Hope and Healing

December 15, 2020

Dear LMU Community:

As the end of this dizzying year approaches, I thank each of you for your courage and perseverance. The work you have accomplished and the contributions you have made since March are a testament to our community’s strength, promise, and potential.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, a national reckoning on racial justice, and the most tumultuous election in our lifetimes, you have made sacrifices, you have stood in solidarity, and you remain committed to living our mission and championing our values. Your voices and love for LMU illuminate our path forward.

Our winter break always allows us to reflect, recharge, and recalibrate for the semester ahead. With hope and healing in our midst, and given all that we have been through together, I am confident that we will emerge from this moment stronger and more connected than ever.

The next few months could be the most challenging we have experienced. Even with light appearing on the horizon, each of us carries more than a little fatigue from continually trying to reinvent ourselves and our ways of working. For me, it seems that every day brings a new vexation that requires a new solution. But, knowing this, I am filled with hope for what we can achieve in this homestretch, galvanized by our collective sense of responsibility for the greater good—and our landmark ability to help one another. With a vaccine on the way, we are close to reclaiming what we once had, then building on it, deepening and expanding our impact.

Please stay safe and be well. I wish our students, faculty, and staff continued resilience and best wishes on a successful completion of the semester. Let us pray for those impacted by COVID-19, for our health care workers, and for the recovery of our global community. Let us also continue to do our part to stop the spread of the virus by adhering to safety protocols to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. The sooner we can quash this monster, the quicker we can return fully to our campuses.

If I may share some advice: During the holidays, please step back, get outside, and explore new things. To each of you, merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa, and a most joyous 2021 to you and yours!

With love and gratitude,

Timothy Law Snyder, Ph.D.
President