As a national liberal arts college,
Lycoming should also look for
opportunities to be relevant at a national
and even global level.We should seek
ways inwhichwe can contribute to
important national dialogues and build
scholarly knowledge around issues of
national and global significance.
I believe that such an opportunity
exists because ofWilliamsport’s location
at the doorstep of theMarcellus Shale
deposit.As I see it, LycomingCollege
sits at the epicenter of a dramatic
transformation of local, national and
global energy systems.
With that inmind, our StrategicPlan
will call for the establishment of an
Institute for EnergyStudies. Employing
an interdisciplinary approach, this
Institutewill provide an umbrella for
our faculty, students and alumni to
research energy systems and their social,
economic and environmental impacts.
It will provide theCollegewith away
to organize our intellectual capacity and
pursue national recognition around an
issue thatmatters.
Inhis bicentennial history of the
College, Dr. JohnPiper has argued that
the history of LycomingCollege can be
understood as a continuous progression
toward a greater Lycoming – a theme
has been echoed bymany ofmy
predecessors.We began as an academy
in 1812, evolved into a seminary in
1848, added a junior college program in
1929, earned accreditation as a four-year
college in 1950, emerged as a residential
college during the 1960s, and achieved
the status of national liberal arts college
during thefirst decade of the 21st century.
PresidentWertz’s inaugural address
laid out a sweeping plan for the creation
of a residential campus. He then noted
that, “We are not such dreamers as to
think that this can be done overnight. Nor
arewe so naïve as to believe that it can
happen easily. Butwe know that it cannot
be done at all unlesswe “dare to dream.”
Today, we stand at the beginning of
another exciting era in the history of
LycomingCollege, andwemust again
dare todream.We should aspire for
Lycoming to be recognized as one of
the very best liberal arts colleges in the
country.
Like thosewho listened toPresident
Wertz in 1955, we know itwill not
happen easily. Butwe have reason
for optimism.We can imagine an
even greater Lycoming becausewe
As a national liberal arts college,
Lycoming should also look for opportunities to be relevant
at a national and even global level.We should seek ways
inwhichwe can contribute to important national dialogues...
“On behalf of my fellow 14,923 Lycoming
Collegealumni, I amhonored towelcome
Dr. Kent C. Trachte into the Lycoming
College family.Weare committed to
confirming your visionandwe look
forward to supporting youon your journey
asPresident of LycomingCollege.We
entrust our almamater to you, toprovide
guidanceand leadership and to continue
to strengthen the positionof our beloved
collegeamong the highest ranking colleges
in the nation.”
Christine (Colella) Zubris ’04
President,Alumni AssociationExecutiveBoard
“My friends, I have absolutely no
doubt that President Trachte has the
intelligence, the skill, the vision, and
an incrediblepassion for the liberal
arts.And hewill lead us all to build on
this foundation of promise, theeven
greater Lycomingwhere those dreams,
aspirations and opportunitieswill
become reality for all of us, students,
faculty and staff—past, present and
future.”
GregVartan ’15
President, Student Senate
have a faculty and staff that deliver an
undergraduate liberal arts education
that is unsurpassed.We can be bold in
constructing our vision of the future
because theCollege’s leadership has built
an endowment equal to the task.We can
dream becausewe have an alumni body
that believes in theCollege’s future and is
ready to lend its support.
Let us resolve then thatwewill
follow in the footsteps of thosewho have
preceded us. Let us resolve thatwe, too,
will build a greater Lycoming.
14
LYCOMINGCOLLEGE 2014SPRINGMAGAZINE
