Wight Inaugurated as SU's Ninth President
SALISBURY, MD---Dr. Charles “Chuck” Wight was inaugurated as Salisbury University’s ninth president on Wednesday, April 10, during a festive ceremony including state officials, student and faculty performers, and SU shared governance representatives.
For the first time, Wight officially outlined his priorities for the University: ensuring educational accessibility and affordability, building on SU’s culture of diversity and inclusion, being a steward of financial resources and the environment, and furthering mutually positive community relationships — all with the ultimate goal of providing students with the greatest opportunities for success.
The President noted that all are “things that we do well already. But these are the four areas where I will spend some of my personal time and energy taking us to the next level.”
Expounding on the first priority, he said: “We need to make certain that money is never an insurmountable barrier to a college education. We need to create this opportunity for every student who is willing to commit to a plan of study, work hard and succeed.”
Discussing his second initiative, Wight referenced the recent opening of SU’s Center for Equity, Justice and Inclusion, adding: “No university can fulfill its true potential for educational excellence unless it embraces the idea that the best learning occurs when we gather people together from different backgrounds, different experiences, different cultures, different races, different religions and different nationalities to have respectful conversations.”
On stewardship, Wight noted the initiative would include using tuition, taxpayer and donor funds responsibly, as well as serving as an environmental leader. “In many ways, the Eastern Shore is ground zero for the adverse consequences of living beyond the means of the Earth,” he said. “It is therefore our responsibility not only to teach our students about environmental sustainable practices, but to model those practices as an institution.”
Speaking on community partnerships, Wight lauded SU’s connections with local governments and organizations including the City of Salisbury, Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce, Greater Salisbury Committee and Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore. He also said SU will participate in the Maryland Governor’s Office’s “Day to Serve” initiative by granting employees four hours of paid leave to engage in community service projects next fall.
He also spotlighted two efforts being explored with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore: combining public radio resources from both campuses to create a Delmarva Public Media partnership and envisioning a plan to recruit, train and retain highly skilled health care professionals in the region.
“These initiatives will help our students to be even more successful, which is the core mission of this University,” he said.
Bestowing Wight with SU’s Presidential Medallion, University System of Maryland (USM) Chancellor Robert Caret charged him with broadening the University’s vision and horizons; continuing to strengthen its academic programs and community ties; being an advocate for its students; valuing the contributions of students, faculty, staff and alumni; being a force for unity and diversity; and upholding its history and traditions.
Since taking the helm at SU last July, Wight has made progress in many of these areas, the Chancellor said. In the past nine months, the University has expanded its presence in downtown Salisbury and supported two new student-led initiatives to assist those on campus: a Career Closet, from which students may borrow professional clothing for job interviews, and the “Food for the Flock” food pantry for students in need.
In addition, this academic year SU has again been named one of the nation’s top producers of Fulbright Students by The Chronicle of Higher Education, earned some $1.8 million in National Science Foundation funding, and been ranked among the top universities in the country by publications including U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review, Forbes, Money and Washington Monthly.
“It is a great challenge to assume leadership of a major university,” said Caret. “A new president is expected to bring his or her own unique vision to the task. At the same time, he or she must also incorporate that vision with many others. Chuck’s response to that mission has been strong and clear.”
Other state education leaders, including USM Student Regent Langston Frazier of UMES, joined the Chancellor at the ceremony, led by Dr. Karen Olmstead, SU provost and senior vice president of academic affairs. Two USM Board of Regents members — Assistant Secretary Robert Rauch, and D’Ana Johnson, who chaired the search for SU’s new president — also lauded Wight’s leadership.
“Chuck is the right leader at the right time for Salisbury,” said Rauch. “He brings insightful and energetic leadership and has an unfaltering commitment to the students he serves. His vision for excellence and his commitment to this institution will serve SU and the USM extremely well.”
“Since taking office last July, Dr. Wight has quickly implemented his vision of collaborative leadership focused on student success,” Johnson said.
SU Student Government Association President Devin Neil, agreed: “Dr. Wight has a reputation for being the ‘student president,’ something that, as the representative of the undergraduate population, I am extremely excited about. Since the beginning of the fall semester, I have already seen the great enthusiasm he has for engaging the student body, working tirelessly to reach out and hear their needs and interests.”
Faculty and staff representatives also were enthusiastic.
“We are positioned to create and re-envision what higher education is and can be for the students, staff and faculty here,” said Dr. Jennifer Jewell of the Social Work Department, vice president of the Faculty Senate. Addressing Wight, she added: “We want you to succeed because when you succeed, the SU community succeeds.”
“SU’s path to quality and excellence has been a journey of persistence, passion and innovation,” said Stefanie Hurst, chair of the Staff Senate. “Like any great vision, its success and achievements would not have been accomplished without the support of our leadership. We look forward to working with Dr. Wight to continue the University’s practice of coming together to accomplish big things.”
Since coming to Salisbury with his wife, Victoria Rasmussen, Wight has immersed himself in the region. He is part of Leadership Maryland’s Class of 2019 and is active in the Greater Salisbury Committee, the Salisbury Area and Greater Ocean City chambers of commerce, Junior Achievement of the Eastern Shore, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Eastern Shore, the NAACP and other organizations promoting economic development and quality of life in Salisbury and the state.
His background in higher education spans some 35 years. He earned his B.S. in chemistry at the University of Virginia in 1977 and his Ph.D. at Caltech in 1982. Following two years as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Colorado, he was appointed assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Utah and rose to professor. A physical chemist, he researched the chemistry of explosives and propellants.
Between 1999 and 2012, Wight held a host of administrative and leadership roles at Utah, including Academic Senate president, coordinator of web-based instruction, associate dean of undergraduate instruction, assistant vice president of continuing education, associate vice president of academic affairs, and Graduate School dean. From 2013-2018, he served his first presidency at Weber State University, a public regional campus in Utah with some 28,000 students.
At SU, he is excited about continuing to spark an interest in learning among young people and provide them with the resources to succeed — goals that have driven him throughout his career.
“This institution is in great shape,” he said. “It is highly ranked, and it’s on all the best value lists. The faculty and staff are highly dedicated, the students are highly successful, and the campus is spectacular. … Thank you for placing your trust in me as its president.”
Highlights from the ceremony are available online.
For more information call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website.
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Full Text of President Wight's Inaugural Address
Welcome, everybody. Thank you for coming today. Secretary Fielder, Chancellor Caret, Regent Johnson, Regent Rauch and Regent Frazier, thank you; I’m truly honored. Welcome to fellow presidents and delegates from sister institutions, students, faculty, staff, alumni and many dear friends. And a special welcome to my family: to those who are here in person: my Dad and his wife Corki, my sister Ruth and her husband, Rick, and my cousin Randy. And to many family members who are watching online from afar: my Mom, my three daughters and their families, including my three precious grandchildren, brothers and sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. Welcome. And to my dear wife, Victoria Rasmussen: Thank you for your constant love and support. Thank you for always being by my side with advice and encouragement. And even when you have to tell me I’m being a knucklehead, thanks for standing with me when you say it. I love you.
President Janet Dudley-Eshbach, would you please stand for a moment? During my 100-day listening tour last summer and fall, it took only a short while for me to recognize that this institution is in great shape. It is highly ranked, and it’s on all the best value lists. The faculty and staff are dedicated, the students are very successful, and the campus is spectacular. Those are testaments to your great leadership over 18 years as our 8th president, truly shaping us as a Maryland University of National Distinction. Thank you for the tremendous privilege of inheriting a healthy institution, and I look forward to working with you as a member of our faculty.
An inauguration is a formal opportunity to set an agenda, for a new president to create some expectations. The things I’ll talk about are not broken, because they’re actually things that we do well already. But there are four areas where I will spend some of my personal time and energy taking us to the next level.
The first is increasing affordability and access to higher education. Let’s face it, college is much more expensive than it used to be, and we are already pricing some very worthy students out of the market. There are many benefits to a college education that go beyond opening doors to great career options, but some universities are already at the point where the financial return on investment is being seriously questioned. We need to make certain that money is never an insurmountable barrier to a college education. We need to create this opportunity for every student who is willing to commit to a plan of study, work hard and succeed.
The second area is to build a culture of inclusion so that every person not only feels welcome at Salisbury University, but also develops a true feeling of belonging at this institution. No university can fulfill its true potential for educational excellence unless it embraces the idea that the best learning occurs when we gather people together from different backgrounds, different experiences, different cultures, different races, different religions and different nationalities to have respectful conversations about our differences. It’s easy to have these discussions when everyone in the room shares common experiences and we close the door to outsiders. But the true test of inclusion is when we are willing to invite those to the table who disagree with us. This year we have made a pretty good start, with the establishment of a new Center for Equity, Justice and Inclusion, but there is much more work to do.
The third area is stewardship. It starts with being responsible financial stewards, of student tuition dollars, of Maryland taxpayer dollars, and of the generous gifts of countless donors. But it goes beyond this to making everyday decisions that ensure the long-term future of the institution, and the long-term sustainability of our planet. In many ways the Eastern Shore is ground zero for the adverse consequences of living beyond the means of the Earth. It is therefore our responsibility not only to teach our students about environmentally sustainable practices but to model those practices ourselves as an institution.
The fourth area is to build even greater partnerships with organizations in our community. This means not only welcoming people to our campus to experience some of the amazing things that Salisbury University has to offer, but also sending students, faculty and staff out into the neighborhoods to work with our partners for the benefit of our community. Governor Hogan recently announced his Day to Serve initiative, and I received a proposal from our Staff Senate to allow each SU employee to participate in a community service project next fall, with four hours of paid leave. And I’m proud to announce that we’re going to do it.
Our relationship with the City of Salisbury is better than ever, thanks in great part to the work of Mayor Jake Day and the City Council. But for just a moment I would like to highlight our emerging partnerships with the University of Maryland - Eastern Shore and its new president, Dr. Heidi Anderson. Together, our institutions are working to better serve the Eastern Shore with a Delmarva Public Media collaboration. Together we are working on a plan to recruit, train and retain highly skilled and much needed healthcare professionals on the Eastern Shore. And together, we are taking responsibility for serving the comprehensive higher education needs of people in this region. I believe that every university has a sacred duty to be a leader in its community, for economic prosperity and for social justice. Our partnerships with UMES, with the City, the Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Salisbury Committee, and many other organizations will help to ensure our success as a university and as a community.
All four of these initiatives will help our students to be even more successful, which is the core mission of this university. I’m deeply impressed by how successful our students are now, and you have seen evidence of that success even in this inauguration event.
One of the reasons I am so impressed is because being a college student is much more difficult in today’s world than it was when I was a student. It’s certainly more expensive, but there are also many more distractions than there used to be. Every day we are bombarded with news about political gridlock, mass shootings, scandals, plane crashes, terrorism and more. So, in addition to everything else that we are trying to teach our students, it is my sincere hope that they learn two more things. (Faculty and staff, I’m going to need your help with these.)
The first is serenity. Throughout my adult life from time to time I have sought out places that are profoundly quiet. These are places far from the roar of bustling cities. Some are in wilderness areas, and others are near the tops of mountains where I can listen for the sound of own soul and reflect on what is really important in my life. Here on the Eastern Shore there aren’t any mountains, but one of my new favorite things to do in Maryland is to watch the sunrise over the water, whether it’s the Atlantic Ocean or the Chesapeake Bay, or over Tony Tank Pond near our home. I hope that our students will learn to take the time to shut off their phones and go someplace both beautiful and quiet to rediscover themselves in serenity.
The second thing is resilience. In the midst of the everyday chaos that is our lives, we sometimes also encounter profound tragedy. An especially high-profile example is when one of our students, Jack Ferguson, a captain of our men’s basketball team, became gravely ill last year. The news of Jack’s illness before the start of the season was devastating for the team, and in the midst of this tragedy they also had to deal with an unexpected, and frankly unwelcome, change in the head coaching position. All of the players were saddened, discouraged and angry. A few of them quit the team. But the players who remained did something that was truly amazing to watch. They put aside their anger and their grief, they committed themselves to playing together as a team, and they dedicated their season to Jack Ferguson. And they started winning. They won nine games in a row to start the season and won twelve of their first thirteen games. They dealt with injuries and illnesses along the way. Often, they found themselves behind in the second half of a game, but rallied together and found a way to win. They played well in the Capital Athletic Conference championship tournament, and they received a bid to play in the NCAA national tournament. Unfortunately, Jack passed away in March, and we miss him. But I am so proud of these young men for how they handled themselves this year, and my hope is that every student at Salisbury University develops the capacity, the mental toughness and the courage to face adversity in extremely difficult situations and to excel in spite of it all.
Before I relinquish the podium, I would like to say thank you. To my staff for organizing this event, to the students, faculty and staff who all played roles in it, and to all of you for coming to celebrate this new beginning. Chancellor Caret and members of the Board of Regents, thank you for this amazing opportunity to lead a great institution. Thank you for placing your trust in me as its president.
Thank you.
And now I would like to invite Squawkapella, the Chamber Choir and all of our performers back to the stage. Please join us in singing Lift Every Voice. You know the tune; the words are printed in your program. Lift EVERY Voice!