Sharing the light

Friday, March 28, 2025

Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday!

Unexpected natural crises, although difficult to accept, can have a silver lining of their own. Purposeful communication, community-focused connections, and team-focused collaboration. I am delighted to have witnessed and experienced the best of a community in crisis during the last two weeks when we, as a community, had to respond to a city in need. I witnessed how, after the initial shock and denial, everyone stopped trying to make sense of what happened and focused on recovery efforts.

As I highlighted in my “A process. A decision. Mixed emotions.” message last week, the way the campus community and the city came together was heartwarming. So were the overwhelmingly positive (except for one) responses – reflected here verbatim and in full. The result? Near complete restoration of electrical infrastructure. The ongoing efforts are now focused on legal and financial recovery functions. In fact, this week here on campus, we hosted a Multi-Agency Resource Center (MARC) to serve as a central location for those affected to coordinate with representatives of local agencies, state agencies and human service organizations and receive disaster-related assistance.

Unpredictable disasters aside, occasions like these highlight the importance and the responsibility of institutions of learning like ours to our surrounding communities. I have always believed that universities, as a bright light bulb, should shed light unto their communities. We must, in meaningful ways, transition from self-interest to shared interest. We must engage with our communities to ensure local economic development and local workforce development. You see, for over 150 years, S&T, like many other institutions of higher education, has trained remarkable engineers and scientists who became innovators, inventors and “builders.” Yet, our immediate communities have not directly benefited from these rainmakers!

Having personally participated in post-storm recovery and cleanup efforts, I vividly realized that short bursts of support aside, we must continue to share the light with our community beyond storm recovery efforts! It is a proud moment for our university to reflect on all ongoing services in support of our eight-county region. Services such as free access to our Curtis Laws Wilson Library and coaching, mentoring, professional development and technical assistance support for small business owners and those seeking to start a business through our Small Business Development Center. The Kummer Center for STEM Education supports partner schools by providing instructional equipment, summer camp opportunities and scholarships for students, and professional development for educators. Miners in the Making is a free afterschool program serving Phelps County K-12 school children. Programs run from school dismissal time until 6 p.m. and offer homework help and tutoring, along with a variety of STEM topics tailored to their age and skill levels.

Our Missouri Manufacturing Academy provides curriculum for middle school children to spark interest in manufacturing careers and address the growing workforce gap. In the same spirit, the South Central Regional Professional Development Center offers training to help teachers gain additional skills.

Finally, in moments of coming together, we felt like we were connecting with something bigger than ourselves. And, in those critical moments, while our focus was on recovery and the NOW, I, for one, became more grateful for the empathy that united our community and the endurance that carried us past our despair. I also realized, again, that difficult experiences define us, make us stronger and propel us to share our light.

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