Inspiration. Imagination. Ideas. Insight. Innovation. Impact. Just a few of the words and thoughts occurring to me in considering the interconnected contributions from members of the CEHD community working collaboratively—exactly what we might expect from individuals working collectively for the common good as the "People’s College." In the pages that follow, you can trace and track the individual—their ideas, their insights—and follow those threads to innovation and impact for their community. The individual journeys reveal dedication, persistence, happy happenstance—as Louis Pasteur famously observed, chance favors the prepared mind—and, indeed, the stories behind the accomplishments reveal prepared minds—all in their own way—guided by core values consistent with those that have come to define CEHD’s commitments to access and opportunity, to improving and transforming lives.

It is worth remarking that as I write this welcome and introduction for the current issue, ideas and inspiration were also in the air as the U.S. observed the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, one of the republic’s two founding documents. In the other—the U.S. Constitution—it is also worth noting that science was already a part of the founders’ initial vision (“To promote the Progress of Science and Useful Arts”)—both what it promised and the importance of protecting the activity of free inquiry for the purpose of progress. It was not then nor should it be now a partisan issue. But the process of science is based on people and therefore trust is paramount—and this, trust, based on a recent Yale report (Report of the Yale Committee on Trust in Higher Education) is what people expect—that our institutions of higher education live up to their highest purposes and best aspirations—and in so doing the value proposition should be self-evident, because as Beverly Gage (co-author of the recent Yale report) reminds us, trust comes from “doing what you say you’re going to do and doing it well.” In the pages that follow, I think you will find clear evidence of individuals doing what they said they would do and doing it well—exactly as I and you would expect from CEHD.
 

–Frank Symons
CEHD Interim Dean, Distinguished McKnight University Professor, Department of Educational Psychology

Photo by Jairus Davis