Message from the Dean
DEAR SESP COMMUNITY,
SESP’s 100th-birthday milestone has me asking questions: What happens when we consider the past? What lessons should we carry forward? And how does the past shape the way we think about the future?
The past can build community by binding us in a shared history: shared memories and experiences; shared affection for courses, people and ideas; and a shared sense of belonging. Celebrations like Homecoming are one example of the ties that bind us.
The past also connects us across generations and lifestyles. Its ties to an institution allow us to become “we” and “us.” In Hawaii, people say, “It’s a kākou thing,” meaning it’s an everyone thing. The past also shows us how we have evolved over time. We can see growth. Change. Evolution.
Engaging with the past is not always celebratory, however. It can offer caution and perspective, and its lessons help us move with deliberation. It can also distort our memories. I sometimes hear my generation, or my parents’, say that today’s college students are “cooked” or “won’t make it.”
I am simultaneously amused and infuriated when I hear this, because it is exactly the message I received when I was in college. Our current students are remarkable. They are smart, driven, and curious. They care about each other and the world around them. And they are fun. They are wildly competent and will guide our future with care and rigor.
This issue is the first of two magazines celebrating how our past shapes our future, and it features one very special alumnus, Eli Krumbein (MS56, PhD60), who knows firsthand what it feels like to be 100 years old.
Born on July 4, 1926, Eli works part-time as a psychologist, lives on his own, and still handwrites us thoughtful letters after he receives the magazine. He has been part of SESP’s journey nearly from the beginning, and his commitment to social responsibility and community well-being is one reason our school’s past and present leave me excited about the future: about our role in making it, in growing into it, and in moving both deliberately and decisively. People like Eli have given us a blueprint for living life with courage and determination.
Now let’s celebrate. Thank you for all you do for our school. Happy birthday to us!
Warmly,
Bryan McKinley Jones Brayboy — Dean and Carlos Montezuma Professor of Education and Social Policy