Southwestern University will inaugurate President Laura Trombley, on Friday, October 15th!
“Southwestern University achieved an important milestone last year with the selection of its 16th president,” Chair of the Board of Trustees Stephen G. Tipps said. “As the chair of the Southwestern Board of Trustees, it was my pleasure to announce that the board had hired Dr. Laura E. Skandera Trombley to assume Southwestern’s presidency, making her the first woman to serve in that capacity in our 181-year history.”
President Trombley joined the campus in July 2020 and in her first year has already helped the university navigate exciting and at times, challenging times at the university.
One of the first challenges was to determine how to best operate during a pandemic, which President Trombley told Hello Georgetown took up a great deal of time, but ultimately resulted in successful strategies and adjustments. Also in her first year on the campus, President Trombley said the university created a long-term plan for Southwestern and updating it’s branding.
“The community came together and created a five year tactical plan that’s now well underway,” President Laura Trombley told Hello Georgetown. “We created a new athletic brand, one that actually was designed by one of our students, and I think it’s really striking and it’s an exciting new step for us to take in terms of really promoting our athletic teams.”
Read More: Southwestern University Rolls Out New Athletics Brand
Earlier this summer, President Trombley also led out a campaign for the university and community called Find Your Summit. As part of the campaign, President Trombley completed a 63 mile hike in the Sierra Nevadas and invited everyone to join her in setting goals and accomplishing them. Not only did she complete the hike, but the campaign also generated $30,000 for paid student internships and study abroad opportunities.
Though the actual hike and campaign is over, President Trombley also hopes to continue instilling that message of finding your summit across campus and in her own classroom as she teaches this semester.
“I really want to make it clear to students that they shouldn’t ever feel as though they need to set limits for themselves, that if they really want to do something, if they’re very passionate about something, they should pursue this, and they should not be concerned about whether or not this is something that they are convinced that they will succeed in trying,” President Trombley said. “It’s okay to fail, but you need to get up and get yourself going along that trail of life and to be determined and to keep going. There are some who were very surprised that at age 60, that I would try and do something like that. But, if you don’t try then you won’t succeed.”
Read More: Southwestern University President Embarks on 63-Mile Hike for “Find Your Summit” Campaign
As her own journey at Southwestern continues, President Trombley said she is proud of the university’s continued commitment to students.
“It is a place where it has been well known nationally for academic excellence for a long, long time, and I find the students at Southwestern to be very earnest, extremely intelligent, very interested in pursuing their intellectual goals, and also who really want to do good in this world,” President Trombley said. “The faculty are experts, caring and truly devoted to their students and I find that very inspiring.”
As she prepares for her inauguration and looks towards the future, President Trombley is equally inspired and optimistic about what lies ahead for Southwestern.
“In the upcoming year, it is working together with the community to think about land planning for the land that is contiguous to campus,” President Trombley said. “We’re planning for a new mixed use residence hall. We’re thinking about, after the blizzard that came the last year, just one of the many, many things that took place, where it really killed so many of our plantings on campus, we’re going to think about what do we want to do in terms of creating some new landscaping for the campus, which is renowned for its beauty, and one where we can welcome visitors and guests who are interested in gardening, as well as establish gardens that our students can maintain. So, we have a lot of projects coming up, and I think it’ll be great for the community. It will move the institution forward, and you’re going to see some really positive change at the university.”
She also looks forward to being able to see more community visitors on campus supporting the accomplishments of the students studying there.
“I attended an extraordinarily beautiful cello concert last night, and there were many people from the community in attendance,” President Trombley said. “We want people to come to our theater productions, our musical productions, but also, we will have opportunities for volunteers, in our library, working in our gardens, and I really believe that the university and Georgetown have an open and positive, and growing partnership over the coming years.”
President Trombley will be officially inaugurated on October 15th, which will kick off the university’s Homecoming weekend celebration October 15 through the 17.
Read More: Southwestern University Announces Schedule for 2021 Homecoming
“I really feel that this is a wonderful community,” President Trombley said. “I love it here. I love being a member of Georgetown, and I look forward to the inauguration. It’s a moment, I think, of pride for everyone, and it’s also our homecoming and we were the first university to ever have a homecoming and we haven’t had our usual homecoming for two years. So, I think we’ll see a lot of school spirit and a lot of joy next week.”
Learn more about President Trombley and Southwestern University here.
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