Thank you all for coming. I just really appreciated and I know that a lot of
other people are going to be coming in a few minutes, but I've already had people
coming up to me saying, where is she? Where is she? Where is she? And then one student
walked out and then she was leaving and said, I met somebody named Angie. So I want to, I will
introduce her in a moment. But first I wanted to thank you all for coming. I
want to say a special, special thank you to our student staffers. Only one of
whom is here right now is Mbente. As you all know, we've been, we've been working
without an associate director on site this semester and they have done an
amazing, amazing job, all of them. Mbente, Lily, Mariam, Yemi, AJ. And they, they had
the idea, all of them, Christine too, and I'll get to her in a moment, to do our
history as our strength. And we took nominations and they did all of this. And
this is a very lived-in space. And they, as you can see, it's very cleaned up. They
really deserve a lot of credit and thanks. I want to say a special thank you
to Christine, our program team, because without an associate director on site
this semester, a lot, a lot of the work has fallen to Christine. And she has
responsibility for the day-to-day stuff in here. And, and it's been very, very
stressful and we're all stretched and she has done it with great grace. And I want to
just say thank you to all of you. And I want to say a thank you to University Life.
University Life. Thank you for everything, for our budgets, for our, you know, for all
of our partnerships, but especially this semester we were awarded a GA. Beth, right
there. She is here 20 hours a week and she is really picked up the ball and
run with it in a lot of ways. She has, she's handling the logistics for the
Anita Hill event, which is Thursday. So, and I also want to say a special thank
you to the chess budget office who have just held our hands through, ever since
I've been here, which I'm into my fourth semester now and you all have been
wonderful to us and helpful. And finally, I just want to note a few things. We
have this wonderful library that the students, the student staffers cataloged
with Library of Congress numbers. Christine set up a catalog online so that
people can check out these books. It's really an amazing library. And, and now,
oh, drum roll, what you all have been waiting for. I want to introduce Angie
Hattery. Well, thank you for this. It's really a nice opportunity. It was really
Suzanne and Christine's idea that I would make one of my visits. I've been
coming up several times before I start in July, whatever the day is. And it was
their idea that this would be a really nice time to come. And, you know, I thought
at the time it sounds like a really great idea. And I, it just is immediately
apparent to me why this was such a great idea. Because this is just, it's the
energy, the, the feeling of walking in here. Everyone, I've met so many people
already that I hadn't met. People walking up to shake my hand and say hello. It's
just clear to me how important this place is and to be able to come and get a
chance to meet people. And I apologize if I won't remember your name the next time
I see you. There's just a lot, a lot of activity. But, it's the exact same
feeling I'll say that I felt when I came and interviewed. I knew that there was a
lot of special energy here and a lot of really exciting stuff going on. And I
met some of you on my interview, so this part wouldn't be surprising to you. But,
I know that there were a lot of people that wondered why the heck I would take
this job. And didn't think that I would. And here I am. And it was because of,
especially meeting with Suzanne and Christine and everybody else, you know,
really sold me on this is a place that you're gonna, you know, want to come to
work and be excited and feel like your investment matters. And, and more than
anything I want to say, especially, you know, about Suzanne is the culture of
appreciation that I see her building. See, there they are. But, you all know that
Suzanne works very, very hard. Rick was just telling me he's gonna tell her to
get off the computer at six o'clock in the morning on Sunday. And he let me know
that as associate director my first job is to start doing that so Suzanne can
not be okay. But I think what you what you might not see, especially if you're
not working, you know, in the center as the student staffers are and Beth and
Christine, that Suzanne really builds an incredible culture of appreciation. And
it really means a lot. I did not prompt her. It really means a lot when someone
just says thank you, that was a really nice thing you did. Or I really
appreciate the way you worked on that. Or going, there's some surprises, I think,
still to be announced to some people later. So I don't want to blow it. But
looking for opportunities to reward people, to nominate them for things, to
just get a little thank you. And I think that's a really unusual culture. And I
am certainly very excited to be, to be joining it, not just remotely, but you
know, on site in a few months. And so I can't say enough about how that this
place just seems really, really incredible. And hopefully, you know, we're
going to be able to offer more and more and more stuff to everybody who's
affiliated in any sort of way when we have more and more bodies and more
hours. The last thing I'll say, because people are, I know, wanting more biscuits
and bagels and coffee. I didn't know until this morning, but today is Suzanne's
birthday. So I asked if it would be okay if we could sing happy birthday. So my
first, my first official duty as associate director will be to lead you all on
happy birthday.
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you, Suzanne. Happy birthday to you.
Thank you.
Oh, and my second official duty would be to mention that gifts can be put on my new desk.
Thank you very much for the warm welcome.
