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It's Not Just Who You Know . . . Though That Doesn't Hurt!
Stand in the lobby of the Dillingham Center for Performing Arts on the Ithaca College campus and you will see a display of more than ninety posters for Broadway shows. These are not just decorative...
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If you were a crayon, what color crayon would you be and why?
Three young women were each given an opportunity to come up with a creative answer to that question last Friday evening, hopefully one that would persuade a young man on the other side of a screen to...
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Banished No More
Naval captains have the authority to marry people. Governors can commute the sentences of prisoners. I recently learned that college presidents may, on occasion, issue a pardon. In the fall of...
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There are a thousand stories in the naked city, and this is just one
I am sure some of you are thinking that I put the word "naked" in the title of this post as a craven strategy for increasing the readership of my blog. But you may remember the TV crime series called...
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William Thomas Rochon
When I was about to be born, my father drove my mother to the hospital and then was shooed back home by the doctors and nurses to wait for news. While waiting at home, he put on his best white shirt...
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To the IC Class of 2009
I had an opportunity last Sunday to address the undergraduate and graduate students in Ithaca College's class of 2009. They compiled a remarkable record of scholarship and service while at IC, and I...
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Scholars, Athletes, and the A&E Center
I am often asked what the most surprising discovery or insight has been during my first year as college president. In a place as rich in surprise as Ithaca College, I would hesitate to single out just...
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Ithaca in the World
I am devoting a series of summer blog posts to some dominant impressions from my first year as president. One area that has struck me anew this year is the unique value of international study as part...
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Learning by Doing
Dear Mr. Rochon, I am in 7th grade at Sacred Heart Parish School in Coronado. California. The reason I have sent you this PowerPoint is because my computer teacher had us do a PowerPoint on a college...
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Hail the Class of 2013!
Take a deep breath and close your eyes. Blank your mind and turn inward. Feel the slowing of your pulse, your heart, and your breathing. You are at rest, and yet you are also poised for the next burst...
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Obama, First Year Reading, and a Great Start to the New Year
I think you are sick to require your incoming students to read this dumbo's book! Let me guess. You did drugs in the sixties, but now you do them at any temperature? Why not make them read Mein...
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Ties That Bind
What holds people together for over half a century in ties of deep affection and mutual respect? How do bonds between people remain strong even when they are physically scattered and no longer see...
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Leaders Wanted
“Underappreciated, taken for granted, our bulletin boards defiled, our phones ringing at 3:00 am, yet I wouldn’t trade this job for anything else.” That is how one Resident Assistant, RA for short,...
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Submitted for your approval ...
A slender, dark and classically handsome man stands alone in front of the camera, cigarette smoke curling into the air beside him. He speaks with a resonant voice and a precise diction that cannot be...
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We're All Millionaires Now
Last weekend one of the chores on my to-do list was to hook up a new DVD player, replacing one that no longer worked. Inevitably whenever I tackle something like this I end up with an extra cable or...
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Pianogate and its aftermath
One week ago, early Sunday morning, students in our School of Music went into the James Whalen Center for Music to practice for their final performances of the semester. What they found was...
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Concert for Haiti
From Chopin to Beyoncé. From classical to jazz to rock ‘n’ roll. Soloists and ensembles. Music both choral and instrumental. Last night, February 8, the faculty and staff of Ithaca College played,...
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ACE up our sleeves
I spent the first part of this week in Phoenix at a meeting sponsored by the American Council on Education (ACE). The meeting offers a great chance to interact with college and university presidents...
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It Was Forty Years Ago Today, Sgt. Pepper Would No Longer Play
I still remember the Monday morning, in fifth grade, when I learned the discomfort of being caught in a “Catch-22.” (It was a few years yet before I would learn the phrase.) Becky, a classmate, asked...
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Comfort Zone
One of the most common but nonetheless valuable messages we give our students is: “Get out of your comfort zone.” It is especially important for new students to hear this, because the only way to fully...
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Living and Learning at Ithaca College
As Garrison Keillor might say, “It’s been a busy week at Ithaca College, my home campus.” The Quad is buzzing with young people ages 3 to 18, walking from place to place and talking together in...
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The Ghosts of Boardman House
Ninety-nine and three-quarter years ago, in November 1910, Grant Egbert decided to purchase the Ithaca home of Judge Douglass Boardman, making it the architectural centerpiece of what was then known as...
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The Mighty Class of 2014
Every year at about this time, the summer pace on campus abruptly quickens. Although preparation for the fall semester begins literally the day after May Commencement, our focus becomes more intense in...
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Fall Splash 2010
Tours of the former campus downtown and of the current campus on South Hill. Kayaking in the fountains while fishing out rubber ducks to award prizes. Thoughtful conversations with current students...
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Off Ramp to the 1990s
Last week I had an opportunity be a time traveler to my own past. I was in southern California for a conference of private college presidents. On my way to the airport after the conference I found...
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The Parking Game
At our holiday reception for campus faculty and staff last December, Amber and I decided to raffle off a few prizes for our guests. The top prize was use of my reserved campus parking space for the...
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Just Another Evening on the IC Campus
Last night I ran into the Ithaca College provost, Greg Woodward, in the hallway connecting our offices. Nothing unusual in that except that the time was 6:45 p.m. I knew that Greg was headed to the...
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The Second Miracle is Not the Lesser
Amber, Liam and I welcomed Eliot Dell Rochon to our family today, April 13, 2011. He joined the world with a blink and a cry at 8:15 a.m., weighing 7 pounds 6 ounces and with a head full of rich brown...
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The Perfect Commencement
It might have been the perfect Commencement. Not many businesses would celebrate the end of a four year relationship with a loyal customer. But of course higher education is not just another...
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Collaboration and Learning
Last week I went to a retirement party for Cornell University’s Sidney Tarrow, one of the world’s leading scholars in the study of social movements, a field in which I used to work. The “retirement...
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To the Class of 2015: Remember this time
This post is for members of the Ithaca College class of 2015, our entering freshman class. Others are welcome to read it as guests! Your high school graduation ceremonies have been completed, along...
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Nobody's Perfect
Fourteen months ago I acquired a hero. He is someone I look up to and seek to emulate, though I know I will never fully be able to mimic what he has done. My hero is Armando Galarraga, a baseball...
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Killing the Umpire in the Era of Facebook
In my last blog post, I described the other-worldly reaction by my hero, Armando Galarraga, when an umpire’s flawed judgment in June 2010 cost him the immortality of having pitched a perfect game. He...
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Remembrance of 9/11, ten years later
I had the honor earlier today of being one of a number of speakers invited to offer a reflection for the Ithaca community on the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, with an emphasis on remembering...
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Nightfall
Last month my wife Amber and I were asked to lead a discussion in our county library of texts that have been influential in our lives. It was a powerful exercise for us to identify the books and...
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Top Ten Questions to Ask Your College-Attending Son or Daughter
Last weekend we welcomed approximately 1500 parents and other relatives of IC students to campus for Family Weekend. The weekend gives the families of our students an opportunity to learn first-hand...
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Voices in a Virtual Elevator
I am so excited to be at this school. I want to thank you for making Ithaca College feel so homey and welcoming. Especially as a freshman, I miss my home a lot, but I know that Ithaca was the right...
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IC Gets You Off the Couch!
“Life is lived in community, not sitting alone in a room in front of a computer screen. An Ithaca College education unfolds through interactions within a residential community of students, faculty and...
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The World Comes to Ithaca College
The transition to college is one of life’s major events. Like the first day of kindergarten and the birth of one’s child, the first few weeks of college are one of those times people tend to remember...
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Four Stories
The 2011-2012 school year comes to an end this Sunday with a commencement at which approximately 1600 students will receive their degrees. Looking back over the nine months of this academic year, I am...
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Busting out of Class and into the IC Learning Community
Well we busted out of class, Had to get away from those fools. We learned more from a three minute record, baby Than we ever learned in school. I believe, like many people, that Bruce Springsteen...
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A Fifty Year Tradition of Excellence, One Student at a Time
The Ithaca College Chemistry Department has more than five hundred graduates, some of whom are today among the most respected leaders in their field. Its faculty care so much about their students that...
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Describing the Challenge Before Us
This is a time of rapid change at IC and in higher education generally. We have entered a period in which we are challenged to operate differently in order to continue to flourish. As a result, there...
View ArticleThe Challenge Before Us, part 2: Increasing Quality
Last week I summarized the challenge for Ithaca College to continue to attract high quality students who can benefit from the educational experience we offer. In brief, there are more options for...
View ArticleThe Challenge Before Us, part 3 on Cost
Our focus at Ithaca College is on increasing our VALUE to students. Given IC’s standing as one of the best student-centered learning environments in the country but also as a relatively expensive...
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The Challenge Before Us, Part 4 On Opportunity
Over the last three weeks I have described some of the challenges related to cost and quality that we face at Ithaca College. I am certain we will be able to meet these challenges because our campus...
View ArticleThe Fancy Class of 2018
It’s aliiiive!! Every year at this time I think of that line spoken by Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein in the Mel Brooks movie Young Frankenstein. The Ithaca College campus, like the creature...
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Home Is Where the Heart Is: Reflections of Home
For over 4,000 students the Ithaca College campus is home, and for 2,000 more students who live off campus it is still a nearly full-time home. And because for nearly all students this is the first...
View ArticleTaking Flight in Your Voyage of Discovery
It turns out that having a great job that engages you and living a great life of health, wealth, connection, and purpose traces back to what you do in college. If you do six specific things during your...
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