We are in the season of giving thanks. For many, giving thanks also means thinking about how we can pay it forward and support others. I have one answer for you….please support our students who are most in need by masking up for Suffolk CARES.

The Suffolk CARES program provides emergency assistance grants to undergraduate, graduate and law students who are facing unexpected financial hardships. The Suffolk Food Pantry is also part of the Suffolk CARES program. You can purchase a reusable Suffolk University, Suffolk Law or Suffolk Rams mask for $10. The net proceeds go directly to Suffolk CARES. You can order a mask by texting “sumask” to 71-777 or visit: https://app.mobilecause.com/vf/SUMASK to view designs and order.

And of course, wearing a Suffolk-branded mask helps promote the University as you do your part to protect your health and the health of others. So when you Mask Up for Suffolk CARES you are masking up for students and the broader community.

And by the way, Margie and I can personally vouch for the fact that these are very comfortable masks!

(President Marisa Kelly, right, and spouse Margie Arnold)

Thank you for your support of Suffolk CARES. Wishing you a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

I am excited to announce that the University today completed the purchase of the Ames building at 1 Court St., and we are now officially its owner.

This is a great opportunity for Suffolk and an important investment in our future. As you know, expanding our permanent residence hall capacity is a major physical campus initiative called for in the Suffolk 2025 strategic plan. Successful permitting of the building will allow us to open a new Suffolk University residence hall in the heart of our core downtown campus at the start of the fall 2020 semester.

There is still important work ahead. Closing on the sale of the property allows us to begin the rigorous city review process necessary to permit the building for use as a residence hall, a process that will involve significant input from the Boston community.

The opportunities that our students gain while living, studying, and working within our downtown Boston campus are exceptional. Expanding campus housing in this location will further facilitate this commitment both for the students who will live in the building and for all of us in terms of increased gathering space and the opportunity to launch new or expanded partnerships with our neighbors.

Built in 1893, the building at 1 Court St. was the first skyscraper in Boston and the city’s tallest building until 1915. Continuing with a newer Suffolk theme, it is thought to be the first commercial building in Boston to use an elevator (yes, as I always say, what a great way to meet people!). And most importantly, it is just steps from the Old State House, City Hall, the financial district, and within several blocks of key University buildings. It will become another centerpiece of our campus, helping to further solidify our borderless community within the center of Boston.

John Nucci, senior vice president for External Affairs, and his team are leading the critical permitting and community engagement process. Student Affairs and the University Space Committee will engage in consideration of specific building use (for example, shall we house first year students in the building, or sophomores; how might we use certain areas within the building to address other campus space needs). And Director of Facilities Ashley Lindsey will lead a group to address logistical issues.

Again, all of this work will take place in the coming weeks and months, and it will require contributions from many members of our community. I hope the entire community will enjoy knowing that in a year many of our students are going to have an exciting new location to call their home away from home, one that is right in the center of so much that Boston and Suffolk have to offer.

Students were coming and going through the first floor lobby of the 20 Somerset building one recent afternoon. Some carried cups of coffee, no doubt fueling up for the long night of studying ahead. After all, it is that time of year.

Some studied quietly, feet up on an ottoman or huddled over a laptop. Digital signage screens broadcast upcoming events such as a Walk for Change, yoga practice, and the weekly Diversity Coffee gathering. Paper flyers and posters next to the elevators took a more traditional approach, inviting students to Passion Latina’s upcoming Culture and Fusion Spring Dance Showcase, and advertising a session on Diversity in the Financial Services Profession, to note just a couple of examples. Downstairs in the Smith Dining Hall, students chatted in pairs at high-top tables and studied together around laptops. Others worked solo, earbuds in place.

Upstairs, a few students worked in the science labs while others studied together in a conference room. Outside, Roemer Plaza was quiet, not quite warm enough yet for people to sit and talk or read under the sun. A faculty member walked from crowded table to crowded table in a classroom visible through the big window above the Suffolk University sign on the building’s facade.

This building. This incredible building, brimming with academic and student life, is so central to who we are as a University, and a quick walk through the lobby on just about any day will reveal just that. It provides an instant snapshot of our vitality, our diversity, our excellence, and our engagement. Since it opened in 2015, the building has been central to our academic enterprise, and to our cocurricular life as well.

Lennie Samia with scholarship recipients

It is a building to be celebrated, and I can’t wait to do just that this Friday, April 12, when we will name the building for an alumnus who is passionate about Suffolk’s mission and who has been so generous to this University. I hope you will join me at the dedication ceremony at noon on Roemer Plaza, when we will rename 20 Somerset the Leonard J. Samia Academic Center, and then celebrate with a reception and lunch.

Lennie Samia, who graduated from the Business School in 1969, experienced firsthand the transformative power of a Suffolk education. He credits his Suffolk education as playing a major role in his considerable success. And he is deeply invested in helping others access those life-changing experiences. The $10 million gift that he is making to the University supports student scholarships, opening doors of opportunity that might otherwise not exist. In short, Lennie is giving back, and we are so grateful to him and the Samia family for that generosity.

How fitting it is that on Friday April 12, we will name this building that is so central to our academic mission the Leonard J. Samia Academic Center after a quintessential Suffolk graduate. I look forward to seeing you all there.