Abstract
"As many as you know, Loyola Marymount University (LMU) has a powerful mission statement that includes three pillars that are often cited and recited: The encouragement of learning; the education of the whole person; and the service of faith and the promotion of justice.
As I welcome you to campus, I welcome you into the recognition of this now shared mission statement as a joint commitment to encouraging an integration of knowledge; in which “faith and reason bear witness to the unity of all truth” (Ex Corde Ecclesiae, 1990, #17) and to instill in our students the abilities for life-long learning that includes but is not limited to: critical thinking, the ability to research, the practice of discernment, the ability to ask the important questions, and the ability to apply that knowledge in meaningful ways for self and others.
As I welcome you to university, I welcome you into the recognition of this now shared mission statement as a joint commitment to the encouragement of integrating for students and diverse others in educational contexts—their thinking, feeling, choosing, evolving self (unifying their mind, body and spirit)—into the educational endeavor..."
In this piece, First To Go mentor, fierce advocate, and first-gen champion, Dr. Bryant Keith Alexander, Dean of the LMU College of Communication and Fine Arts, offers his welcome, a warning, and a wish. Step into this message, as our calling as a first-gen nation is ringing louder than ever.
Recommended Citation
Alexander, PhD, Dean Bryant Keith
(2020)
"“A Welcome, A Warning and a Wish: On Entering LMU through the ‘First to Go Program’ in the Year 2020”,"
First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience: Vol. 9:
Iss.
1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/fgv/vol9/iss1/4
