End of Week Reflection from Dean Slaughter

Dear Students and Colleagues,

Next Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the United States.  Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway once said, “Now is no time to think of what you do not have.  Think of what you can do with what there is.”  In that spirit of this season, I am writing to express my ongoing thanks to everyone for our shared efforts and accomplishments thus far this academic year.

Faculty colleagues, thank you for maintaining excellence in your teaching and your research.  You continue to engage and inspire students with the renowned rigor, relevance, and joy of our classes.  And you continue to advance knowledge, publishing your research and delivering seminars and conference presentations that continue to project Tuck’s collective impact around the world.

Staff colleagues, thank you for your commitment and creative partnership in helping deliver our School’s mission.  Our return to largely in-person classroom and co-curricular activities owes so much to you embracing new roles, solving new problems, and imagining and creating new opportunities.  And you have accomplished all this often working from home and amidst caring for family.

And finally, a big thank you to our students, for the grace and good cheer that animate your investment with us faculty and staff.  I know I speak for all my colleagues in saying how wonderful it has been to see and hear you in Stell Hall and throughout our campus.  None of you knew exactly how your Tuck experience would be at such an unprecedented time.  And yet, all of you are building the resilience and wisdom to see what even a pandemic cannot take away: the people and programs that have always been—and still are—the heart of the Tuck MBA experience that is personal, connected, and transformative.

To everyone, let me also add a thank you for playing your part to maintain public health.  Our adherence to public-health guidelines have helped us be together this fall in our distinct learning community. At the same time, we must remain vigilant: new COVID cases in New Hampshire and Vermont are currently at their highest levels of the pandemic and are again rising nationwide. I am confident that our Tuck community will continue to do all they can to work against these trends.

So, thank you to everyone for all we have done and for all we are still going to do this academic year.  Next week, please enjoy a restful and safe Thanksgiving.