letter from the president
This spring we mark the 25th anniversary of Suffolk University’s Center for Community Engagement. Many of our alumni remember it as S.O.U.L.S., or Suffolk’s Organization for Uplifting Lives Through Service. During its quarter-century of existence, thousands of Suffolk students have devoted hundreds of thousands of hours of service to community organizations in Boston, across the country, and around the world. Those numbers are impressive, but they do not begin to measure the impact of that service. It simply cannot be quantified.
As Beth Brosnan writes in our cover story, “One tree planted, one meal served, one child taught to read at a time, that service has changed those communities for the better.”
It has also changed our students for the better. These experiences heighten students’ sense of empathy, expand their view of the world, and instill hope, understanding, confidence, and a deep-rooted commitment to serve. Many have gone on to become nonprofit, community, civic, and business leaders who drive positive change locally and globally.
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Impact begins at home: Suffolk CARES provides a network of services to help support student success, including a Suffolk CARES Pantry. Nhi Urbstonaitis, MS ’23, a Suffolk CARES grad fellow since 2021, calls her work deeply rewarding. “The Suffolk CARES staff are some of the most caring, kind, helpful, and understanding people I have ever worked with,” she says. “And it is lovely to meet new people every day and get to hear their stories.” Photograph by Michael J. Clarke
Community engagement has been central to this University’s mission since our founding in 1906. It is an ethos woven into the very fabric of the institution. We see it in Suffolk’s partnership with the Boston Debate League, which brings middle and high school students to campus for debate coaching and competitions. Students learn their voices matter and gain respect for other points of view. The same is true for Suffolk students: After a three-decade hiatus, I’m thrilled to report that the University has reestablished its competitive debate team, which has already traveled to California for tournaments.
Positive impact is also central to the Sawyer Business School. Dean Amy Zeng and the School’s innovative faculty and staff have re-envisioned what is most crucial in business education today—namely, the idea that profits matter, but so do people, policy, and the planet. Through real-world experience, Suffolk business students are learning how they can make a positive difference, whether they ultimately work in the private, public, or nonprofit sectors.
Our “Business with Purpose” feature brings this vision to life with stories of students consulting for nonprofit organizations and major corporations, advising them on sustainability and other social issues. In unique courses with names like Tackling Wicked Global Problems and Managing Across Differences, students learn how businesses can address seemingly intractable challenges, including discrimination, bias, and stereotyping in the workplace.
We also hear from SBS alumni who are taking a purposeful approach to their careers. They include Tony Richards, MPA ’21, a “positive disruptor” working to expand housing equity and home ownership in Massachusetts, and Dorothy Savarese, MBA ’04, HDCS ’21, one of the nation’s most powerful bankers who has championed economic and environmental resiliency for communities on Cape Cod.
Across campus, across Boston, and across the planet, Suffolk community members are working as a force for good. The pages of Suffolk University Magazine’s IMPACT edition are filled with some of those stories. I hope you will enjoy them immeasurably.
Marisa J. Kelly, President