicine. Not only could Sarah Lawrence lead the way, Sarah Lawrence must lead the way in addressing this need.
The Institute for Genomics Education, Workforce & Leadership is Sarah Lawrence’s answer to that call, led by inaugural director Kelle Steenblock and supported by a group of transformative national leaders who have offered to serve as our external advisory council. We are excited for the life-changing work that will emerge as the Institute builds awareness for the most critical societal needs and workforce gaps within genomics and precision medicine and creates innovative educational programming to facilitate the development of a contemporary genomics workforce. Tomorrow, we kick off our virtual seminar series with a panel titled, “Delivering Precision Medicine: Is the Genomics Workforce Ready?” We hope you’ll join us! To learn more about the work of the Institute, you can follow its LinkedIn, explore its website, or join its contact list.
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We often describe Sarah Lawrence students and alums as “hyphenates” and the “both-and” type, meaning that “just one thing” is rarely enough for people who are always interested in discovering novel connections, in creating intersections, and in working at the interstices. Every day, I treasure that “both-and”: both connecting with students one-on-one in beloved and historic campus spaces and simultaneously realizing the power of our global reach to make a difference. That “both-and” is at the heart of what I’ve shared with you in this hyphenate From the President’s Desk, and it’s at the heart of the work we’re doing to live our commitment to the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice, for ourselves—and for the world—as we look to our second century. I could not be more excited for this work. I hope and trust that you are as well!
Yours,
Cristle Collins Judd
President
president@sarahlawrence.edu
Instagram: @slcprez