A Time for Resilience

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by Margee Ensign, President

Like all of you, we here at the college have been navigating through uncharted territory this year. COVID-19 has changed our lives, and it has certainly impacted the institution. Through it all, I have tried to remain focused on what we have—not on what has been lost. One of the things that I am most grateful for is the unwavering support of this community.

This year we have been compelled to reimagine how we deliver education, how we can work to support our students and how we can stay connected. While there have been some bumps along the way, our faculty and staff worked with great energy and creativity to provide our rigorous, personalized education in a remote environment.

This fall, members of our Department of Theatre & Dance and College Choir collaborated on a virtual concert that highlighted faculty, student and alumni talent. A science professor set up what looked like a television studio to broadcast experiments. Various professors shipped everything from sewing machines to art supplies and lab equipment to students so that they could complete work from anywhere. It has been expensive.

We have, obviously, taken a significant financial loss with students not living on campus. In addition, we have had to invest money in new technology, so that faculty and students would have the best online experience possible. Looking ahead, we have also committed millions of dollars to ensure twice-a-week testing for the spring semester and are investing in safety measures such as plexiglass, PPE and labor-intensive enhanced cleaning protocols.

Fortunately, as a result of many years of conscientious stewardship, Dickinson entered into this challenging year in a strong financial position, with good reserves and strong endowment performance. Most important, we have a passionate community that has stepped up to help with emergency funding and other forms of giving. You will see the impact of those gifts in these pages.

I am convinced that we are in a period of transformation in the way we live, learn and work—a period when resilience, courage, purpose and innovation will, and must, fuel our future. Those characteristics are precisely what a Dickinson education cultivates in its students, and they are the qualities I have observed in all of you.

We must, all of us, learn the often painful lessons of these challenging months and must find ways to implement what we have learned. While we remain committed to providing a residential liberal-arts experience, we have also discovered the value of technology in delivering that education, and we will carry forward those lessons as we transition back to face-to-face learning.

As a college focused on global learning, we have not abandoned our commitment to international education, but we have reimagined it at a time when travel has had to be suspended. Our new Globally Integrated Semester is an innovative and exciting way that we are leveraging our global presence—one that we plan to continue and expand even after the pandemic.

Perhaps most notably, the Revolutionary Challenge was incredibly successful: Faculty, staff, students, alumni and parents developed bold ideas and provided feedback every step of the way. Our community came together and put their superb Dickinson educations to work to think about what’s next for this groundbreaking college. That model of productive engagement will serve as an example of what is possible for other colleges and universities, and it is one that we will continue ourselves.

Because of all of you—because of your support and your gifts—we have been able to continue to innovate, to move forward and to thrive at a time when many other colleges and universities have faltered. Thank you for keeping us Dickinson strong.

Read more from the winter 2021 issue of Dickinson Magazine.

TAKE THE NEXT STEPS

Published February 15, 2021