Dear Members of the Monmouth University Community:
As we begin today a new academic year, I want to take this opportunity to share my excitement for all that lies ahead. To our returning students, faculty, and staff, welcome back! If you are joining our community for the first time, I hope you are already beginning to feel at home. We begin the year at a remarkable moment in Monmouth’s history, with considerable momentum behind us and even more opportunity ahead.
Much has happened since we concluded the spring semester. This past June, the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music opened on Monmouth’s campus to rave reviews, underscoring our deep and abiding commitment to the arts. To that end, I am pleased to share that anyone with a Monmouth University ID can enjoy free admission to the Center during the academic year. Visitors to the Center may schedule a timed entry by registering here in advance of your visit, or reserve tickets at the admissions kiosk the day of your visit. I hope you will take the opportunity to visit this impressive new building in the coming months.
We also successfully concluded Excellence. Access. Ambition. The Campaign for Monmouth University, raising $190 million and surpassing our ambitious $175 million goal. The generosity behind this historic effort has strengthened nearly every part of the University, from scholarships and academic programs to facilities and student experiences. I am deeply grateful to everyone who helped make this campaign such an extraordinary success.
Our growing national reputation continues to reflect that progress. This summer, The Princeton Review once again named Monmouth among the nation’s best colleges, continuing a distinction the University has earned for more than two decades. Money magazine also recognized Monmouth among its Best Colleges in America for the 12th consecutive year. And very soon, we will learn where Monmouth debuts in the National Universities category of the U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. This is the first time that we will be ranked in this nationwide category, placing us on a list of the finest universities in the nation, another important milestone in our continued evolution from a junior college that opened its doors in the midst of the Great Depression to a national university with a research designation.
There is plenty to look forward to this fall as well. Our fall athletic teams have already begun competition, with multiple teams ranked nationally in their respective sports. And, at this past weekend’s football home opener, we also celebrated the remarkable legacy of Kevin Callahan, our founding head football coach, by naming the field at Kessler Stadium in his honor. It was a fitting tribute to a coach and colleague whose impact will endure for many years to come.
We also begin this year with a new strategic plan that will guide the next phase of Monmouth’s progress. Building on the accomplishments of Excellence. Access. Ambition., it will help us continue strengthening the academic experience, expanding opportunity for our students, and advancing Monmouth’s growing national profile.
Monmouth continues to move forward because of the talent, ambition, and commitment of our students, faculty, and staff. I am grateful to have all of you here, and I look forward to seeing what we will accomplish together in the year ahead.
Welcome back, Hawks!
Sincerely,
Dr. Patrick F. Leahy
President