Dear Faculty and Staff Members:
As the incoming Chair of the Board of Trustees of Salem State University, I write today to express the great pleasure with which I assume this role to help shape the future of the premier institution of higher education on the North Shore. As some of you may know, I am not new to Salem State. Prior to becoming a trustee in 2016, I was a member of the Salem State University Foundation Board for more than ten years, and I have served as its president and then chair of the Foundation during the most recent successful $25 million comprehensive campaign. Prior to that, I served as an adjunct faculty member teaching finance in the Bertolon School of Business.
I have seen the impact of a Salem State education in my close interactions with Viking alumni. No fewer than 17 members of my extended family have attended or graduated from the university and been transformed by the education they received. My Salem-based business has hired many Salem State interns and graduates over the past 35 years. As a local business owner, I have always been grateful for the education that Salem State brings to this region. Being surrounded with Viking alumni in all aspects of my life has served to forge and strengthen my commitment to helping this university continue its vital role educating students.
The Board of Trustees fully understands that the strength of the university is centered around the many dedicated individuals who serve the needs of our students. Our faculty are pivotal to the high-quality education we provide. Members of the staff are crucial to supporting this education by ensuring students have many of the critical items needed for learning to happen, from financial aid to health, housing and more. We as trustees are in awe of the commitment and enthusiasm that the faculty and staff bring to our campus—your ability to adapt and continue a high level of service to our students during the current health crisis has been inspiring. Thank you.
It is with this tremendous respect my fellow trustees and I have for faculty and staff that we ask that we all focus on a positive approach to the work in the coming year—a year that will be surely bring both challenges and potential opportunities. While we must all continue to adapt to new COVID-19 restrictions and requirements, I am confident that together, the university will be innovative in the manner in which we serve our students.
Fully aware of the challenges the university will face in the coming year (financial, health and more), the Board is committed to supporting and creating a positive working and learning environment for the Salem State community. We must all do our best to be flexible, understanding that our organization is facing a reality of limited resources that outpaces anything we have experienced before—along with the added expenses necessary to respond to the global pandemic and likely reductions to our public funding. To achieve our shared goal of delivering an excellent education for all our students, faculty, staff, administrators, and our trustees will need to work together.
I can assure you that all trustees are fully committed Salem State. Many on our volunteer Board today were part of the leadership of the successful “10,000 Reasons” campaign that raised an amazing $26.5 million to support a multitude of areas of the university, all centered around student success. In February 2020, our Board voted, along with the Salem State Foundation, to enter a $50 million comprehensive campaign to further bolster access to public higher education and ensure student success. Additionally, we committed our support of SSU Bold, a plan that not only brings long-awaited and much-needed new science and health care laboratories to our campus, but also allows us to consolidate our physical footprint and invest in an existing structure, the former Horace Mann School, which would otherwise remain vacant. I’m a firm believer that this project aims to better align Salem State resources with the needs of our student population and the region for years to come.
While it may seem counterintuitive to support an infrastructure investment of this kind during a financial crisis, SSU Bold will provide both faculty and students with modern and efficient facilities that will lead to opportunities for growth in collaboration, external partnership and enrollment. With a fiduciary responsibility to ensure the continued success of the university, the Board must take a big picture approach to addressing these challenges and make decisions that are in the best interest of Salem State’s long-term goals.
We look forward to working with the faculty, staff and administration to reach these goals and to address our challenges. We are the only public, comprehensive university on the North Shore of Massachusetts, and we serve as a gateway to economic mobility and engaged citizenship for the people of our region. We have a duty to our students—and the region as a whole—to continue providing the excellent education for which Salem State University is known. As Board Chair, I do not take this duty lightly, and I look forward to working with the entire Salem State University community to ensure our success.
Sincerely,
Robert T. Lutts
Chair, Board of Trustees, Salem State University
CC: President John Keenan
Members of the Board of Trustees