Toward the Horizon

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As I write this letter, it is a quiet wintery morning on campus, but our classrooms, libraries, and cafés soon will be filled with the lively chatter of students back from break. I am looking forward to the energy, sense of community, and intellectual engagement that the spring semester will bring. 

We are kicking off 2025 with a particularly special milestone: the centennial anniversary of Zora Neale Hurston’s time as a student at Barnard. We will host a multiyear celebration that will honor Hurston’s many achievements — from her contributions to the field of anthropology to her groundbreaking literary works — and explore her impact here at Barnard, in the Harlem community, and around the globe. 

Hurston’s texts and research continue to inspire and challenge us to think differently about our culture, race relations, gender norms, and society more broadly. She was a prolific writer who embraced new projects and creative forms of expression even in the face of frequent rejection and insidious discrimination. Hurston never gave up, and she kept writing until her death in 1960. As she wrote in Their Eyes Were Watching God, “No matter how far a person can go, the horizon is still way beyond you.”

Hurston was a trailblazer not only in her literary and academic pursuits but also as Barnard’s first Black student. The bravery and drive it took to step onto campus in 1925 and graduate in 1928 has paved the way for generations of Black students at the College. As we pay tribute to Hurston, the College will also launch 100 Years of Black Students at Barnard to commemorate the legacy of Black women at the College. This three-year series of workshops and programming will, in the words of Monica L. Miller, professor and chair of Africana Studies, provide an opportunity to “learn more about the history of Black Barnard students, the challenges and joys they experienced, and their aspirations for the future.” 

This semester ushers in other exciting news as well. In just the past year, our 4-acre campus has undergone an exciting transformation as we expand and modernize our facilities and infrastructure to meet the needs of our community. Since opening in the fall, the new Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being has quickly become an essential hub for students, faculty, and staff, supporting a 360-degree approach to mental, financial, and physical wellness. From its extensive programming to its state-of-the-art space, the center furthers our commitment to supporting our community’s health and well-being. We are so grateful to Francine for her generosity and vision and for helping us to bring this incredible resource to fruition. 

In late January, I will have the great pleasure of standing beside faculty and community members to celebrate the tremendous progress made in the construction of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Science Center. This event will mark an exciting step forward in the project, bringing us closer to the center’s completion in the summer of 2026, when it will double our space for science teaching and research, unlocking new possibilities for innovation and discovery.

Reflecting on the semester ahead, I am reminded of how Barnard is a small but mighty institution that continues to grow, adapt, and change. We learn from the past, and we respond to the challenges of the moment. But there’s always a desire to do and be better — like Hurston, to strive for more. We are well on our way.