COVID-19 Information

March 8, 2021

Dear Campus Community, 

When Chancellor Pembrook asked that I prepare a retrospective message regarding the journey we have experienced throughout Academic Affairs for the past year, I was admittedly a little hesitant. Personally, as I have worked through the challenges of the past year as Provost and as an individual, I have tried to stay focused on how to serve our goals of health and well-being, balance academic quality, and contribute to stability. I have sometimes resisted looking back, because the grief or sense of loss has been acute, and I felt like I couldn't dwell in those feelings too long. Yet, I know that we must acknowledge the loss, anxiety and grief of others. 

So, I say this to recognize that the work you have done, the changes you have made, the lives you have led, have been hard and there has been loss. Nevertheless, I am so honored to be part of this community. You have been extraordinary in your resilience and creativity – your abiding dedication to one another, to our students and our community. Importantly, so many of you made these changes amidst a social reckoning with racism and an institutional journey to justice. 

I cannot fully capture the range of actions that you have taken, even as you lost loved ones, juggled Zooms with children, roommates, your cats and curious dogs, and you navigated a complex new world. For some of you, you learned so many new skills. Sometimes, our worlds collided in humorous ways, and sometimes you may have felt embarrassed or overwhelmed. Sometimes, you just found a way through. We don’t always see the break that you have to take to figure out the math problem, help soothe the conflict or provide tech support to those around you. We don’t see all of the effort you invested in learning new technologies and new ways of doing, while trying to hold it together and be present for those who mean so much to you.  

Some of you worked hard to forge an identity as an SIUE student, new staff member, early professional, or faculty member at a new university under these extraordinary conditions. For our students, you have found ways to connect, worked through the isolation, and demonstrated flexibility that was inspiring. We recognize that working or taking classes remotely can be hard. Zoom can be exhausting, but it can be even more so when your internet connectivity is poor, your webcam falls apart, your partner walks behind you during a meeting, your child needs your attention, and the list goes on. And, all of this occurred while you so desperately want to be present, effective or maybe even demonstrate your true capabilities. I hope we have all learned to be a little more patient, and I hope a little kinder to one another and ourselves.  

For our new staff and faculty who have yet to meet your colleagues and community face-to-face, I can’t imagine how challenging this transition has been. Thank you for choosing to be here and for finding a way to connect, even under these conditions. For our tenure-track faculty, I know that you hold yourselves to higher standards than I could ever impose. You have goals and hopes for your research and creative activities. You have dreamed of making a difference in your disciplines. You have imagined the difference you can make in the lives of students and your communities. I know that it must seem impossible to accomplish all of these goals and to meet your own standards. While we ask one another to practice grace with our students, colleagues and each other, I hope you will also demonstrate that same capacity for understanding with yourself and know that we are here to help you in this journey.     

While I cannot do justice to all of the efforts, I will highlight just a few: 

• In spring 2020, we moved courses to remote learning abruptly. Courses that we never imagined could be taught online were. We found creative ways to facilitate learning. Faculty members created labs, imagined new ways to stage performances, and created materials packages so that students could continue to create.   
• Nursing students and faculty have helped support COVID testing and vaccine clinics, and preparedprofessionals for the front line or served on the front lines of the pandemic themselves.   
• Our School of Pharmacy has supported the national conversation about health disparities that have become so visible and the consequences so profound during this pandemic. They have worked on educational programming regarding the vaccine and vaccine hesitancy. Our students and faculty have served as healthcare providers and helped support vaccine efforts. 
• The School of Dental Medicine has continued to serve our community throughout the pandemic at our Alton and East St. Louis Clinics. 
• Students in clinicals, teaching experiences, practica, and internships shifted to new modalities to serve patients, students, companies, and diverse organizations. 
• The School of Engineering made and delivered face shields to local organizations as part of putting our technical knowledge to good use during the pandemic. Additionally, this effort received financial support from a long-time friend of SIUE whose donations helped scale-up the effort. 
• Performances have gone on, in spite of the pandemic. Whether staging a dance production in the Gardens or creating Zoom-basedor recorded productions, our students, faculty, and staff have found a way to create beautiful art and performance throughout these conditions. Our students sang in gyms, danced in masks and learned in new ways. 
• Our East St. Louis Center grant programs and the Charter High School continued to serve our students and families, and found new ways to reach out and make a difference. If you could hear all of the individual stories from our programs, I know you would be humbled and proud of our colleagues. 
• Our colleagues in the CAS, SEHHB and LIS taught us about mindfulness, meditation, and self-care. 
• The Successful Communities Collaborative has continued to engage in community-based projects, and we have worked to broaden these efforts with the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation Center, as well as other new initiatives. 
• ITS helped our campus make a significant move to online learning, hybrid, flex and remote work throughout campus. 
• The Office of International Affairs and others across the University served our international students who could not return home, stayed to pursue their degrees, or braved the challenges to join a new campus in a new country under extraordinary conditions. 
• We relied on our culture of collaboration and the principles of shared governance when we built the Academic Continuity Task Force and ACTF 2.0. This approach reflects who we are, and how we can work together to shape our response in ways that preserves health and well-being, and serves our goal of excellence. 
• We had record numbers of community members engage in Town Halls partly because the stakes were high, but we also recognized that Zoom webinars made this kind of communication more accessible.   
• Enrollment has remained strong with significant growth in our graduate programs, particularly in the School of Business, and in our online degree completion. Recruitment, advising, and retention efforts have continued and expanded in new ways because of our growing acumen and comfort with technological solutions, data-informed efforts, and student-centered approach. 
• The Office of Online and Education Outreach helped support expansion of support for online learning with new captioning services and the addition of Student Success Coaches.
• Our staff and Teacher-Scholars have continued to seek and execute important research, education, and public service through externally funded projects and grants.
• Whether in Executive Education, Online and Education Outreach, the STEM Center, ERTC, or many other units, we continued to offer professional development opportunities, continuing educational units, other non-credit learning events for the community and credentialing opportunities for displaced workers.
• And, let’s not forget that 1,890 students graduated in spring 2020. Another 539 and 805 graduated in summer and fall 2020, respectively. While we celebrated virtually and faculty and staff tried to find new ways to make the moment special, these students succeeded and reminded us why we do the work we do. I hope they will take our invitation seriously and come back to SIUE when on-ground ceremonies resume in full-force. We look forward to that moment.

I can think of dozens of additional highlights of adjustments, transformations and incredible accomplishments. For all members of our community – students, staff and faculty – we haven't seen all of the struggles, but we see how extraordinary you are. We recognize that this has been hard, and we are grateful for all that you have done. We need not pretend that everything is normal, because it isn’t. Your work and efforts have been remarkable.  

This isn’t our new normal, it’s a transition. We will continue to encounter change as we go forward, but we will do so together. We will learn from our experiences and ensure that we can continue to achieve our mission together. We have thrived as a community because of your efforts and your contributions to our community well-being. 

I am grateful for you.   

Sincerely,

Denise

Denise Cobb
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville