DePauw Offers Unique Opportunities for Students to Engage, Learn, and Succeed in Life, President Bottoms Tells Indianapolis Reception

September 15, 2004

September 15, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - There's never been a better time to be a student at DePauw University, Robert G. Bottoms told a crowd of more than 500 prospective students, parents, and alumni who gathered for a Presidential Reception at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Indianapolis tonight. On the eve of "DePauw Discourse 2004: Issues for America," which is bringing Ambassador L. Paul Bremer III, former presidential envoy to Iraq, to campus tomorrow night, and a number of other high-profile guests Friday and Saturday (read more here).

[Download Video: "Developing Global Citizens" - 808kb] "To be involved in dialogue with notable alumni and world famous visitors is something we do on our campus every year," Dr. Bottoms said, noting other campus visits in recent years by former British Prime Ministers John Major and Margaret Thatcher and General Colin Powell. "It helps prepare you for global citizenship."

Dr. Bottoms noted that DePauw students are among the nation's leaders in studying abroad, and discussed the strong tradition of community service and internship opportunities. He also told the audience of the work of the Coalition for a Responsible Community, an effort that involved all DePauw constituents -- students, faculty, alumni and administrators (read more here). The group's work resulted in a community covenant for DePauw: a set of expectations for members of the University community: in essence, stating the expectations for those who choose to live in the DePauw community (read the covenant by clicking here).

The first of the covenant's four pillars -- academic excellence -- is the chief factor students should consider when looking at DePauw, Bottoms said. He told the high school juniors and seniors that at DePauw all classes are taught by faculty members -- there are no graduate assistants. He noted the faculty/student ratio of one to ten creates small classes -- smaller than many high schools can offer -- providing rich opportunities for learning, discussion and exploration. [Download Audio: "Individual Attention" - 240kb] "It gives you the opportunity to write a lot. And it gives you the opportunity to have your work inspected in some detail by your faculty members. It gives you an oppportunity to grow... and for faculty to get to know you."

The environment at DePauw, ranked in the top tier of national liberal arts colleges by U.S. News & World Report (read more here), stresses moral reflection and interaction between students and faculty, added the University's eighteenth president, now in his 19th year leading the University. For DePauw students, he says, the goal is [Download Audio: "Moral Reflection" - 589kb] "not simply to master what it is that you have in class, not simply to master what the professor tells you so you can give it back to her or to him, but to approach your education in a way to prepare you to live in the world. So that you use your education in order to prepare you for your life to really mean something. We talk among ourselves about 'what does it mean to use my education to serve? And what exactly is it that I want to do with my life? And what things -- whether it's writing poetry or working in a lab -- what things cause me to be fulfilled?'"

The covenant calls upon DePauw students to create and nurture supportive relationships. Dr. Bottoms talked of how the University has become more diverse in recent years and how "we tend to learn the most from people who are unlike ourselves." The document also states that DePauw students also enjoy unique opportunities: among them, to learn from a high-quality faculty in state-of-the-art buildings. [Download Video: "DePauw's Loyal Alumni" - 1271kb] "Everything we have is a gift," Bottoms told his audience, "by one or two or hundreds or thousands of alumni who so appreciated the influence DePauw University had on their lives, that once they were graduated they gave something back to DePauw. That's how we've done what we've done," the president added, noting that the generosity of alumni has created unprecedented student scholarship opportunities at the University.

DePauw students are urged to engage themselves in the community by the covenant, which states, "I share a passionate commitment to service, leadership, and justice while maintaining balance in my own life."

In closing, President Bottoms said, [Download Audio: "A Final Thought" - 435kb] "As you go home and you're thinking about the University, or you're thumbing through all of these catalogs ... you might think about the principles in that covenant as defined by our students as representative of what we're about. Because we believe in those principles and we think it makes for a wonderful learning community that we would invite all of you to be a part of."

DePauw's Office of Admission will present two more Presidential Receptions: on Wednesday, November 10, in St. Louis; and Thursday, November 18, in Minneapolis. For more informaton, click here.

To learn more about DePauw University, or to apply online, click here.

Back