Last week was an exciting one on campus. Weunveiled “Bronze Bob,” a life-sized statue of ournamesake, the Founding Father fromPennsylvania, Robert Morris. The statue is seatedon a bench so that students, professors, alumni,and visitors can have a seat and take their picturewith the “Financier of the American Revolution.”

The statue is a symbol of studentengagement and of giving back tothe community. “Bronze Bob” is agift to the university from theClass of 2013 and Sid, Ellen, andGeoff Zonn. Previous class gifts

include the book fund, the memorial gardens, ourcampus signs, and our ceremonial cannon. TheClass of 2014 will give medical supplies to theclinic in Nicaragua where our nursing studentsserve the poor.

My hope is for “Bronze Bob” to become part of anew tradition. Tradition makes a universityexperience memorable, and creates an emotionalconnection between the students of today andthose who came before and who will come after.RMU has changed substantially over the years,and I believe we should also take time to cultivateand nurture a sense of permanence and constancy.As I told the students at the statue’s unveiling,Robert Morris will always be here for you — andnot just figuratively, but literally.

Our university is named after a man who riskedeverything he had for the sake of his country. Heis not as famous as George Washington or ThomasJefferson, but those men knew what a debtAmerica owed to their colleague. Inside theCapitol dome in Washington, D.C., is an enormousfresco, “The Apotheosis of Washington.” Itportrays the first president looking down from theheavens, and nearby is Robert Morris, one of avery few Founding Fathers also shown in thepainting. Mercury, the God of Commerce, ishanding Morris a bag of gold.

Of course, it wasn’t that simple for Morris. Heworked hard for years amassing his fortune inPhiladelphia. But instead of guarding his wealth,he made great sacrifices for his country and hisfellow Americans. He offered his own ships tofight the British on the seas. When Congress fledfor their lives as the Redcoats advanced to occupyPhiladelphia, Morris stayed behind to keep thegovernment functioning. He personally made surethe soldiers who crossed the Delaware withWashington had food, blankets, and money intheir pockets. He changed countless lives by doingso. As you know, changing lives is something webelieve in at RMU. We strive to enable ourstudents to change the lives of others.

When we were thinking about what kind of statue“Bronze Bob” should be, we decided he should bewelcoming. He shouldn’t be some giant toweringover the entrance to campus. There’s already aRobert Morris in the Capitol dome and anotherbigger-than-life statue of him in Philadelphia. Wewanted our statue to be part of a new traditionhere, something that invites everyone in the RMUfamily to be a part of it.

I hope that “Bronze Bob” will be a source of fondmemories for students, visitors, and alumni. Thestatue sits right in the center of campus, in a placestudents pass every day. It’s an acknowledgementof someone who accomplished great things, just aswe hope they will. But above all, a person, just likethem; someone who had a family, and hopes anddreams and worries, and successes and failures,like all of us do. Someone you might sit down withon a park bench and just visit for a while.

Sincerely,

Gregory G. Dell’Omo, Ph.D.

SPRING 2014

President’s

INSIDERFROM THE DESK OF GREGORY G. DELL'OMO, PH.D., PRESIDENT OF ROBERT MORRIS UNIVERSITY

President’s

INSIDER

"Bronze Bob" is a gift of the Class of 2013 and of the Zonn family.The statue is based on the statue of Robert Morris nearIndependence Hall in Philadelphia by the sculptor Paul WaylandBartlett, who also created the "Apotheosis of Democracy"pediment for the Capitol, as well as bronzes of Columbus andMichelangelo at the Library of Congress and of Lafayette inParis. Instead of a traditional standing statue, “Bronze Bob” isportrayed relaxing on a park bench. Visitors are invited to joinhim, take a picture, and tag it with #BronzeBob to share online.

More pictures are available here.

UNVEILING BRONZE BOB

SPRING 2014

President’s

INSIDER

Our men’s hockey program celebrated a majormilestone this spring. By winning their first AtlanticHockey Association title in March, the Colonials forthe first time were chosen as one of the 16 teams inthe national NCAA Tournament. But what madethe AHA title so much sweeter is the perseverancethe team showed.

You see, when January began, the Colonials hadwon exactly 2 of the 16 games they had played upto that point. But the team turned their fortunesaround. They won an NCAA-leading 17 games inthe season’s second half. Their dramatic comebackwas a reminder that raw talent and ability are notalways sufficient by themselves, withoutdetermination and the will to succeed.

Of course, this lesson extends beyond the world ofathletics. A growing number of education expertsand scholars are investigating how traits such asmotivation and perseverance — or grit, as it’ssometimes called — are as important as intelligencein determining success.

“There are many talented individuals who simplydo not follow through on their commitments,”said Angela Lee Duckworth, a University ofPennsylvania psychology professor and leadingresearcher on grit and self-discipline, at a TED Talklast year. “In fact, in our data, grit is usuallyunrelated or even inversely related to measures oftalent.” In his book How Children Succeed: Grit,Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, PaulTough lays out new research showing that the waypeople cope with unfamiliar situations andadversity is a powerful predictor of their latersuccess — sometimes a better predictor thanstandard intelligence measures such as SAT scores.

Years ago, a university concentrated primarily —sometimes exclusively — on disseminatingknowledge. This made sense ultimately because thejob market decades ago was dominated by acorporate culture where employers expected tospend considerable time and money training theirnew employees, inculcating the habits and cultureof the firm they had joined. Because they were

going to deal in the specifics, employers wantedcolleges to prepare their students with a generalbackground, whether in business, science, or liberal arts, so that they had a bright talent pool to draw from.

That’s no longer strictly the case. Of course,businesses still want smart, educated graduates, butthere is something more they are looking for. Ascompanies have cut back on the comprehensivetraining regimens they once offered, managers arelooking for indications that job candidates canremian focused in unfamiliar circumstances and can be relied upon to stay with difficult tasks tocompletion. So personal qualities such asperseverance, creativity, leadership qualities, and readiness to adapt play an important role.

This is the philosophy behind our innovativeStudent Engagement Program, which encouragesstudents to devote significant time developing theirskills and abilities outside the classroom. Itrecognizes achievement in creativity, leadership,service, professional and global experiences,reserach, and special recognition, and records it in aseparate and officially endorsed transcript fromRMU. In that way, employers have a completepicture of our graduates and what they are capableof, both in and out of a structured setting like aclassroom.

At this year’s commencement, I will be particularlypleased to honor 26 graduating seniors with theRenaissance Award. The recognition is given tostudents who, in addition to their studies, haverecorded achievements in all seven of the StudentEngagement Program categories. As we at theuniversity work on honing our new strategic plan,one of the areas we are concentrating on mostintently is to how to adapt the learningenvironment in a way that makes a Robert Morriseducation even more relevant for students in theircareers. Because in the final analysis, that is whatemployers should expect when they see RMU on aresume: not just smart students, but students withcreativity, leadership potential… and grit.

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 6001 UNIVERSITY BOULEVARD, MOON TOWNSHIP, PA 15108-1189 RMU.EDU/CHANGE A LIFE

SPRING 2014

TRUE GRIT