Edward Weil, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, at the lecturn, moderates the panel.

Ten members of the University’s faculty discussed their early days on campus, how students have changed over the years, and the impact of technology, during a panel discussion held on September 1 as part of the opening day kickoff of the 2009-10 academic year. The event, “A Look Backward, A Look Forward,” served as a forum for the panelists to reflect on milestone events in the University’s history as President Arnold Speert approaches his retirement after almost 25 years as the leader of the institution. The panelists represented every decade from the 1960s to the present.

The panelists were Robert Benno, professor, biology; Maya Chadda, professor, political science; Philip Cioffari, professor, English; William Duffy, librarian; Charley Flint, professor, sociology; Salika Lawrence, assistant professor, elementary and early childhood education; Jean Levitan, professor, public health; Jay Ludwig, professor, communication; Tricia Coxswell Snyder, associate professor, economics, finance, and global business; and Maria de Lourdes Villar, associate professor, anthropology. Edward Weil, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, moderated the panel.