FROM THE PRESIDENT
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
Interim UND President Josh Wynne and incoming UND President Andy Armacost address a gathering of UND alumni on Jan. 31 at Forthright Café in Austin, Texas.
Tie a knot and carry on
Photo by Milo Smith
Interim and incoming presidents Josh Wynne and Andy Armacost balance transition of duties with collaborative pandemic response.
Dear Alumni & Friends, As interim and incoming presidents, we had a plan for an orderly transition of the University of North Dakota’s leadership. After two months of being on campus and traveling around the state to meet with key constituencies, Andy Armacost would take over as the University’s 13th president on June 1, 2020. But, as every good general knows, no plan survives contact with the enemy. In this case, the enemy was the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19. What appeared as a manageable health care problem in early February turned into a fullblown pandemic and national emergency by mid-March. It was during this time UND students studying overseas were brought home and the announcement was made for nonessential University employees to work from home. This was followed by the difficult decisions to not bring the students back to campus after spring break and to switch entirely to online teaching. Once the severity of the COVID-19 outbreak became clear, we made even tougher decisions to continue online teaching through the spring and summer semesters, as well as canceling spring and summer commencement ceremonies.
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UND Alumni Magazine | Spring 2020
The need to implement these measures came as a blow. Institutions of higher education are fully engaged in the most effective forms of teaching and learning. But we both recognized these steps were an absolute necessity in slowing the spread of COVID-19, flattening the curve of new cases to avoid totally overwhelming the health care system, and gradually bringing the disease under control. Someday, when history records how UND dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, the fortuitous might be noted. It happened when UND had two presidents for the price of one – two presidents from different professions who just happened to have complementary skills, backgrounds and experiences. Our ability to work together closely and in a coordinated fashion over the past three months has created a strong professional and personal relationship that will carry forward in the immediate aftermath of COVID-19 and well beyond. And, thanks to the Age of the Internet, it was possible for UND’s incoming president to immediately become engaged in working with the University’s leadership team while remaining physically distanced from campus.
The Duke of Wellington, the British general who famously ended Napoleon’s brilliant military career at Waterloo in 1815, once compared the French emperor’s strategic plans to a finely crafted leather horse harness. The harness, he explained, looked fine and worked well until it broke; then it became useless. “I made my campaigns of ropes,” Wellington wrote. “If anything went wrong, I tied a knot and went on.” Although we are far from done in dealing with the impacts of COVID-19, we have learned a great deal about how to best respond to rapidly changing events. While there’s no perfect plan, our ability to innovate, to remain flexible and to persevere when faced with the most difficult of challenges will carry us through. Together, we will prevail. Together, we are One UND. Interim President Joshua Wynne
Incoming President Andrew Armacost
