From the President:

Come and See (And Experience) Siena Heights!

Faith and belief.

As an Adrian Dominican Sister, that was what I arrived with when I stepped on campus for the first time as President of Siena Heights University a decade ago.

My faith in God. My belief in the goodness of people and in the Siena Heights mission. What else did I really need?

Well, as you might imagine, it wasn’t as easy as just praying and waiting for good things to happen. Our faith demands action, demands hard work, demands a commitment to doing what is right, then believing that God will work through you and others to accomplish your goals—and, of course, God’s.

The last 10 years at Siena Heights have been an incredible journey. The story a few pages over in this issue documents much of that journey, and all of the wonderful and amazing things that have happened during that time. However, allow me to use this column to offer some of my personal reflections:

People President

Celebrating 10 Years at Siena Heights, Sister Peg Albert Has Built Her Presidency Around Community, Relationships

Maybe it was a calling.

She likes to refer to it as a “nudge.” Regardless, accepting the job as President of Siena Heights University was something Sister Peg Albert, OP, PhD, felt compelled to do in the spring of 2006.

As she approaches her 10th anniversary as SHU President in July 2016, Sister Peg can’t imagine being any place else. An Adrian Dominican Sister who had spent most of her adult life around family and friends and working at ADS-sponsored Barry University in the warm and sunny comfort of Miami, Fla., she now has firmly established her legacy in southern Michigan.

And what a legacy it is. Over the past decade, Siena Heights has “grown up” in many ways. In a period that included the worst recession in decades, where many higher education institutions had to scale back plans, projects and personnel, Siena Heights has bucked the trend. Enrollment increased, facilities improved, programs and positions added and prominence amplified.