August 17, 2026
Dear Colleagues,
As I walked across campus last week, the familiar rhythms of a new academic year were all around me: fall athletes heading to practice; the Center for Student Success overflowing with boxes of Orientation materials, ready for the arrival of first-year students; returning students serving as residential staff learning their new responsibilities.
Old patterns but new beginnings—and with it, the sense of possibility that comes every August as the College is transformed by the energy of our extraordinary campus community. It’s my favorite time of year.
In the coming days, we will formally welcome the Class of 2030. It’s an impressive class, expected to number between 510 and 520 students. Domestic enrollment is up 12 percent year over year—our first increase in nine years. In the most competitive higher education market in our lifetimes, the strength of the class reflects the hard work we’ve been doing as a community over the past several years. Thank you—it matters and it’s making a difference.
That work has many dimensions to it, but it starts with the ongoing, exceptional commitment of our faculty to our students and their development. It is the foundation for everything else we do—and why, once again, we were recognized in the Top 10 in the country for the Best Classroom Experience by the Princeton Review.
We also know that it’s not a moment to stand still. Through Gettysburg 2.0, our community has been actively exploring what our students will need from a Gettysburg education in the years to come and how we must evolve to meet that opportunity—specifically, in a way that is distinctively us and will have a lasting impact on our students and the College.
Over the summer, members of our faculty and staff built on last spring’s market research to begin shaping that direction. The group is eager to bring its ideas to the community early this fall, hear your thoughts and ideas, continue refining them together, and ultimately begin integrating our Gettysburg 2.0 initiatives with other institutional priorities—setting the path for our third century. Hard as it may be to believe, we are but two years away from welcoming our bicentennial class to campus. That class—the Class of 2032—will celebrate our seminal milestone as Gettysburg College seniors.
I will say more about our other priorities for the year when we come together as an employee community later this fall. Whether it’s the continued implementation of our new majors, the essential exploration guided by the AI initiative, standing up our new athletic teams, launching the public phase of our comprehensive campaign, or placing elevated focus on our people and our community, the year ahead has enormous promise.
I’d like to close on two notes of appreciation.
The first echoes a sentiment I expressed when we gathered last June. The past several years have asked a lot of the College and each of you, as we’ve adapted to a pace of change unlike any higher education has seen in our lifetimes. It’s been hard. Thank you for your continued determination to put our students first and for how you are actively forging the future of this venerable institution.
Second, in a moment when it is too easy to find examples of fractiousness and discord in society and beyond, I am grateful and proud to be a member of this community. By our commitment to treat one another with respect. By our belief that we learn best by listening. By our making space for every member of the community to form and express their own views.
These commitments require work and focus, and it’s not always possible to meet our highest aspirations. But they are a defining feature of Gettysburg College and help make us the special place we are. Thank you for what each and every one of you does to foster that environment.
Here’s to a vibrant and engaging academic year, together!
Sincerely,
Bob Iuliano
President