I am delighted to welcome all members of the ISS community – students, faculty, and staff – to the start of a new academic year. Although the unsettling events of the past six months have stirred a variety of strong emotions, I find that the foremost of those for me today is … gratitude. I am grateful, and proud, to be a part of an academic community dedicated to the earnest study of human societies, their histories, their struggles, and their futures that depend upon our present actions. This is profoundly important work, particularly at this historical moment when the honest desire to understand seems to be in steep decline. Fortunately, that desire still burns bright in the ISS program. At this moment I am particularly thankful for the palpable enthusiasm and energy coming from all the new students and faculty joining ISS this fall. As I read student application essays this summer, I was often moved by their urgency - by the need to understand racial injustice, economic inequality, the explosive American political landscape, climate change, and other problems we now face. Your eagerness to pick up this difficult but essential work as students and teachers fuels my optimism, and I hope it helps to sustain you as well.

I encourage all of you, including continuing students, to read the ISS Mission Statement. Every community has values, and in ISS our core values are equity and inclusion. Our mission is to promote discovery and holistic learning. I am excited to welcome each of you and grateful to be a part of your journeys of discovery this year.