Messages

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: This month marks the first anniversary of the tragic death of Freddie Gray and the unrest that followed. It was a moment that exposed gaping disparities within this city while bringing many of us together in common cause. As we approach this somber anniversary, we want to express our profound appreciation for the efforts you have undertaken over the past year to make our city stronger...

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: Last fall, we announced the launch of HopkinsLocal, our institution’s effort to build, hire, and buy in new ways that will directly support our city and its residents. In the months since, with significant leadership from our local trustees, other Baltimore businesses have stepped up to join this cause. Today, Johns Hopkins University and Health System will join 24 other Baltimore...

Originally published in the Johns Hopkins News-Letter On Monday evening, the Black Student Union called the campus community together for a frank conversation concerning issues of race, diversity and the black student experience at Johns Hopkins, drawing an overflowing auditorium of students, faculty, staff and alumni. It was an important moment, not only because of the issues raised and discussed, but also because...

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff: Reports of bigotry and racial discrimination across U.S. higher education have drawn this country’s attention in recent weeks, and it is important to acknowledge that this moment is not about a handful of incidents at a few institutions. Rather, it is part of a national narrative—one that plays out in the daily lives of students, faculty, and staff on campuses across the country...

Dear Faculty, Students, and Staff, This summer, I hosted a small group of high school students from the Johns Hopkins Summer Jobs Program in my office, offering cookies and lemonade as, with typical teenage reserve, they shared stories about their internships and future ambitions. When they grew quiet, I asked what they found to be most surprising about Johns Hopkins. Without missing a beat, Jevaugh, a rising sophomore...

Dear Johns Hopkins community: In recent years, we—along with other colleges and universities across the country—have confronted and addressed a number of complex issues surrounding sexual assault and the steps we must take to protect our campuses. As a community, we have worked to determine how best to prevent sexual misconduct of all kinds. We have enlisted the help of experts in our response to incidents and...

Dear Faculty, Students and Staff:Ten goals. Four priorities. Conversations with more than 1,000 members of the Johns Hopkins community across 10 divisions, culminating in one ambitious vision for our university through 2020. Since we officially launched the Ten by Twenty in 2013, the conversation about our university’s future has inspired progress toward our goals, illuminated the work yet to do, and ignited...

Dear Johns Hopkins Community, This is an exciting moment for innovation and entrepreneurship at research universities, especially Johns Hopkins. Discovery and entrepreneurial endeavor are converging in unprecedented ways. Investigators are moving more easily along a spectrum between basic and applied research, and urban universities like ours are increasingly playing a role as igniters of economic growth...

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Students: Over the last year, the president, provost, and deans and directors of the university’s divisions have been working on an initiative designed to support the research and creative professional activities of our colleagues. We recognize, of course, the many challenges our colleagues face in securing support for their endeavors in an environment of declining federal research...

Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:, Student alcohol abuse – particularly “binge drinking” – has long stood as a critical challenge on college campuses, including our own. Its impacts are far-reaching, affecting not only the health, safety and academic success of our students, but also the overall quality of campus life. Last year, at the invitation of state leaders, Chancellor William E. Kirwan of the University...