President’s Message

Rising to the challenge

Ayear ago, when we finalized a Strategic Plan that would prepare students to lead in “multiple tomorrows,” none of us could have anticipated that one of those multiple tomorrows would come so soon.

The rapid emergence of COVID-19 as a global pandemic disrupted what we hold dear as a community. But how we’ve handled this disruption has made me as proud as ever to be Union's 19th president.

Students have persevered through a term that has deviated from expectations, yet they continued to stay connected to one another, to faculty and to staff. Faculty have reinvented their curricula and found new ways to share their passion for learning. Staff have gone above and beyond to keep the rest of us safe, nourished, healthy and engaged. Alumni, even while dealing with the pandemic in their personal and professional lives, have reached out to ask what they can do to support our community on campus. Thank you.

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we have found ways to thrive, not just survive. With the benefit of six months of preparation and the luxury of a relatively late start compared with many schools, we developed a nimble and flexible framework to accommodate various situations and to provide students a choice in how to best learn during the pandemic. We call this plan “Union Where You Are.” About 15 percent of our students chose to study remotely. The rest of the students, about 1,800, chose to come back for in-person, remote and hybrid classes.

We also piloted two new paths that are consistent with emphases identified in our strategic plan: • New online courses that take an interdisciplinary approach to complex challenges such as climate change, artificial intelligence, police reform and racial inequality; and • New faculty-mentored experiential opportunities that allow students to earn credit while engaging in activities such as working on a political campaign or doing an internship. We thank Bob Moser ’99 and his wife, Lisa, for their support of this program through the Robert J.

Moser ’99 Experiential Learning Awards

There are many new things on campus: masks, a testing facility, sanitizing stations, signs reminding us to keep safe, classrooms and dining halls with sparse seating, outdoor classrooms, even an app we use each day to attest to our health.

But much is the same. Wandering around campus, I encounter students, faculty and staff who exude joy at being together, albeit at a distance. In virtual meetings, I see members of the Union community finding new and creative ways to learn and grow.

We are also well into planning for the postpandemic era. In a recent virtual open house, I invited prospective students to join a Union College that will have been transformed, and not just by the pandemic. • The Templeton Institute for Engineering and

Computer Science was made possible by a $51 million gift from Rich and Mary Templeton ’80 that was announced at our February campaign kickoff. The gift will establish Union as a place that develops engineers with the depth to be accomplished engineers, and the breadth to be leaders. It also will ensure that students of all backgrounds can thrive in engineering and computer science, and that all students will graduate with skills critical in the years ahead. • There will be an enhanced emphasis on experiential and residential learning. Students will develop perspectives and competencies through opportunities such as the Minervas, study away, research with faculty, athletics,

Greek life and community service. • Union will remain committed to growing by facing uncomfortable issues. Through efforts begun in the Presidential Initiative on Race, Power and Privilege, we will ask difficult questions about Union’s past and what it takes for all to succeed here. Through our Constructive

Engagement series, we will encourage appreciation of conflicting perspectives around controversial issues. Through campus-wide efforts led by our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Team, we will focus on outcomes, not aspirations.

At Opening Convocation, I reminded everyone that we are in the midst of a novel, all-encompassing Union College challenge that none of us would have selected. We must become comfortable being uncomfortable. We must celebrate our victories and support one another when we stumble. In the process, we will develop insights into ourselves and one another that will enable us to thrive as individuals and as a community, now and for many years to come.