Summer 2011 - Austin College Magazine

74443 Austin College_Layout 1 6/24/11 2:01 PM Page 2From the PresidentA Magical SpringMMany people ask me what it is like to be married to a magician.They expect that I will talk about secrets or card tricks. But thekey thing is that marriage to a magician (at least to mymagician), most essentially means living with a man keenlyattuned to wonder, hope, holiness, and transformation. Thecards, the coins, and the secret techniques are just occasionsfor sharing this deep grasp of the real magic of existence.I just finished a wonderful new novel, Vaclav and Lena, thatcaptures this essence of magic and magicians. In the story bya young novelist named Haley Tanner, Vaclav performs manytricks, but the most magical ones have nothing to do with hisprops; they have to do with his capacity to love.Speaking of magical events, I had the pleasure of attendingthree graduations this spring season, watching studentsmagically transformed into graduates. Abracadabra, indeed!The first was our own Austin College graduation. The nextweek, we headed to Pennsylvania to see our son graduatefrom Muhlenberg College. And a week after that, I served asthe graduation speaker for the Episcopal School of Dallas.It was a very emotional month and a tremendous blessingto participate in these transitional moments. You can findpictures of the Austin College celebration as well as thetext of my address to the graduates at Episcopal School ofDallas on the College website, www.austincollege.edu.I don’t want to end this letter without mentioning theexciting things happening on campus as there is much tocelebrate this spring. In June, we broke ground on the IDEACenter, a new 103,000-square-foot science center that longhas been a campus dream. We also are celebrating a recordadmission year, with over 3,500 students competing for placesthis fall in our freshman class—a class we aim to bring in at 350students. Our fantastic new housing is on schedule for anAugust opening, and every bed is reserved. Too, our facultymembers are getting some of the recognition they richlydeserve, quoted this spring in The New York Times, USA Today,and Dallas Morning News, among other outlets.And, if you have read our strategic plan, Roots andBranches, you will see that we are making progress on ourgoals for the future.I hope that you, too, had a magical spring and look withanticipation toward your fall and beyond. And, I certainly hopethat your future involves visits to campus and continuedinteraction with faculty, students, alumni, and friends of AustinCollege. I’ve found that this truly is a magical place.Gratefully,Marjorie Hass, PresidentAustin College