[Message from President S. David Wu]

September 27, 2022

My September Blog: “Creating Our Shared Narrative by Understanding Who We Are”

Dear Baruch Community,

It’s hard to believe that I am starting my third year as president of Baruch. As my wife and I gradually settled into New York City, I developed the habit of early morning runs, and to my surprise, they have become part of my daily routine. For me, running is never about pace and mileage or the distance that runners typically care about. The fact that my movement in the city takes the form of running is incidental—in a sense, it’s a byproduct of my desire to experience the pulse of the city before it completely wakes up. I almost always run by Baruch’s Clivner=Field Plaza—around the time when the Public Safety team changes shifts and the cleaning crew sweeps the plaza and sets up the shade umbrellas. Running by the plaza gives me a sense of calm, as if confirming that the campus is ready to take on the day.

Over the summer, a few small injuries forced me to turn my runs into brisk walks, and to my surprise, this made a tremendous change in the way I view the city. With a slower pace, I started to see things I had never noticed. Instead of the blurred city as a backdrop while focusing on my own thoughts, I noticed the names of shops, small signs posted in windows and doors, as well as architectural details of the buildings. Even the facial expressions of passersby revealed an entirely different layer of mood and intrigue. I started to realize why the city is so interesting to me—otherwise irrelevant history was made relevant as I walked by, breathed in, and experienced it around me. I saw past glories, urban decay, and new vibrancy all blended into a mystic energy of wonder and melancholy.

A change in perspective allows us to see different facets of the world that often escape us during the normal rhythm of life. Far too often, we are stuck in a particular way of thinking or are fixated in a certain mindset. It is important to refresh our outlook by periodically exposing ourselves to a different set of viewpoints. This is partly why I assembled a Vision Council last year—to conduct an in-depth study through an outside agency, Ologie, to obtain a data-driven market research study for Baruch.

Understand How We Are Viewed by the People We Serve
As a precursor to our ongoing strategic planning process<https://strategicplanning.baruch.cuny.edu/>, it is important to understand who we are as an institution—not only as our self-image presumes but as experienced and perceived by our stakeholders. I use the term “stakeholders” loosely to identify those who have a vested interest in the outcome of our actions. The Ologie study included a series of discussion groups and individual interviews, which provided the basis for a survey questionnaire that identified eight distinct stakeholder groups: prospective students, current students, alumni, donors, employers, faculty, staff, and administrators. Each of these subgroups was carefully sized and sampled to ensure that survey results were statistically significant, producing a total of almost 5,000 completed surveys.

I encourage you to learn more about the survey’s key takeaways and insights in this month’s blog, “Creating Our Shared Narrative by Understanding Who We Are<https://presidentsblog.baruch.cuny.edu/creating-our-shared-narrative-by-understanding-who-we-are/>,” and join the conversation—comment, subscribe, and sign up for blog notifications. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

S. David Wu
President, Baruch College


[President Wu's website address given:  president.baruch.cuny.edu]



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