Welcome to the new semester. This time of year is so full of possibility—the perfect opportunity to set an intention for how you want to spend your semester. I know that’s a bit daunting—there’s just so much to do here on campus. But if you know what important questions you might want to answer, or what complex problems you want to help solve, you’ll be able to confidently choose the projects, majors, or activities that will keep you motivated all year.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this question myself. Arts and Sciences is the largest academic unit at SU, home to one-third of the undergraduate student body. Our departments are as diverse as chemistry and religion, English and mathematics, physics and philosophy. What grand (or “wicked” as I’ve also heard them called) problems can we hope to work on together? I believe that we have several broad opportunities, including:

• Health and wellness
• Social justice and human thriving
• Climate change and the environment

Let’s use climate change as an example. Many of our fifteen departments have important insights into this problem, and not just the ones you might think. For example, there’s research happening in Earth and environmental sciences that will help better predict major storms (and thus save lives). But at the same time, scholars in other departments are advising the United Nations on food insecurity and environmental justice; and working to preserve the endangered languages of people forced to leave their homelands due to climate change. In the face of this sweeping global crisis, every discipline has a part to play.

As you begin a fresh semester, I invite you to think about how your values align with these grand and wicked challenges, then seek ways to join our truly meaningful work. I know we can make a difference together.