April 27, 2020 (8:54 am) Central Time
Dear Simpson College Community,
Good morning. As we continue to move forward as a campus community, I wish our students good luck this week during their final exams.
As we begin our transition next week to a weekly COVID-19 email, I’d like to take this opportunity to inform you about the full scope of what we as a community have achieved since the escalation of the pandemic and share our continued focus on supporting our students and the Simpson College community members during these unprecedented circumstances.
Extraordinary Transition
As I noted in my update last week, I cannot begin to thank our campus community enough for all you have done during the past seven weeks. In Mid-March we made a series of transitions in order to address the evolving crisis. Although we had a solid foundation from which to make the transition, we were confronted with challenges that I am proud we have worked to address, and will continue to evaluate and pivot as necessary. In each instance, I commend our students for their resilience and commitment to their courses and activities. Our faculty and staff made an extraordinary transition to working remotely, all while providing seamless support to our students.
Where We Are Today
Last week, we made the decision to move all courses for summer session 1, summer session 2 and summer cross completely online. In addition, today I want to make the campus community aware that we will be cancelling all on-campus events for May and June. Our faculty and staff will continue to work remotely throughout the month of May.
Moving Forward – TOGETHER
I will be upfront that there remain more questions than we have answers right now. But I will also say that we are working daily to address the needs, interests and, concerns of our campus community as quickly as possible. The President’s Cabinet, in collaboration with the Crisis Management Team, faculty and staff leaders, and our new institutional leadership, will be working through a decision matrix in the weeks ahead as we consider several different scenarios for Fall 2020.
The College will also be issuing communication related to the CARES Action Emergency Grant Funding. As the program is rolled out, we will be working diligently to share information and communicate it as quickly as possible.
As we look ahead, I want to reassure the campus community that we are committed to STUDENT SUCCESS. We remain steadfast to recognizing, understanding, and acting as necessary to meet the needs of our campus community as we continue to focus on supporting them in every way possible.
Connect with Us
We continue to maintain and respond to all questions submitted through our dedicated email address. Please email, COVIDResponse@simpson.edu However, for students with specific questions related to course work, we encourage you to contact your individual professor and or advisor. For faculty with academic-related questions, please contact Cheryl Jacobsen, academic dean.
Please continue to monitor your emails and check the Simpson College COVID19 webpage for updates.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions. #ONESimpson.
Thank you,
Bob Lane ‘81
Interim President