Dear Colleagues,
My sincerest wishes for your health and safety as we stand on the precipice of a new semester—a semester the likes of which we have never experienced.
There has been so much that you and our students have overcome. Some of you have suffered through personal and professional setbacks as we struggled physically and emotionally through this pandemic.
Nonetheless, you have persevered and stand at the ready to extend your experienced hands to our students, who mirror your own resolute character. As you ready yourself to again leap into the College’s mission, I hope you have had time to reflect on how heroic this semester will be for Mercy’s students, faculty, and staff. Despite the many challenges, we are ready to welcome a group of students who are thirsty to learn and experience what you know. Upon reflection, I hope that you will join me in recognizing how important you are in helping these students fulfill their dreams—and how heroic your actions during these next few months will be to help these students pursue their educational ambitions.
Starting next Wednesday, September 9, the students will be here in person—masked, hands-sanitized, and socially-distanced—and eager. They are excited to learn in your classrooms, your laboratories, and your clinical sites—and through their computer monitors. Here is hoping that your efforts are successful. Thank you for undertaking the heroic act of teaching and mentoring our students.
For those of you have not done so already, I strongly recommend that you undertake the following prior to the start of the term:
- Test out instructional technology in your classrooms or other instructional environments prior to the first day of classes so as to address any technological difficulties before they cause problems during class time.
- Have a Plan B in case the technology is not working at class time. I typically bring my own laptop (and phone, as Plan C).
- Communicate with your students in the class Blackboard shell so that they understand logistics of the class. This Learning Management System is one sure way to have documentable proof that you have told your students how logistics of the class will work.
Finally, we are here to help and support you in your heroic actions. I’m told that the IT Helpdesk numbers are posted on each of the podiums. Additionally, we are training some of our student tutors to address technological issues and charging them to run around and make sure that you are managing well with the technology on the first day. Regardless of planning and support, there will be bumps in the road, so I encourage you to please bring a good dose of patience and compassion for what you and the students are about to undertake.
I will hopefully see you soon, albeit virtually, and hopefully in person in the not too distant future. Until then, I wish you great success as we head into another exciting academic year full of promise.
Best,
Jose
Jose Herrera, Ph.D.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs