Dear Colleagues,

I was recently reading The Book of Joy, in which Douglas Abrams chronicles a weeklong conversation between The Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. An especially striking remark by the archbishop reminded me of the work we do: “You show your humanity…by how you see yourself not as apart from others but from your connection with others.”

To me, the “connection with others” underscores the importance of community. I have since learned that the word community appears 834 times in our undergraduate and graduate catalogs. Beyond citing the number of times “community” appears in our catalogs, its pervasiveness illustrates that fostering connections with one another is fundamental to our community identity and to the nature of what we do and why.

To begin, it seems safe to suggest that community drives learning – our primary reason for existing. This past summer, I heard a fellow provost say, “we are in the business of learning.”  Whether you agree with the business reference or not, we all agree that the process of learning requires community interactions. All acts of learning - from teaching in our classrooms and online, conducting research in our labs and out in the field, creating and sharing various types of art and music, increasing our understanding and appreciation for life by attending dance and theatre performances, engaging with our librarians, writing about topics that bridge the humanities and sciences, and honoring the legacy of those who made it possible for our values to become reality, to celebrating student learning at commencement - require that members of a community connect with one another.

Opportunities for learning and connection emerge from intentional commitment to creating experiences for the community on a regular basis at Old Dominion University. Consider the following:

  • Dental hygiene students work under the direction of Brenda Bradshaw, Associate Professor and Chair of Dental Hygiene, and Lauren Eusner, Director of Clinical Affairs, to provide low-cost services to members of our community in the David and Sofia Konikoff Dental Hygiene Care Facility.
  • Just last week, Nicole Willock, Chair and Professor of Philosophy as well as our resident specialist in Tibetan Studies, worked with numerous ODU units and  the Hampton Roads World Affairs Council to host a lecture by Dr. Tenzin Dorjee, an international expert on contemporary Tibetan politics.
  • Under the leadershihttps://www.odu.edu/engineering/applied-research-centerp of Elizabeth Zanoni, Associate Professor of History, the Monarch Humanities Internship Academy’s internship studio regularly provides funding through a grant from the Mellon Foundation to support humanities majors completing internships at non-profit agencies in our community. Since 2024, 146 humanities students have completed internships, and we anticipate that five dozen humanities students will intern this semester with community partners, including ForKids, Chesapeake Care Clinic, and Hermitage Museum, as well as our internal Design Thinking Internship Clinic.
  • Associate Dean Christopher Rhea recently brought members of the community together to launch the HEROES initiative to enhance health-related research focused on veterans, members of the military, and first responders.
  • Bob McNab and Vinod Agarwal, Professors of Economics, recently illuminated our pathway to better understanding our future economy in their 2026 Annual Economic Forecast presented to business leaders, policy makers, and others members of our community.
  • Plans were finalized recently to open a community psychology clinic that will be led by Christina Rodriguez, Professor of Psychology. The clinic will begin to serve members of our community in the upcoming year.

Community is undoubtedly critical to our purpose. Our mission statement makes it clear that Old Dominion University does not exist or function in a vacuum. Indeed, the word community is even in the concluding sentence of our mission statement: “In pursuit of equity and inclusion, ODU provides opportunities for educational, artistic, and professional growth to our diverse Monarch community.” Notably, our mission statement was reviewed at the request of President Hemphill as part of our strategic planning process in 2022. Interestingly, through a community approach, involving stakeholders from across campus and the region, we developed this new mission statement. The fact that community is the last word in our mission statement calls to mind the adage of “saving the best for last!”

Our mission connects us together so that we can serve our community. I have had the good fortune of being a part of the ODU community for nearly a quarter of a century so far. Please know that I am grateful for ongoing opportunities to connect with each of you.

Regards,

Brian K. Payne, PhD
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice