Dean’s Corner: Academic Year Welcome

Dear Techers,

Welcome to the beginning of a new academic year! I hope it brings discovery, friendship, joy, and the right kinds of challenges—the ones that help you grow into your talents and feel a sense of pride upon accomplishment. If, like me, your life has long been organized by the rhythms of a fall-to-spring academic calendar, the idea that the year truly “begins” in September likely seems natural. Fall brings for me a sense of nerves and anticipation, a knowledge that the pace of life picks up just as the days shorten. The academic calendar, of course, is just one of the many calendars that organize our sense of time and occasion. We share use of the Gregorian calendar at Caltech, the “standard” civil calendar based on the Earth’s transit around the Sun. But many of us also observe other calendars as well: Chinese, Jewish, Indian, Islamic, and Persian calendars all base their year at least in part on lunar phases.

As this year begins, I have been thinking about what it means for us to share a “year” together. The timeframe is arbitrary and conventional, but also unique to our community. It draws us together in a common project—research, teaching, and learning—and gives shape to our weeks: the compression of finals, the leisure of breaks. All of us come into this year with our personal “calendars” in place, too: the dates, holidays, and celebrations that make up our memories and connections to family, friends, and home. Sharing a campus together means sharing these different ways of measuring time. For those with family and friends impacted by Hurricane Helene, it may feel like the pace of life at Caltech is out of sync with the realities of digging out from a natural disaster. The anniversary of the October 7 attacks looms heavy for many of us on this campus, as we mourn the ongoing tragedy in the Middle East. And Election Day, November 5, reminds us that national politics doesn’t wait for midterms to wrap up.

This academic year presents the Caltech community with no shortage of challenges, locally, nationally, and globally. But as I have met the new students (welcome, Class of 2028!) and reconnected with returning students, I have also been reminded of what makes Caltech undergrads truly special: your care and respect for each other remains deep and foundational. I encourage each of you to keep that sense of respect, compassion, and integrity close to hand as our shared year begins. Please do take part in President Rosenbaum’s Dialogues Across Difference initiative. My office will also be reaching out with invitations to share perspectives and generate ideas for making Caltech an inclusive, welcoming place for all. If you feel inspired this year to help build stronger bridges across our campus community, the deans’ office is ready to partner with you.

Hanging above my computer in my office in the Center for Student Services is a portrait of the renowned science fiction writer Octavia Butler. She grew up in Altadena, fell in love with books at the Pasadena Public Library, and left her remarkable archive in the care of The Huntington Library. Etched across the picture are the opening lines to her famous novel, The Parable of the Sower, which is set in a drought-weary Los Angeles in the year 2024. They read, “All that you touch you change. All that you change changes you.” I wish everyone a year of transformation and change—one that leaves our community stronger and more resilient for our efforts.

With best wishes for the year to come,

Jennifer Jahner
Dean of Undergraduate Studies
Professor of English