Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday.

28 trustees, 30 Miner Alumni Association directors and hundreds of members of our academies last week, eight curators and one student representative to the Board of Curators this week, and seven Kummer Institute Foundation board members the week after next. Yes, hundreds of engaged and involved volunteers provide pro bono service to help us develop our strategies, mentor us to advance and advocate for us to grow. 

And on this National Volunteer Week, we say THANK YOU.

We say thank you sincerely for devoting your time, sharing your expertise and enduring the chores of long-distance travel to ensure that this wonderful university, in many cases your alma mater, will remain as impactive as it has been for a century and a half.

Our alumni volunteers are some of our best ambassadors and advocates. Many of them support our student recruitment efforts, promote S&T to their legislators and other government officials, give generously of their time and talents to support their alma mater, and talk up their university every chance they get. I like to say that they “wear” S&T at every opportunity, and for that we are grateful.

To our own faculty, staff and students who, like many across the nation, give of their time and expertise to our communities, professional societies, houses of worship, civil societies, schools, boards and committees, we say THANK YOU.

Our civic-minded students provide tremendous volunteer support to organizations and non-profits in our community. In January, some 90 S&T students participated in our annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service by working with eight different organizations in Rolla as well as the nearby communities of Newburg, St. James and Steelville. Today’s Earth Day celebration on campus is the work of our ECO Miners student group, which organized this community event. These are just two of many examples of how our students and student organizations use their time and talents to help the community. They also work tirelessly to raise funds for national non-profit organizations devoted to improving the lives of others.

Our faculty and staff also are active volunteers in our community. Every December, for example, you’ll find the officers of our University Police filling Walmart shopping carts with toys and clothing to bring holiday joy to children through the Cops Care program, known as “Shop with a Cop.” In addition to their support of community causes, individual employees also lend their service as volunteers to many high-visibility university events, from our commencement ceremonies to our career fairs to our annual Celebration of Nations festivities in downtown Rolla to much more.

To the members of our many boards and advisory councils, I say please know that in going about your guiding work, you are contributing to an environment that nurtures growth, accountability and progress. We consider every one of you as a coach in our corner. Your volunteer efforts make S&T a stronger, better, more resilient university.

You are making a difference. And for that we are grateful. 

Warmly,

-Mo. 

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Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
chancellor.mst.edu