Last week Lafayette College officially celebrated the opening of the Rockwell Integrated Sciences Center, which houses the Dyer Center among other academic departments and initiatives. Leading up to the event the college ran an interview with RISC’s eponymous namesake, Kent Rockwell. It was an insightful piece into his philanthropic motivations and goals behind his gift.
Implicit in his remarks were several themes at the core of the Dyer Center and our mission: Preparing students for a global marketplace, enhancing the Lafayette experience to attract and educate a more diverse student body, burnishing our competitive position in an increasingly challenging market place, and providing unique interdisciplinary learning experiences for students.
There was also an urgency inherent in his remarks reflective of rapidly changing economic/social conditions and the need for progress now, which shouldn’t be surprising given his background as an entrepreneur and preference for action over rhetoric.
The Dyer Center is deeply indebted to Kent for his leadership and support and are prepared to heed his call to harness the collective impatience of our community’s stakeholders to ensure success in our mission to build a best in class center for innovation and entrepreneurship that helps students ignite exemplary careers through innovation, creativity and intelligent risk taking.
We will continue to lean on our alumni network as we execute on our objectives and I ask all of you to spread word of our efforts within your Lafayette networks. Share our newsletter, annual report, and social media channels to those who share are our vision and urgency. In the meantime if you have not done so already please stop by our new digs next time you are on campus and see firsthand the amazing new learning space available for Lafayette students.