A Letter from Dr. Jake Bucher

"'Tis the Season"

I am someone who gets overly retrospective as calendars turn over, and as we approach the end of the semester and the end of a tough 2025, I’m struck again by the extraordinary work that happens across this campus every single day. Our faculty and staff give so much of themselves through inspiring teaching, through compassionate support for our students and through behind-the-scenes efforts that keep this university moving forward. I want to offer my deepest gratitude for the countless ways you contribute, including ways that are rarely visible but always deeply felt.

This year has asked a great deal from all of us. We’ve navigated change, solved problems we inherited, some we didn’t expect to encounter, and continued to support students who rely on us not only for instruction, but for encouragement, grounding and hope. We have taken on more work, we have taken on different work and we have persisted even with an ever-present pragmatic and vocational – if not existential – weight. Through all of it, you have shown resilience, creativity and care. It is no small thing to persevere with that kind of spirit, and when that spirit is hard to summon – know that your perseverance is still seen.

As winter break approaches, I want to encourage something simple but important: rest. Real rest. The kind where you put your out-of-office message on and actually mean it (I say that while owning my full hypocrisy!) The kind of rest where you read a book that has nothing to do with a class, assessment, enrollment or accreditation. The kind where your laptop stays in its bag long enough that you no longer feel the phantom-limb pain of its absence.

I say that lightly, but sincerely: unplugging matters. Our Jesuit tradition reminds us that renewal is essential to sustaining purpose. Contemplation in action requires both contemplation and action, not nonstop action where contemplation gets rescheduled indefinitely. So whatever rest looks like for you – quiet mornings, family time, traveling, staying home, not moving at all – or if you’re like me, the kind of rest where you’re working, but on things that you’ve neglected – I hope you will claim it intentionally, without guilt.

Please also know that your work this year has had impact. Every student who persisted because a faculty member took a few extra minutes (even minutes they didn’t have). Every staff member who helped solve a problem before it grew. Every colleague who supported another during a tough week. These things add up. They shape the culture and future of this university far beyond what any one of us sees individually. Thank you for being part of that good work, may the break bring you warmth, joy and the kind of rest that actually feels like rest, and here is to a blessed 2026 for us all.