Greetings, colleagues. I want to, once again, personally welcome you to our 57^th academic year! As you all know so well, it is the most unusual start to an academic year any of us have ever experienced.

On Aug. 24, since I was not able to visit the 60-70 classroom and labs that I regularly do on the first day of classes on the Harrisburg Campus, I spent the morning being a screener and visiting the few allied health classes that were being offered. It was good to see our students and colleagues. Everything was so well organized by our faculty, facilities team and human resources colleagues. When I engaged with the students and faculty, they were VERY complimentary of the communication from the College.

As we begin the year, I want to briefly address three topics with you: gratitude, safety and self-care:

• First, I want to THANK YOU for all that you have done for our students and each other over the past six months to get and stay ready during these unprecedented times – always keeping the students at the forefront of your energies and focus. I also want to acknowledge the virtual faculty who played a key role in helping so many of our full- and part-time faculty become more comfortable with offering their classes remotely. In speaking with many faculty over the summer and, especially, over the past week, I have heard how hard you have worked as you taught, prepared, revised, enhanced and, in some cases, recreated your classes. In addition, many of you also participated in committee work and, most recently, volunteered to help students register for the fall semester. Needless to say, your flexibility, adaptability and creativity have proven, yet again, why HACC has the reputation in our communities for being an affordable and high-quality post-secondary institution. Since I am unable to physically visit your classrooms, please invite me to your virtual classrooms, chat sessions and other events where you are gathered with our students.

• Second, as you have heard me say repeatedly, there is nothing more important to me and the Cabinet than the safety of our students and your safety. As health and safety directives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Pennsylvania Department of Health begin to solidify, the HACC COVID-19 taskforce, which has representation from all four of our constituency groups, is working to finalize our procedures. Once they are finalized, they will be shared with you.

• Third, I hope you are doing all you can to care for yourselves. I have asked Cavil Anderson, director of professional development, to host sessions that will focus on caring for ourselves. For many, especially those with school-aged children and aging parents at home, this ‘isolation’ is becoming emotionally challenging. In addition, some employees I met with last week told me that they are having some physical issues because of their current workspace configurations at home. If we are experiencing challenges, emotionally and physically, we know our students are even more so. As I said last week, I appreciate the kindness and grace you have shown, are showing and will continue to show each other. Please also know of my extra gratitude for showing that kindness and grace to our students, many of whom have struggles we cannot even imagine.

Finally, I saw a saying recently that applies to what I hope we will experience this academic year:

Let’s give this school year the opportunity to be awesome. Don’t throw a label or judgement on it before it begins. It may just surprise us in big, beautiful ways.

Know that we look forward to working with you to make this one of the most memorable years in our 57-year history for our students. They are the only reason we are privileged to teach and learn at HACC. #HACCproud