summer 2012 / 5
FEATURES
donors—especially corporations
and foundations—will not give to
a college or university if alumni
participation is below 50 percent.
Many of our peer institutions are
already at 50 percent and higher. We
must do better than this, and we will
…
it will be a major priority for us
this next year. All told, we are on the
right path and moving out smartly.
We are coming out of the darkness
and into the light.
Finally, we achieved another
important objective in early June
when both the North Alabama
Conference and the Alabama-West
Florida Conference of the United
Methodist Church approved a
proposal to reduce membership
on the college’s Board of Trustees
to no more than 39 members
and no fewer than 19 members.
In recent years, our Board
membership has been as high as
70.
This reorganization—including
committee restructuring—will
create more effective and efficient
governance of our college for the
future.
As you can see, this “freshman”
could not have asked for a better
first year. We hope you enjoy seeing
and reading about the successes and
tremendous progress made on the
Hilltop this past year in this special
issue of
’
Southern
magazine.
In closing, I am honored to be
a member of the Birmingham-
Southern College family. I continue
to be humbled by our past,
optimistic about our present, and
excited about our future. We have
accomplished a lot this year, but
much work remains to be done. The
pieces are in place to reach our goal
of becoming one of the nation’s
finest residential liberal arts colleges,
and I cannot wait to begin my
sophomore year in August!
From the bottom of my heart and
from all of us on campus, thank you
for your generosity and for your love
of this very special place.
Forward,
ever
.
