I am honored, thrilled, and privileged to be the 12th president of Colorado College.<\/em><\/p>\n I wrote of the extraordinary CC people I met early on \u2013 students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni (some of whom\u00a0I had known before I knew anything else about CC).<\/p>\n These students are vibrant, they are sharp, they are critical and analytical, and they are refreshingly varied in temperament, <\/em>interests, politics, and goals.<\/em><\/p>\n I am struck by a deep commitment to teaching and scholarship, <\/em>by dedication to the institution, and by the ways in which everyone on this campus \u2013 not only the faculty \u2013 teaches our students and <\/em>is concerned with their development as whole human beings.<\/em><\/p>\n I have become acquainted with equally fascinating alumni, parents, and friends of Colorado College.<\/em><\/p>\n The people of this place are extraordinary. But then, you know that already.<\/em><\/p>\n My initial impressions have been borne out countless times\u00a0as I have come to know thousands more of the extraordinary people of Colorado College. And as I look back, I am pleased\u00a0to celebrate what we have achieved together. In that first letter\u00a0I wrote of my early aspirations.<\/p>\n Together we have an opportunity to lift Colorado College even higher, to make this exquisite jewel even more brilliant and less \u201chidden.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The choices we make as an institution must be informed by and imbedded in a strategic framework that is mission driven. Therefore <\/em>I have asked the faculty to lead a community-wide effort during this academic year to sharpen our mission statement and formulate a strategic vision. Accordingly we will ponder the questions, <\/em>What is our mission? What do <\/em>we value most? Whom do we <\/em>choose to engage with and serve? What kind of college do we intend <\/em>to become over the next decade? <\/em>How will we know when we are making progress toward our goals?<\/em><\/p>\n Our answers came in the form\u00a0of a new mission statement\u00a0and core values. They came \u2013\u00a0in the context of the resulting strategic framework \u2013 in the\u00a0form of heightened intellectual rigor, record-breaking numbers\u00a0of ever-more talented and\u00a0diverse student applicants,\u00a0many enhancements to campus, increased institutional visibility, and scores of other\u00a0collective achievements.<\/p>\n You have a stake in this college and in this process. I encourage <\/em>you to join in developing the answers and welcome your input.<\/em><\/p>\n You answered the call, along with our faculty, staff, and students. We have accomplished a great deal.<\/p>\n With mere months to go in my presidency, I still feel honored, thrilled, and privileged<\/em> to be the 12th president of this one-of-a-kind place, Colorado College. I truly could not have imagined what a richly rewarding experience this would prove to be.<\/p>\n For the moment, I extend gratitude for the challenge and gift of the Colorado College presidency.<\/em><\/p>\n For the moment, I once again extend my gratitude.<\/p>\n Warm regards,<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Richard F. Celeste<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Alumni, Parents, and Friends of Colorado College:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/281\/files\/2009\/06\/celeste-300x270.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nIt has been eight and a half years since I wrote my first \u201cPresident\u2019s Page\u201d for the CC Bulletin. I am honored, thrilled, and privileged to be the 12th president of Colorado College.<\/em> I wrote of the extraordinary CC people I met early on \u2013 students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni (some of whom I had known before I knew anything else about CC).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32],"class_list":["post-3507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-april-2011","tag-presidents-page"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3507\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}