22 Embracing Our Immigrant Heritage

Gustavus sets high expectations for everyone who joins this community. Faculty, staff, and administrators’ commitment to excellence, community, and service is truly inspiring. At a time when the world around them is changing so quickly, fostering students’ critical skills and encouraging them to embrace open and inclusive dialogue are now more important than ever. The resurgence of white supremacy, the attacks against people of color, and the separation of immigrant families reveal how much our society needs compassionate, articulate, and sophisticated students, citizens, and humans in the spirit of the Swedish and Lutheran heritage that grounds the liberal arts at Gustavus.

In the short time I have been here, I have tried to raise students’ awareness of the lessons we can learn from the past to understand the present, but I have also emphasized the importance of maintaining a global perspective, especially at a moment when there is the temptation in the U.S. and abroad to retreat into isolationism. In the spirit of equipping students to lead purposeful lives, I teach U.S. history in a global perspective, I encourage students to grapple with the challenges and rewards for the United States to become “a more perfect union,” and I ask students to reflect on their position and their spheres of influence on campus, in their country, and the world. Outside the classroom, whether it’s during my service on campus and or my public history engagements, I am always mindful of the institution’s commitment to social justice. For me, this means making visible the stories and the pain of our immigrants and refugees. This interest also speaks to the immigrant heritage of this institution, an element that we should continue to embrace at a time of divisive and polarizing rhetoric.

Going to Gustavus is about transformation, but this transformation cannot happen without helping students to engage with learning and knowledge more deeply. This is why I ask students to work with application files of the U.S. consulate in Shanghai after WWII, find local newspapers that covered the Holocaust, or create a video about an immigrant experience. These assignments help students to consider historical events through the eyes of different historical actors, to think about the role that contingency plays in pivotal moments in history, and grapple with change and continuity in U.S. history. I want my students to leave Gustavus as lifelong learners because I believe that intellectual curiosity, mutual understanding, and creativity are at the heart of a mature democracy. Teachers at Gustavus continue to evolve too. Like so many of my colleagues, I believe that teaching excellence means listening to students, incorporating their feedback, and continuing to develop new assignments, in-class exercises, and pedagogical approaches to improve student learning and respond to new challenges in higher education.

In a world that is constantly changing and in which it is no longer common to have only one career in one’s life, I encourage students to embrace uncertainty as an opportunity, but I also work hard to equip them with skills that will help them navigate whatever challenge they might face ahead. Regardless of what awaits them, they will all need to think critically, creatively, and holistically to find a path forward. Along the way, my hope is that my students will remember to pay attention to those who are neglected, look for missed opportunities to bring people together, and give back. I cannot think of a better place than Gustavus to do this.