Dear Roosevelt Faculty and Staff,
Our entire community has been diligently working and preparing for the fall 2020 semester. We have held webinars to make students, faculty and staff aware of the physical changes to our facilities and on-campus behavior requirements. We have taken into account much feedback from the community and are following directives from State officials, as well as guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health leaders, in order to operate a safe, healthy environment. Thank you everyone for your important role during this process.
This will be like no fall we have ever experienced. Academic programming and schedules will primarily be virtual, but our roles and commitment to our students and their future success, and to preparing ethical leaders guided by social justice values, will remain. We have proven our ability to adapt, adjust, shift our mindset and make difficult decisions. This will continue. Our promise is to deliver a premier education for our students. I’m very proud of our students, who have done an incredible job moving to virtual learning, getting the support services they need, and staying connected with peers.
The coronavirus pandemic has transformed our lives in ways unimaginable months ago. We have made a deliberate decision to keep our residence halls open to serve Roosevelt students. We were one of the few universities that kept our dorms open in the spring and demonstrated our ability to keep our students safe and healthy. We have also put in place new policies to make the residence halls safe and make housing contracts flexible for students who may change their minds once they are on campus. This also applies to academics; our students will have the opportunity to switch from in-person to virtual learning. We are confident that the mode of learning will not negatively impact their degree path or experience.
You contribute to our promise of academic excellence, upholding the Roosevelt social justice mission and building educational opportunities for our students. Innovations this next year include welcoming students and programs from Robert Morris University Illinois and an agreement with Columbia College Hollywood, which will bring us new students and programs in creative arts and digital media.
Roosevelt continues to invest in training and technology for online and remote learning. Over the summer, 175 faculty members completed a new asynchronous training course that focused on remote teaching basics. Another 50 faculty members completed the comprehensive Online Teaching Academy. The Information Technology team added cameras and mics to enable Zoom in 90 classrooms and labs, with 12 mobile carts for other campus locations. Based on new research, Roosevelt also updated our remote learning resources for students and faculty.
The commitment of the Roosevelt network of alumni, donors and friends is remarkable. Our community of supporters came together to raise nearly $200,000 in just the past five months for the University’s newest initiatives: the Student Emergency Assistance Fund, the Stronger Tuition Grant and the Black Student Equity Fund. The first two funds were established in response to the ongoing pandemic, and the Black Student Equity Fund in honor of victims of police violence. Gifts to these mission-driven funds are part of more than $1.2 million raised for the Annual Fund this year — a 10-year record.
Our University partners have also risen to the occasion. The Chicago Community Trust, the Dempsey Travis Foundation, the Efroymson Family Fund and LaSalle Investment Management recently made gifts totaling $460,000 to further promote equity and inclusion at Roosevelt. Finally, alumni engagement is on the rise — more than 1,000 individuals have participated in our new Lifelong Lakers program since its launch in February.
Roosevelt has historically been a resilient and innovative university and continues to be today. I am so grateful to be working with you and admire the achievements and hard work of our students, faculty and staff during these difficult times. Your dedication ensures that Roosevelt will continue to thrive during this pandemic and into the future.
Please join us for our fifth annual American Dream Reconsidered Conference, September 14 – 17. This year, of course, has a twist — it will be a virtual conference with online panels exploring topics including current politics, Black women’s fight for the right to vote, Roosevelt’s history, the LGBTQ+ movement, our One Book/One University discussion with Luis Alberto Urrea, author of Into the Beautiful North, and more.
In closing, I hope you will join us at Convocation on Friday, August 28. The virtual ceremony will kick off the academic year and officially welcome the newest members of the Lakers community. Watch the Convocation ceremony on YouTube here.
As always, I am looking forward to working with you this semester. Please be sure to continue to visit the COVID-19 and BASU websites for ongoing updates and news on the University.
With warm regards,
Ali R. Malekzadeh, Ph.D.
President