Our mission is clear.

Salem College prepares students to change the world.

Alongside us, Salem Academy “fosters compassionate and creative leaders … who chart their paths with character, curiosity, and courage.”

This year, what it means to change the world, to act with compassion and creativity, seems to have changed as abruptly as we have ever seen. HOW we do this has changed. THAT we do this—together—has not. That we seek to lead with character, curiosity, and courage (in the words of the Academy mission) has not.

What does leadership look like in a pandemic? As always, it is partly what those with certain jobs or titles do—what is called positional leadership. It also comes from unexpected places— what I have come to see as “leadership from everywhere.”

In either case, as parts of an educational community, we value the ways knowledge and expertise inform us as leaders—and on being leaders who learn.

We value leaders who bring emotional intelligence to what we do.

And, we value leadership that is collaborative. That asks for help—and offers it—to ensure that all of our lives and learnings are strengthened.

The requirements of leadership in this moment in history ask us to come together—in agreement and disagreement—to change the world.

A few nights ago, I watched a musical and educational (virtual) gathering led by Lady Gaga—in honor of the front-line workers of this pandemic. The voices of health care professionals and musicians, comedians and politicians, educators and actors came together in a message summarized best, perhaps, in the voice of Lizzo, who sang a Sam Cooke song: “A Change is Gonna Come.”

As she sang, “oh yes it will, oh yes, it will.”

#TogetherSalem #SalemStrong

Susan Henking
Dean of the College

Each January, I choose a word as a theme for my year. The word “springtime” emerged for me this year. Springtime invokes images of new life, baby bunnies, birds chirping, flowers blooming, and longer days. For many of us, the awakening of the earth inspires new hopes, dreams, projects, and relationships. Spring on Salem’s beautiful campus is certainly inspiring. Yet this spring, we have found ourselves separated from our campus and our campus family. Most of us are bound to our homes, except for work that is deemed essential. Springtime in the midst of a pandemic, with all the uncertainty and pain, seems oppositional.

The saying goes that faith is the evidence of things hoped for, the hope of things not seen. It is a challenge to have faith that the universe bends towards goodness during these days of separation and uncertainty. Faith is not blind. Faith instead is the substance of hope. And springtime is all about hope, isn’t it? Hope that new life will emerge. Hope that new opportunities will come forth. Hope that light will overcome darkness. Author Lucy Maud Montgomery wrote, “That is one good thing about this world … there are always sure to be more springs.” Faith enables us to celebrate the springtimes, the new beginnings, when they come. And faith enables us to know that springtime and new beginnings will come, even in the midst of pandemic, economic hardships, grief, fear, and anger.

I encourage each of us to get outside at least once today, take in the beautiful things about springtime, and celebrate that moment of hope and new life, trusting the goodness and knowing that spring will always come.

Rev. Amy Rio
Chaplain

In the month of March, when the world we know came to a grinding halt, we entered a quarantine phase to ensure the end of the COVID-19 virus. In the days that followed, sports across our campus, state, and nation came to a grinding halt. As a result, sports fans have been relegated to reliving past games, watching ESPN Classic, and debating “the greatest player of fill in the blank sport.” Those that love athletics, the competition, the thrills that they provide, and in the case of Salem fans—cheering these young women onto victory—are left to discover new ways to pass the time.

By definition, a fan is described as “a person who is enthusiastically devoted to something or somebody, such as a celebrity, a sport, or sports team.” As the Director of Athletics at Salem, it is fair to say I am an avid sports fan. However, in the absence of our athletic teams and sports coverage, I have found myself channeling my “inner fan” and expanding my mind in support of those who continue to show up and support our students, faculty, and staff during this weird time.

This past Friday night, I listened and watched Salem’s Virtual Music Series featuring the amazing Dr. Barbara Lister-Sink as she performed “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven. I found myself enthralled with her grace, talent, and commitment to her audience and pondered the countless hours she spent fine-tuning her skill and how she hard she works to “coach” our students. To say she knocked it out of the park would be an understatement, and why yes, I am a fan! 

The week before, Dr. Rebecca Dunn provided an opportunity to explore the wonderful senior projects of our biology and chemistry students. The abstracts were amazing and insightful (anthropogenic noise and the impact on our feathered friends is a real issue—and yes, I did use Google to help me understand some of the content). I felt so proud of the work and research that is being completed by our colleagues in the sciences. Once again, in the early hours of the morning as I continued to read, I pondered the amount of coaching and practice that must go into preparing and researching these materials to guide our students on their respective paths to graduation and beyond. To the students and faculty, I raise my hat and can say without hesitation I am a fan! 

There are a number of x-factors that our individual areas of focus play in our everyday lives that succeed in pulling our campus community together. In athletics, when a team or individual makes that special run toward championship gold, this creates a forever bond with a group of individuals that creates memories that will last a lifetime. The same is to be said of all areas of our Salem community. The hours of practice, the commitment to find solutions, and achieve our academic goals is a testament to the work being completed by our students and professional colleagues all over our beautiful campus.

Creativity and passion can be found everywhere you look at Salem!  I encourage you to channel your inner fan and dive into new areas of our campus so we can support each other and show our admiration for our students, faculty, and staff. While I eagerly wait for sports to quickly return, I am thrilled for the opportunity this pandemic has provided me to channel my “inner fan” and celebrate all areas of our campus. As we proudly boasted our return last August to the chant of “We Are Salem,” I would echo this by adding we are also “United as One”!  

Patricia Hughes
Director of Athletics

My scholarly research focuses on the use of humor by European avant-garde artists after WWI. One would imagine there was little to joke about during a period of history characterized by chaos and destruction. I do not intend to say our present circumstances mirror exactly those suffered in post-WWI Europe; however, both the beginning of the 20th century and our present moment are marked by an unprecedented occurrence with terrible consequences worldwide in terms of human losses, economic impact, and a generalized feeling of uncertainty. What I learned through my investigation is that, in times of conflict, humans are still capable of laughing. You may have noticed the proliferation of jokes and memes shared around, thanks to technology, from the moment the COVID-19 crisis started to reshape what we previously knew as normalcy.

The humor used during times of hardship, though, must not be misunderstood as an attempt to minimize the seriousness of the situation; on the contrary, humor serves as a release mechanism to decompress. Humor allows us to adopt a more benevolent perspective and to discover different angles of reality. Finally, humor helps us connect with other humans through a common ground for play that heals us. While it is important to keep informed and to make responsible decisions during this crisis, it is equally essential to take care of our morale; to embrace the playful child inside of us; to laugh, and to share a laugh. Because humor, after all, is a very serious matter.

Ana León-Távora
Associate Professor of Spanish

Usually, we in the science building post our students photographs and abstracts of their talks on our bulletin boards just as you enter the doors to welcome you. However, since we cannot open our doors, we instead opened a site for you to see our virtual bulletin boards. Please enjoy reading the abstracts of our students’ final senior presentations. We have been having outstanding discussions of their work online, we are so proud of our seniors’ achievements. Please join us in celebrating their hard work!

Stay Salem Strong!

Rebecca C. Dunn
Professor of Biology

The dance community has been creatively engaged in providing resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. Artists from around the globe are sharing their work online and reaching audiences that would not otherwise be available. 

Salem’s Department of Dance Studies has embraced the digital dance world. Courses are being held online through multiple modalities. Students are able to engage with movement from our faculty, as well as faculty from around the world through websites like dancingalonetogether.org.

Seniors, like Sophie Shelton, are making dance where they are. This video clip of her work was an assignment from DANC201, Choreography. The prompt was to make a small dance somewhere in your home. It is poignant, stunning, and reveals a little bit about how dance can move us—wherever we are.

We are missing being together and making dance with one another in the Commons building studio. Next week would have been the opening of our Spring Concert, and for graduating seniors like Sophie, the emotions are complex. We are working on a dance film that will capture students from across our department and our campus. This film will be released next week, and we hope it will honor and inspire all of us during this time of solitude.

Heidi Echols
Professor and Chair, Dance Studies