Fiat Best Wishes

For your reference, this email was sent to all current students yesterday:

This note is to wish you the best for your final projects/exams this term. The resilience that you and our faculty and staff have displayed in making a fast and effective pivot to online learning over the last two months has been both commendable and greatly appreciated. While the lessons from this challenging time have been hard-earned, I am confident they will stand you in good stead over the rest of your lives.

I want to extend special greetings and commendations to the seniors receiving this email for the notable educational milestone that you are about to realize and for the next steps you are about to take. For a number of you this will involve pursuing graduate studies here at Alfred University, and we look forward to your return.

For all continuing students, we are eager for the opportunity to work with you in the coming semester. I am pleased to let you know that we intend to return to our traditional learning model this Fall.  (I have yet to hear from any of you that you prefer this semester’s “new norm” and would like to complete your studies online rather than through our long-standing and impactful immersive approach to higher education!). We have two working groups that have been meeting regularly to plan for such a return. The first, led by our provost, Beth Ann Dobie, is focusing on designing the academic calendar. The second, led by our executive director of marketing and communications, Michael Kozlowski, is developing a health screening protocol for your safe return. We will keep you apprised of the planning progress made by these two groups while, at the same time, remaining mindful of federal, state, and local public health policies and advisories.

Fiat best wishes in the meanwhile for the closing stretch of the Spring semester and for a safe and memorable summer!
Mark