After three decades of dedication and unequalled love for Gettysburg College and its students and staff, Director of Enrollment and Educational Services (EES) Student Success and Well-being Cindy Wright has announced she will retire from the institution later this summer.
 
Wright has worked tirelessly to make sure Gettysburg was a place where students and staff could find the support they needed no matter the circumstances they faced. She touched countless lives with her compassion, empathy, and love, while continuing to help the institution formulate and mold its vision for the future.
 
"It just seemed like the right time to make this decision and begin a new chapter in my life," said Wright, who also serves as the Director of The John F. Jaeger Center for Athletics, Recreation, and Fitness. "I've been reading a book right now and it talks about how the first half of your life is about building yourself up to make the greatest impact in the second half of your life. And that's what I'm hoping this first half of my life gave me so that now I can figure out how to make the world a better place.
 
"I love that saying spread love everywhere you go and let no one come to you that doesn't leave happier."
 
Wright's aura permeates everyone she comes into contact with, ranging from the student workers she oversees in campus recreation to fellow faculty members to colleagues in the Department of Athletics. When she arrived with her husband, former men's soccer coach and former Director of Athletics David Wright, in 1986, it became readily apparent her impact would be keenly felt across campus and by those she quickly developed relationships with.
 
"What do you say about Cindy that everyone doesn't already know," said long-time former head football coach Barry Streeter, who led the Bullets from 1978 to 2017. "Her loving and outgoing personality and her drive to give and give to everyone she meets; that's the first thing that everyone sees and that I saw. I think she just has a way of seeing someone's need and whether it's comforting them or uplifting them, she just has a way of doing that."
 
A 1982 graduate of SUNY Cortland, Wright earned a master's degree from the College of Health at the University of Utah in 1983. A former Oswego County free throw champion in high school (her self-proclaimed claim to fame), Wright's first taste of employment at Gettysburg came as an assistant coach with the women's basketball team in the late 1980s. She spent a couple of years as the Assistant Director of Campus Recreation at Dickinson College before assuming the same role at Gettysburg beginning in 1990.
 
The campus recreation and intramural program had a long-standing presence on the College campus, but Wright's leadership helped pave the way for new initiatives to involve a huge swathe of the campus community. Today more than 85 percent of the student population is engaged in campus recreation activities, including intramurals, club sports, and a host of special event programming.
 
"It's building a community across campus to help our students understand how important their holistic student development is," noted Wright. "It's awesome we're in this liberal arts environment, where it's really born from that philosophy of whole-person student development. It's the mind, body, spirit. It's what liberal arts is all about and we're doing that."
 
After teaching a few classes in health sciences early on in her Gettysburg tenure, Wright was offered a full-time teaching position which she accepted in 1999. For 11 years, she served as an instructor and lecturer for the department, helping guide students through the academic curriculum and creating strong ties to the community by forming partnerships with Adams County Head Start and local schools.
 
"I've been lucky enough to have Cindy Wright as my professor and faculty advisor as a student at Gettysburg and now as my colleague for the last five years," said head tennis coach Ali Flores '08. "In whatever role she plays, she leads with compassion and kindness. The legacy she leaves at Gettysburg is one of caring. She cares deeply about the students and staff and we will all try to follow her example now that she won't be here in person every day."
 

 
Wright has been recognized multiple times for her teaching. She was voted Outstanding Professor in the Sciences by the Order of Omega in 2003, 2004, and 2006. She earned the Student-Athlete Faculty Appreciation Ward in 2007 and 2008 and garnered the Student Senate Faculty Appreciation Award in 2008. Also in 2008, she was voted Favorite Professor by the senior class.
 
"I have known Cindy for over two decades and in that time, I have been continually impressed at her ability to make life better for all those with whom she interacts," said Associate Professor Dan Drury. "Cindy has the amazing power to bring positive energy into every room regardless of the circumstance. She is the consummate professional who is hyper-focused on proactive change, meaningful reflection and continuous improvement.
 
"Furthermore, I have never observed someone that can wield a disarming compassion and empathy the way Cindy does on a daily basis. Her employees, her colleagues and our students in general have always felt at home around Cindy because her eyes and her demeanor let you know she truly cares about you."
 
After more than a decade of teaching, Wright returned to her professional roots and took over management of the campus recreation program and the newly built Jaeger Center in 2010. She oversees dozens of student workers carrying out duties as fitness center attendants, intramural supervisors, fitness instructors, and more. Under her guidance, the students help keep the facilities and leagues maintained and organized, displaying a care and dedication passed down from their mentor.
 
"I think students know how genuine she is," said Streeter. "They know that she cares about them being successful. I think when you can connect with people like that, like connecting with your players as a coach, and they know that you care, they want to strive to be the best version of themselves. I think she brings that out in her students."
 
Since 2016, Wright has taken on more duties focused on the success of students and their overall well-being at the institution and beyond. She has engaged in a number of innovative initiatives, including acquiring a financial literacy tool to help students prepare for the economic impact of life after graduation. Wright has also served as a member of the CARE Team, earned certification as a qualified administrator for the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), and created and delivered a Design Thinking workshop on student well-being.
 
Recently, Wright was at the center of the development of a well-being program specifically focused on student-athletes. The Student-Athlete Impact Leader (SAIL) program uses coaching, mentoring, and a network of campus partners to provide a welcoming environment for student-athletes to reach their fullest potential both in and out of the classroom.
 
"Cindy leaves a lasting legacy in many areas of the College, and in the athletic department she should be proud of the work she put in to help create, launch, and develop our student-athlete well-being program which has turned into SAIL," said Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Mike Mattia. "Personally, Cindy has been a tremendous thought partner and confidant. I can't thank her enough for the support she provided me, and I am going to miss our conversations very much."
 
Many of Wright's colleagues have marveled at her ability to be connected and involved in so many areas of the campus community. Whether it was serving on the EES Holiday Party Planning Committee or providing support to the Office of Diversity & Inclusion, her goal has always been to make the College a better place for those that live in the community.
 
"I love that because it gave me the ability to sit at specific tables and we were talking about the institution as a whole," said Wright, who was voted by alumni as one of the top five current employees impacting the overall student experience in 2015. "It wasn't just in your own world. It was for the advancement of the institution. When you have that mindset it connects you and you end up making a lot of friends around the community. You're not just pigeon-holed in one area and that was all because Gettysburg allowed that to happen."
 
"Cindy has touched so many students and staff lives during her time at Gettysburg," said former Vice President of EES Barbara Fritze. "She exemplifies the heart and soul of the college. She made us all better. She made us all engage in self-awareness and reflection at divisional retreats and director meetings; she engaged us in wellness; she asked us to appreciate each other; she smiled and made us laugh and cry. I simply couldn't imagine my time at Gettysburg without her."
 
While Wright was spreading her love across the campus, Gettysburg in turn was helping to shape her growing family. All three of her daughters – Shaina '08, Kylie '13, and Samantha '16 – crossed over Broadway Avenue from their parents' home to attend Gettysburg. They all grew up running through the halls of the Bream-Wright-Hauser Athletic Complex and enjoying golf cart rides with Head Athletic Equipment Manager Kelly Jones, who is also retiring this year.
 
"Gettysburg College was the village that raised my children," noted Wright. "I give thanks to Gettysburg College for setting them up for the success that they have. Their lifelong friends were formed here. Their careers are beyond our wildest imaginations."
   
What does a passionate and driven individual like Cindy Wright do in retirement? Will she pick up a good book and sit on her back porch, watching her former student advisee Flores coach the Bullets tennis teams? That's a possibility of course, but Wright's to-do list for the future will also take her beyond the streets of Gettysburg. Chief among those future goals is the prospect of being a grandmother for the first time. Both Shaina and Kylie are due this summer.
 
Wright and her husband, who is the Headmaster at the prestigious Subiaco Academy in Arkansas, are looking to check off several bucket list items in the near future as well, including completing their goal of running a half-marathon in all 50 states. Currently the pair sits at 43 races with trips to Idaho and Montana planned in May and June, respectively.
 
The trip to Montana coincides with her final official day as an employee at Gettysburg on June 30, which also just happens to be her birthday. She'll be in the middle of nowhere, sitting atop a glacier, looking up at the stars, and likely contemplating about all the ways she can continue to make a difference in the lives of those around her. While she is turning her attention to the future, Gettysburg will forever be a significant part of her past.
 
 "To say good-bye to the students is really hard," said Wright. "I'm glad I live within the community and I'm around. My family is so rooted with the community. It's all orange and blue for us forever."