19th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Photo Credit: Tracey Westgate Photography
July 1, 2022
Dear Fellow Alumni:
Today, I am thrilled to send you my first official communication as the 19th President of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Since the announcement of my appointment last year, my family and I received an overwhelming amount of support through notes, messages, and yes, even RPI swag, from the community. My wife Lyn, our four adult sons, and two dogs are very excited to be welcomed back so warmly to campus, to Troy, and the overall global RPI community of alumni, parents and friends. As I left Troy in 1981 as a 21-year old graduate to begin graduate school at MIT, I never could have imagined the humbling opportunity that officially begins today. It is with great emotion, pride and determination that I begin my tenure, working together to take RPI to even greater heights as we look toward our bicentennial celebration in 2024.
Photo Credit: Tracey Westgate Photography
Photo Credit: Tracey Westgate Photography
As an alumnus, I believe our education has taught us the importance of hard work and sticking to it – a unique quality of RPI graduates that was not easily earned. We should be proud of who we are, and what we learned at our alma mater. Through the course of my interview, and in the time since my selection as President was announced, I have spent a great deal of time ‘re-acquainting’ myself with RPI, Troy, and the Capital Region. I never imagined myself leaving MIT for another institution, but what I learned about the RPI of today was so compelling that I could not pass up this opportunity. If you haven’t visited recently, I can tell you that compared to 1981, the campus is really quite amazing, and the city of Troy is in the midst of a dramatic transformation. Beyond the physical buildings and facilities, I believe that over her 23 years, President Jackson has created a very solid foundation with exciting new initiatives and addressed a number of challenging issues. This is a foundation that I am excited to build upon, and I look forward to working with the RPI community, including the alumni, to bring RPI to new heights.
In the near term, my goal is to get to know our campus community. I will spend the coming weeks meeting in small groups with the faculty, staff and students to understand their hopes and aspirations for RPI. In addition, my goal is to meet as many of you as I can – to discover what our alumni love about RPI – and your hopes and passion for our future as we begin to shape our strategy and focus moving forward. As we do this, we will better understand where we are, and where we want to go. Many of you have already reached out to me, and I will be following up with you as well.
As part of getting to know the alumni, Lyn and I are very excited to kick off a “Presidential Tour” that will begin this fall and continue through the spring, where we will be traveling to key cities across the country and around the globe to meet alumni, parents, and friends. I hope to meet many of you on the tour! I also want to invite you to visit campus during Reunion & Homecoming Weekend (October 7-9). More details will follow regarding these initiatives.
I am committed to keeping you connected and informed as we begin our important work together – in bringing the RPI we know and love today to the next level, and making new memories. I will be sending regular messages to our community that will be shared via email and through our monthly alumni e-newsletters.
As you read this note, I am likely unpacking things for my office. I am so happy that I saved many of my RPI authored textbooks from my undergraduate years. If you visit, I’ll make sure to show you my somewhat tattered copy of Halliday and Resnick from Freshman Physics. I’ve even got my cowbell from the Big Red Freakout. Unfortunately, I’ve learned that the NCAA took exception to RPI’s use of noisemakers – so we’ll just need to ring it in the Troy Building!
I look forward to meeting you over the coming year. Thank you for your pride and belief in the value of our alma mater.
Sincerely,
Marty Schmidt ’81