August 31, 2020

Dear Lehman Faculty and Staff,

Welcome to the fall 2020 semester! Like so many other aspects of our lives today, the fall semester will be unlike any we've experienced before. We won't be able to gather and welcome each other back with a collegial pat on the back or "great to see you" handshakes.

COVID-19 is still here and continues to shape the way we engage each other, the way we learn, teach, work, and conduct research. But thanks to your resilience and fortitude, we've risen to the challenge before us and we have all worked hard to prepare, as best as we could, for a successful semester.

This remains a stressful time for our community and our nation, made worse by a fiscal challenge and a worsening economy resulting from the pandemic. We face a racial crisis too, with nation-wide demonstrations, against the unjust killing with regularity of unarmed black and brown people by law enforcement, a persistent reminder of the unfinished work we have in our nation's march towards a more perfect union. It is a time that calls for renewed commitment to our mission of social justice and the idea of a caring community for which Lehman is known.

As we begin a full semester, mostly virtual, I urge you to place the safety and well-being of the community at the core of what you do during this semester, remembering that we are still not out of the woods fully yet with this pandemic, until the rest of the nation is. As I mentioned at the President's Briefing and the Provost's and Deans' Council (PDC) last week, because this experience is unprecedented, we have no script to follow. We will all make mistakes, but we learn from it and course correct. Please continue to provide feedback on how we can continue to improve. Remember to be kind to each other. Remember to be flexible with our students and guide them as best as possible. They could have gone elsewhere for their education. They chose to come to Lehman because they believe in us. They believe in the superb scholarship, research, and teaching of our faculty. They trust that our staff and administration will continue to provide superior support services.

Our Fall 2020 Reopening Plan, which was carefully developed with input from a cross-section of the campus community, is posted here for your information. As you probably know, to ensure the continued safety and well-being of our campus community, only limited access to the campus will be granted to faculty, staff, and students based on the reopening plan. Essential employees working on campus or non-essential employees scheduled to work, visit or be on campus for any amount of time, must view before coming to campus the mandatory New York State COVID-19 Response: Return to Work training, available on Blackboard.

Again, I welcome you to the Fall 2020 semester. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do to provide the best quality educational experience we can to our students. I look forward to working together with you in the weeks and months ahead as the semester unfolds.

Please remain well and be safe.

-P
Peter O. Nwosu, Ph.D.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Student Success
Lehman College
The City University of New York