Our country faces economic challenges that have been compared to the worst in our history; we’ve seen reports that say our infrastructure and environment are near ruin; we are often told how poorly prepared we are for what may come.
And yet, as I survey the programs of the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering at Loyola Marymount University and reflect on the faculty and student body here, I am not despairing of the future. In fact, I’m hopeful.
I see an energetic group of people involved in understanding modern life’s thorniest problems and absorbed in finding solutions.
I see the collaboration among disciplines that is the hallmark of an Ignatian education. Our curriculum educates engineers and scientists in the latest technologies and schools them in the oldest human truths.
I see innovative plans to include a more diverse student body in our programs, staying true to the university mission of an inclusive and comprehensive education.
We take no shortcuts in our curriculum; the hands-on experience in our classes and labs produces top-notch engineers and scientists. But more than 400 years of Jesuit education has taught us that the best graduates are ethically minded and morally courageous people. The pride of Loyola Marymount University and Seaver College is that our graduates benefit from the Jesuit traditions of a broad-based education to often become those exceptional people.
Seaver College is also set apart from peer institutions by the breadth of its programs, the sciences, engineering and mathematics, and its emphasis on undergraduate research and service to others.
That is why I am hopeful. Our communities and our country have difficult challenges to meet. In our classrooms, I have seen the potential to meet those difficulties. And to reach beyond to a better future.
Richard Plumb, Ph.D.
Professor and Dean