Letter From the President
We are proud of the transformative impact that a Suffolk education has on our students. Transforming individual lives is central to our mission, our history, and our identity, and it is something we rightly celebrate. But Suffolk is involved in another kind of transformation as well—namely, the role this institution plays in more broadly transforming society.
This issue of Suffolk University Magazine explores work that our students, our faculty and staff, and our alumni are doing to improve not only their own communities but also our often-divided country.
In the midst of this intense political season, when partisanship and polarization often have the upper hand, many Suffolk students are focusing their efforts on nonpartisan civic engagement. No matter their own political beliefs, they recognize that we need a culture of respectful democracy in which all voices can be heard. In “Stepping Up for Democracy,” you can read about how Suffolk students are working to reduce barriers to participating in our democratic process, including through voter education and registration.
These efforts won’t end on Election Day. Since 2018, Suffolk has been a member of the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, a national nonpartisan initiative to increase voting participation by college students and other young adults. Along with the presidents of more than 700 other colleges and universities, I have committed Suffolk to this effort to expand civic education. Working with a team of campus partners, Professor Rachael Cobb, chair of our Department of Political Science & Legal Studies, has developed an ambitious action plan to keep students politically informed and engaged throughout their University careers with a range of courses, co-curricular activities, campus programs, and forums.
After they graduate, many Suffolk alumni make civic engagement and community impact cornerstones of their careers. That is very much the case for two alumni featured in the magazine, both of whom have centered their work on lifting up the most vulnerable.
The Honorable Amy Nechtem, JD ’85, who serves as vice chair of our Board of Trustees, just retired from the bench after 23 years, ten of which she spent as chief justice of the Massachusetts Juvenile Court. Her work has touched the lives of thousands of Bay State children and families, and she leaves a legacy of programs focused on intervention and prevention.
Josh Koskoff, JD ’94, has emerged as one of the most admired lawyers in the country for his efforts to seek justice for families who have lost children in school shootings. In 2022, he achieved an historic $73 million settlement for nine families of the first graders and teachers slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Now he is seeking accountability for 17 families whose children were killed in May 2022 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The challenges that confront our society can seem endless and overwhelming. What gives me hope is watching how members of the Suffolk community—students, faculty and staff, and our more than 90,000 alumni—so consistently find ways to make a real difference. Together, you are driving institutions forward. You are making lasting contributions to your community. You are strengthening our democracy and transforming our society for the better.
That is the Suffolk way, and I am deeply proud of it.
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fall 2024
Marisa J. Kelly, President
The community is their campus: (front table) Jack Donovan, Stacey Jean-Baptiste, Grace Caccaviello, Sophia Marley; (back) HengKim Seng, Diana Rucinski, Dorzhu Lopsan, Corey Lefavor, Olivia Nicholson. Photograph: Michael J. Clarke
We are proud of the transformative impact that a Suffolk education has on our students. Transforming individual lives is central to our mission, our history, and our identity, and it is something we rightly celebrate. But Suffolk is involved in another kind of transformation as well—namely, the role this institution plays in more broadly transforming society.