Health & Safety

Archive: Employee Information

This information is archived as of July 23, 2021, and is saved here for reference. See latest health information.

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AUG. 3, 2020 — A Heart For Others: Central’s Commitment

Dear Members of the Campus Community,

For the past six months we have faced the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic. All around the pond we have changed and transitioned and flexed and innovated to find solutions for the work we do on behalf of our students. Whether in the classroom, the athletics complex or Central Market, your achievements and perseverance in this time have allowed us to focus on the health and safety of the entire campus community while simultaneously moving forward.

The progress and teamwork involved has been enormous. Everything has had to be recrafted. I have been constantly in awe of the solutions and resolve I have witnessed. We have accomplished so much thanks to each of you. While I hesitate to create a list in fear of omitting something, the work and sacrifices you all have made have been colossal. A few of the standouts include:

• In short order preparing classes for remote learning and implementing that teaching in the spring semester.
• Developing a summer course for students about pandemics, keeping them engaged and connected to the college.
• Recruiting another outstanding class. At this time, we anticipate 338 first-year students and 26 transfer students on campus this fall.
• Researching, developing and creating plans to safely welcome students back to campus for in-person teaching this fall.
• Cleaning, collaborating and mitigating risks all while thinking outside of the box.
• Raising a record amount of donations to support student scholarships and more!

Your commitment to Central has been remarkable and appreciated. You have been living out our mission. You clearly and profoundly believe in a Central education and the purpose of what we are doing. And you have demonstrated that this community knows how to pull together and do all the things, both unexpected yet necessary, this pandemic has required of us.

For all this and more I thank you as I welcome many of you back to campus this month. (And an extra nod of appreciation to those of you who continued to work on campus over these past many months. We couldn’t have gotten here without you.)

As we look to the future, we will all continue to be asked to live this commitment of dedication for our students and for each other—while staying vigilant and doing all we can to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. I wish I could say there would be no more Zoom meetings and that we could shake hands and thank each other for the mountain of accomplishments. We are not there yet. But one day. Yet in the meantime, we can still find meaningful ways to come together, to teach and learn, to recruit, to coach, to make a difference whatever your role is.

So, for showing care and concern for others. For your commitment to Central, our students, each other and to the health and safety of the community. For wearing masks and being mindful of six-foot physical distances. For your time, effort, expertise and extraordinary work. For all this, I thank you.

In the months to come, we will need to continue to count on each other in a spirit of collaboration, patience and understanding. We will continue to monitor and track COVID-19 and how it effects our community, making sound decisions based on this information. Until this pandemic is in the rearview mirror, please let your vice president or academic dean know of questions and needs you may have to keep our campus community safe. Our fate is in our hands.

With admiration,

Mark