Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday!

Content rich, this week the campus saw a culmination of events celebrating our people who have made a difference – a real difference. Starting with graduation pomp and pageantry, we wished over 1,300 of our graduates well as they completed their rigorous studies and set out to start their careers. And since the past is prologue, our graduates, like our rainmaker alumni, will make a difference – a real difference!

We then celebrated the return of our Golden Alumni, who have come full circle after 50 years, to share their career and life memories with their classmates of five decades ago. Among them were mayors, business owners, chief operating officers and financial agents and superintendents, just to highlight a few. As they walked across the stage, the large overhead screen portrayed individual pictures of them in their college years. Pictures that radiated a heightened sense of purpose and all the optimism of youth. One by one, they walked across the stage and I handed them their Golden Certificate, a testament to achieving a purpose and fulfilling a promise. To our golden alumni, I say thank you for having made a difference – a real difference.

Campus celebrations continued as we recognized our committed and dedicated staff during Staff Appreciation Week. As we celebrated our staff’s achievements, I couldn’t help but think of all the individual and team functions that must come together to run a single day on campus. Thanks to our “Team S&T,” the fact that there are no accidents is no accident. To our S&T team members, who individually and together run our system of systems, I say thank you. You are making a difference – a real difference.

May is also Mental Health Awareness Month, and we recognize our staff who provide a vast array of mental health servicesand work diligently to “Turn Awareness into Action.” I encourage our students, faculty and staff to take advantage of available resources and to establish and enhance our social connections and sense of belonging. Here at S&T, we have a dedicated group focused on providing a welcoming community for our students, faculty and staff. In addition, our Student Success Center, in our new Innovation Lab, offers success coaching, counseling and tutoring.

Of course, recognizing Memorial Day on Monday, and as we solemnly reflect on all the lives lost in defending freedom, we salute all the Miners who participated and made the ultimate sacrifice in conflicts from World War I through Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. The first casualty of World War II, and one of its first heroes, was George A. Whiteman, who studied chemical engineering at S&T. Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri bears his name as a testament to his service and sacrifice. Six other Miners died in action during World War II and were honored by our university through the naming of six buildings in 1958.

Regardless of the platform on which we perform – on the path to graduation, in the world of work, in paving the way for others to succeed, or on the battlefield – the real question is: are we delineating motion and action to make a difference? A real difference? And, perhaps more importantly, are we making a difference in the lives and careers of others? If the answer is yes, then we have transitioned from the limited self-interest to the inspiring shared interest. After all, it has been famously said that happiness is to serve others, to spark hope and to make a difference – a real difference.

Warmly,

-Mo.

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Read previous Friday morning messages.

Check out the latest news from S&T:

• Twelve honored at Staff Day awards ceremony
• S&T math + education = award-winning teachers
• Kummer College launches new program

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

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