A Colgate education provides invaluable opportunities to foster critical thinking and lifelong learning through challenging assignments, insightful faculty discussion and lectures and through a myriad of extra-curricular activities available to Colgate students that promote leadership, group activities and interpersonal communication skills.    

Why is lifelong learning important? As a Colgate graduate, our liberal arts degree provides us with many tools to adapt, to change and to adjust to varying circumstances. Our training at Colgate teaches us to “learn how to learn” and to be intellectually curious about the world. As Colgate students, we become conditioned to ask questions, to question the status quo and to ponder what impact we can make on the world.  A Colgate education is distinguished because of its ability to transform students, not only by giving them greater knowledge, but also by providing them with a comprehensive set of tools to navigate our highly chaotic and unstructured society that prevails today.

Colgate’s reinforcement of lifelong learning is critical because after graduation, the school continues to stay in touch with us. Through alumni networks, visits from faculty members, news in the Colgate Scene, to major campus initiatives, the Colgate spirit remains with us as we embark on our roles as Colgate alumni. Our relationship with Colgate does not span the four years of our experience on campus, but rather, throughout our entire lifetimes. While you remain focused on your studies on campus and the day-to-day of living in Hamilton, I hope you will ponder your future as a Colgate alumna/alumnus. What opportunities will you seek to make an impact on the world, to apply your Colgate education to the fullest in your job, your graduate studies, or other vocations that you pursue? Can you see the application of your education to the real world? Are you reflecting on the meaning of different issues you are faced with? And, are you seeking the truth in all that you do? These are important questions to consider, and more than anything, your Colgate education is a powerful tool to help you address these questions, and others, that you will be confronted with after graduation.  

Lifelong learning is a hallmark of the liberal arts. We should all be thankful for the great education that Colgate provides, and because of that, for the difference that we can all make in the world today.   Colgate is with you now, as a dedicated student, and it will be with you for years to come as you embark on your alumni experience. It is a relationship, reinforced by Colgate’s commitment to lifelong learning that I hope that each and every one of you will cherish over time.