<\/a><\/p>\nFor 175 years, Hollins has, in its own way, embraced the idea of \u201cPerformance with Purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
Your\u00a0purpose<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>has always been clear and steady: You are devoted to the elevation of the liberal arts and the education of women. This is a place where women are the singular focus of attention, in the classroom, on the field, in the lab, and at the highest levels of administration. Virginia Woolf was partially right when she wrote that a woman needs a room of her own; what Hollins has shown is that women deserve a campus of their own.<\/p>\nBut what about performance<\/em>? My advice to those who love and lead\u00a0Hollins is to think carefully and ambitiously about the\u00a0performance\u00a0you deliver, and how it can be even better.\u00a0Because if there is anything I have learned in my years at the helm of a large global enterprise, it is that innovation is essential\u2014that even the most outstanding institutions cannot afford to rest on their laurels, particularly at a time when a wave of megatrends is reshaping our world, from digital innovation to the rise of millennials.<\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/inauguration-oloughlin.jpg\")
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Paula O\u2019Loughlin, provost and dean of the faculty<\/em>, <\/em>Coe College<\/em><\/p>\nWe have been friends for 20-plus years, ever since we got to know each other as two young women assistant professors in kindred fields at the University of Minnesota-Morris. I have known the boys\u2014Aaron and Joshua\u2014since they were born, functioning at different times as babysitter, honorary aunt, basketball opponent, and super fan at their T-ball games. I have taken great joy in being part of their lives, as well as Todd\u2019s, for the last 20 years. I speak on their behalf as well as Padma, Pratap, and Sonali, Pareena\u2019s parents and sister. They can\u2019t be here in person today, but they are here in spirit. We\u2019re going to have an interactive class lesson here: In their honor and in honor of the importance of education for women throughout the world today, please join me in congratulating Pareena in Hindi. I\u2019ll say it once and then ask you to join me. \u201cBadhai ho, Pareena!\u201d<\/p>\n
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Excerpts from President Lawrence\u2019s speech<\/em><\/h4>\nNo matter what position in life you reach, when your child yells in the morning, \u201cMom, I can\u2019t find my socks! What did you do with them?\u201d you go sock hunting. Before anyone can leave the house that morning, no matter what major speech you must give or important decision you must make, everyone needs socks on their feet\u2014and somehow, that small detail grounds you in what really matters and re-centers you in this universe.<\/p>\n
As you know, I am an economist by training, but I am a university president by choice. Those of us who engage in the discipline of economics today are often more comfortable with equations, statistics, and numbers than we are with words. Modern economists do not typically concern themselves with metaphysical matters, the questions of spirit and soul. We\u2019ve long thought that what really mattered was to quantify information and create economic models that would promote tangible economic growth and development, nationally and globally.<\/p>\n
But in many ways, we were and are shortsighted.<\/p>\n
Shortsighted because we overlooked the fact that every number, every demand curve, every statistical report on \u201cintensive margins\u201d is nothing but an abstraction, a mere reflection of human life and of the infinite series of decisions we make that constitute our numbered trips around the sun. We were late to the realization that we don\u2019t move the demand curve by moving the supply curve. We move the demand curve by moving the hearts and minds, the dreams and aspirations, of the people around us.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong. I firmly believe that the discipline of economics is essential in understanding the world and how it operates, but it cannot address several of the world\u2019s most pressing questions and their immeasurable answers. We are more than the sum of our parts. Thankfully, Hollins and other institutions of higher learning grounded in the rich traditions of the liberal arts have never lost sight of what is truly important.<\/p>\n
Ever since I was a young girl, I have always wanted to change the world. It was indeed fortuitous when years later, I accepted a faculty position, which in my mind was only a temporary stop for me\u2014but it turned out to be my calling. Just a few months into my new role, I quickly realized that preparing the next generation of leaders and change-makers, who will go on and leave their own mark on this world, has much more impact in magnitude than taking on this work of change on my own. This is what we economists call the multiplier effect\u2014the power we have as educators. Indeed, I am so grateful to devote my life to education\u2014preparing students to lead lives of consequence and change the world within their sphere of influence.<\/p>\n
At Hollins, as 176 years of our forebears have shown, we will continue to reject choosing lives of quiet desperation\u2014not because it is easy, but because we know no other way. We are called to a different sort of life, a life of noisy exuberance, a life of joy and hope, and life worth celebrating not because of our financial riches but because we are making a positive difference<\/em>.<\/p>\nA difference in our own lives.<\/p>\n
A difference in the lives of those we\u2019ve touched in our lifetime.<\/p>\n
And a difference in the lives of the thousands of students yet to come to Hollins whose lives will be enriched and strengthened by the choices we make right here. I want you to join me to build the Hollins of tomorrow so that we can continue the noble purpose of educating women who lead lives of consequence. By what Hollins can do \u2026 and must do \u2026and will do. Today. Tomorrow. Together.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/inauguration-panel.jpg\")
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Alumnae panel members: Puja Sharma \u201911, postdoctoral research fellow, Wake Forest Baptist H,ealth; Shamecca Q. Bryant Jones \u201904, head of U.S. operations, Carolina for Kibera, Inc.; Meredith Cope-Levy \u201912, M.F.A. \u201918, playwright and event coordinator for Hollins; and Elysse Stolpe \u201910, assistant commonwealth\u2019s attorney for Waynesboro, Va.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/inauguration-past.jpg\")
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Past Hollins presidents with President Lawrence (center): Nancy Oliver Gray, Rev. Janet Elaine Guthrie (Rasmussen), Walter Rugaber, and Paula Pimlott Brownlee<\/em><\/p>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/inauguration-family.jpg\")
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President Lawrence with her husband, Todd, and sons Joshua and Aaron<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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Words and Pictures from President Lawrence\u2019s Inauguration On February 24, Pareena G. Lawrence was installed as Hollins\u2019 12th president. Linda Koch Lorimer \u201974 (left) and Judy Lambeth \u201973, chair, Board of Trustees, induct President Lawrence. Julia \u201cJudy\u201d Lambeth \u201973, chair, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8108,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[72],"class_list":["post-8052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-spring-2018"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8052"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8071,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8052\/revisions\/8071"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8108"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollins.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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