Elections update: Unprecedented voter turn out thus far!

Voting period ends December 8, 2008. Encourage everyone to vote at the following link:

http://intranet.risd.edu/template.aspx?ekfrm=18468

1. Log in to the intranet

2. Vote!

October 6. 2008

The World at the End of the Day:

Some words for newly elected department reps from a new Provost.

There is a Guatemalan author named Augusto Monterroso who spent his whole life writing one line tales. Imagine that- can you?

The one I remember is:

“Upon waking, the dinosaur was still there.”

At the end of some days I can assure you that the dinosaur WILL still be there. Some days are just like that. I can also assure you that at the end of others you will find something else. Your willingness to take on this leadership role is as big as a dinosaur. It may not be as easy to see as a dinosaur but you will feel it and it will change you. You have flung yourself into the world of relationships where the reality is one of interdependence and where difference and contradictory points of view are the key to leaning about respect, which really is the driver of all things. Here you will sit across the table from one another and come to recognize what it is we share and what it is that really matters and how it is that we can work together to make a difference in how we make the world. . The writer Lyn Hejinian talks about how “The community creates the context in which our work happens by generating ideas that might not come into being otherwise, and in the best sense by challenging everyone involved.” You are world makers. Every person who reaches out beyond themselves to be part of understanding and making community is a world maker. The world needs world makers more than ever now. The world at the end of the day is your world, is our world. As you make it, pay attention to the silent things and the invisible things. Pay attention to everything. Everything you need to know is there.

There will always be dinosaurs.

At the end of each day the world is still there.

What you do makes the world.

Thank you for being a RISD world maker.

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”
John F. Kennedy

Dear Members of the Student Alliance,

I’m sorry that I can’t be with you at this evening’s meeting, but I appreciate your allowing me to send you a greeting. Your willingness to participate actively as department representatives to Student Alliance ensures that voices from all constituencies at RISD are heard and empowered. Since we are in an election cycle for our entire country, I think it is important to remember that there will always be divergent views and opinions and groups who will naturally bring ideas from opposite ends of the spectrum. It seems to me that your role in Student Alliance is not so much to espouse a particular viewpoint as it is to help all of your fellow students to reach a set of conclusions, which sometimes will result in a fortuitous consensus.

Keep in mind always that there are those who will be quiet constituents while others will be extremely vocal; make sure that each is given equal weight in your organization’s decisions leading to action. Peter Drucker, regarded by many as the creator of modern management theory, says regarding leadership:

“The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say “I.” They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.” They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we” gets the credit…. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.”

Thank you for caring about your fellow students; because of your example, many will decide to become more active and committed members of this educational community. Thank you for caring about this team we call RISD; your leadership role in Student Alliance may bring about changes that might not otherwise have occurred. And finally, thank you for the way you will challenge and enhance our world with your creativity and dedication to the highest principles of art and design.

Best wishes to each of you for a wonderful and productive year.

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