Dear Spartan community,

September 11 is a day of remembrance and reflection for our nation, a somber day on which we memorialize the victims, families, friends and others whose lives were changed forever on that day in 2001.

While many of us remember exactly where we were 22 years ago today, others – including large portions of our student body – were not even born yet. Yet the September 11 attacks have shaped the world in which they have grown up. That is all the more reason to make sure that we take a collective moment to revisit the bravery, heroism and the profound loss that defined our country that day, as well as in the weeks and months that followed.

San José State has its own legacy from that day. Captain Jason Dahl, ’80 Aeronautics Operations, piloted United Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania. University Police Department Captain Frank Belcastro, who as a New York Police Department captain in 2001 was among the extraordinary first responders to the World Trade Center on that day, was generous enough to share his remarkable story with us.

Karen Philbrick, a trained psychologist and executive director of our Mineta Transportation Institute, volunteered with the Red Cross’s disaster relief organization to provide therapeutic services in New York, while Meta Mereday, ’84 Advertising, was in the region that day and rushed to Ground Zero to see if she could help. 

Their stories of selflessness, service and heroism make us all deeply proud.

For more than two decades, we have committed to never forget that historic, heartbreaking and life-altering day. On September 11, 2001, we came together as a nation; today, we come together as a campus community to not only honor those lost and those who rose to great adversity, but to commit to a more peaceful, inclusive and connected world.

Sincerely,

Dr. Cynthia Teniente-Matson
President

(She/Her/Ella)