Arcadia Magazine Winter/Spring 2019

To the Arcadia University Community

Within a University community, results often take time to surface—scholarly pursuits may lead to significant breakthroughs in medicine or industry decades from now; a student’s research paper or extracurricular activity may provide a roadmap to career success; a personal mission for justice or equality might spark a political passion that results in elected officials fighting for constituents years later.

Arcadia’s Vision Statement

Our Vision, Our Dream, Our Passion

Arcadia University’s pioneering, global, integrated, liberal arts, and professional learning experience cultivates leaders who are intellectually fearless and uniquely prepared for life and work. Our highly regarded, values-based learning community reflects the world in which we want to live.

This issue of Arcadia magazine features such a story in Dr. Ellington Beavers ’93H, a man whose vision, focus, and determination resulted in an eponymous fund for intellectual inquiry at Arcadia, the founding of Biocoat, Inc., research opportunities for dozens of students and faculty, and now, the largest gift in the University’s history. The story of how this came to fruition, from a letter that former Beaver College president Dr. Edward Gates answered in 1980, serves as a reminder of how our actions today, however insignificant they may seem to us in the moment, could have a tremendous impact tomorrow, next year, or even 40 years from now.

This story also serves as a reminder of how it often takes a bold vision to shape the future. I would like to commend the University community, and the UKnighted Aspirational Committee in particular, for their work in developing a powerful Vision Statement for Arcadia (at right), which the Board of Trustees approved in February. This statement, which captures the spirit of our mission, core values, and feedback from the Arcadia community, will help guide us as we move forward with our forthcoming strategic plan.

And so, as we move through our spring semester, I offer my thanks and gratitude to all members of the Arcadia University community for all that you have done and all that you will continue to do to support our students and better our local and global communities. While we may not always have the chance to witness just how much of an impact our actions today have, the results could wind up improving the lives of so many.

Sincerely,

Ajay Nair, Ph.D.
President