Grant, thank you for the generous remarks and for being a wise mentor who models what leadership looks like when you value the humanity in everyone.

I am deeply grateful to Susan Gunderson and all of our Regents for entrusting me to serve St. Olaf College. Thank you to our former presidents – Mark Edwards, Christopher Thomforde, and David Anderson – for joining us today and stewarding this remarkable college.

Friends and family who join us today, you have all shaped and supported me, making today possible. My husband Gary, children Jessie, Peter, and Emma; my siblings, Carolyn, Diane, and Glen; my mom; and I have created decades of joyful memories together. Today’s memory-in-the-making is another one I will cherish.

Students, faculty, staff, and community members, including President Byerly and Mayor Pownell, your warm welcome to St. Olaf and Northfield inspires me. Together, we can accomplish so much.

Students, St. Olaf exists because of you. You are the future, and our collective mission is to support you in creating a bright future.

Inaugurations are a pivotal moment in a college’s history. We reflect on a rich past and strong foundation while boldly stepping into the future. St. Olaf is rooted in almost 150 years of clarity about our values, vision, and mission that, together, provide an enduring True North. We have always been solution seekers. Our commitment to developing solution seekers gives us the path forward as we co-create the next chapter in St. Olaf’s history.

As a fellow solution seeker, St. Olaf’s enduring True North and strong sense of community drew me to this remarkable college.

How did I become a solution seeker? Along with my husband, sister, and brother-in-law, I was an undergraduate at a college whose president, George Low, had managed the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office after the fatal Apollo 1 fire. As a result of his leadership and skilled team building, Apollo 11 brought men to the moon. His college presidency set the tone for believing anything is possible.

Through my remarks, you’ll see why I have fallen in love with St. Olaf and the work we can accomplish together as solution seekers.

In 1874, a growing population of Norwegian immigrants sought further education. Creating St. Olaf was the solution. Classes were offered in Norwegian and English. St Olaf continues to welcome immigrants, now from all nations, and seeks solutions to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body. Now more than ever, St. Olaf is deepening our commitment to being a truly equitable and inclusive community, where learners from all demographic groups, including race, ethnicity, gender identity, first-generation college students, socioeconomic status, nationality, neurodiverse, disabled, belong and thrive.

As college costs grow as a barrier to access, we continue to meet the full demonstrated financial need of students. When the Minnesota legislature committed last-dollar funding to cover full tuition at public colleges and universities for families making $80,000 or less, we found a solution for students to achieve their college education at St. Olaf, committing to full tuition for families making $90,000 or less.

Inclusion is a never-ending journey filled with new beginnings. On Monday, we recognized Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Today is National Coming Out Day, and we celebrate community members who may be moving forward on a new journey.

We are a community that works hard at inclusion, is committed to academic excellence, makes beautiful music, gives it all in athletic competitions, engages in collaborative research, and experiences learning both on campus and around the globe. We are also a community who can seek solutions and have fun simultaneously.

When St. Olaf needed a supersized Adirondack chair for Homecoming, our carpenter built one. When our swim team needed a group photo, they figured out how to fit everyone into the new chair, including their president, who was passing by.

On a more serious note, when the Prime Minister of Norway wanted to visit campus last month, we found a way to land not one but two 22,000-pound helicopters on our campus. In both examples, finding the solution took expertise and collaboration from across our campus. When I think about the phrase “Oles can, Oles will,” I see students, faculty, staff and alumni as innovators who seek solutions and have the courage and energy to bring those solutions into being.

Now, back to the more serious business of developing Solution Seekers with a capital “S”. Earlier, I mentioned that our values, vision, and mission provide our True North, and can assist us on this journey. Contemporary Lutheran thought and practice provide our compass. How do these elements work in our lives?

• All of us – faculty, staff, students, alumni – are called to live life on purpose for the common good, or vocation, as Luther described. For Oles, contributing to the common good is a personal imperative for how you want to live your life beyond your professional work to engaging with your community, family, and friends.

• We are urged to care for each other and the Earth. At a time when civil society is unsettled, and Earth systems are destabilized, Oles crave the knowledge, skill, and practical experience that will enable them to contribute to solutions.

• Individuals of all faiths and spiritualities, or those who live according to other beliefs, are invited into conversation in the spirit of inquiry without intent to compel belief. When faith is genuinely on the table, tensions between faith, equity and inclusion, and academic freedom can be embraced with movement towards resolution.

At this moment in time, our True North points us:

To prepare solutions seekers empowered to contribute to solving the pressing issues of our times.

Addressing economic, racial, and gender inequities; the needs of civil society; global health challenges; disparities in education, air quality, and water availability; climate change; and feeding a hungry world will require all the courage and wisdom we can muster.

I underscore wisdom, which is more than knowledge and skills. Addressing these challenges requires comfort with ambiguity because a solution to one issue might negatively impact another. The way forward is to partner in solution seeking. St. Olaf is built for this type of education.

We prepare Oles to be solution seekers by delivering on our mission, our promise to our students:

St. Olaf College challenges students to excel in the liberal arts, examine faith and values, and explore meaningful vocation in an inclusive, globally engaged community nourished by Lutheran tradition.

At the heart of a St. Olaf education is the Ole Core, a thoughtful, integrated series of liberal arts courses that develop leaders who can work together across disciplines to understand and creatively contribute to solutions. The Ole Core links to the major where deep expertise is developed.

Academic excellence abounds at St. Olaf, and the academic support needed to develop one’s pathway is complemented by mentoring across the campus. As a four-year, residential liberal arts college, St. Olaf integrates academic and residential learning experiences into a more holistic pathway.

Our Taylor Center for Equity and Inclusion develops intercultural competence; the Smith Center supports global learning and academic civic engagement within our local community; the Institute for Freedom and Community prepares Oles for positive civic conversation and engagement; the Lutheran Center for Faith, Values, and Community enlarges space for interfaith dialogue and vocational discernement; work on sustainability extends across campus; team building and leadership emerge through athletics, music and many student organizations; robust collaborative research, work study, internships and mentoring through the CURI program and our Piper Center guide students in integrating their academic learning with developing a meaningful plan for life and career.

There are so many opportunities in the classroom, on the Hill, in the community, and around the globe. It can be overwhelming. The value proposition of a St. Olaf education is that you don’t go it alone, whether you are a member of our faculty, staff, student body, or alumni. Students, you are surrounded by faculty, staff, alumni, and peers who care about you and are prepared to mentor you on your path to becoming a solution seeker, guided by an enduring True North.

Why am I so confident about St. Olaf’s future? I am confident because of all of you, our people. We have an exceptional community. As long as we continue to care for and support each other, we can do anything. Oles can! Oles will! I’m thrilled to co-create the next chapter of our history with you.

Fram! Fram! St. Olaf’s future is bold and bright.