Start of Spring Semester 2023

January 18, 2023

Dear CBU Community,
 
I would like to take this opportunity to offer all of you my sincere wishes for a Happy New Year — and a welcome to the Spring Semester 2023… albeit a week or so later than originally scheduled.
 
As you all know, the subzero temperatures that swept through Memphis during the week of Christmas led to some significant water pipe and structural damage on our campus. Barry Hall, which was already under renovation at the time, was severely damaged and requires extensive repairs that will be ongoing throughout this semester. While that impacts those of us whose offices are located in Barry Hall, our students are primarily affected by damage to the Living Learning Center and to some of the apartments in the Capstone residence halls.
 
I would like to ask all of you to join me in a hearty round of applause for the members of our community who worked over the holidays to ascertain and assess the damages and to help us find the necessary remedies to allow us to return to campus as quickly as possible. I would like to especially recognize the work of our Student Development & Campus Life staff, who have worked tirelessly and around the clock to prepare for the arrival of our residential students who require relocation because of the damage to the LLC and Capstone apartments. We also owe thanks to a local foundation for generously providing student housing for our Dream Scholarship and CBU Promise students during this emergency situation.
 
Overall, recognizing all the disruption and suffering caused by this crisis, we applaud those faculty members, staff, and students who have been forced to move and to work during the holidays — but have managed to pull together as a team and work together to make the best of this difficult situation. And even though this situation will continue throughout the semester for many of us, I am confident that it also gives us the opportunity to “build back better” and will eventually provide us with some valuable, long-range benefits.
 
Speaking of building things better, I would also like to formally announce that CBU will be offering three new degree programs this fall. The Gadomski School of Engineering will be offering two new Bachelor of Science degrees, a BS in Construction Management and a BS in Engineering Technology, and the Rosa Deal School of Arts will be offering a new Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Kudos to the faculty in those schools for all their hard work, and we’ll be providing additional information soon.
 
Now it’s time for all of us to get down to the actual business of a new semester — the business of teaching and learning, of study and research, of ideation and imagination, of all the day-to-day skills and efforts that make education possible — and that make education a transformative experience in the true Lasallian tradition.
 

In gratitude,

Dave Archer
President of Christian Brothers University