Dear All,

Responding to your most common queries and suggestions since I last wrote, let me devote this week’s corona-missive to two worthy topics: scenario planning and our graduating class.

Scenario Planning. How are we thinking about the decision to “reopen” TCNJ for the fall semester? I hope it lifts your heart to hear that we are certainly planning for a regular fall reopening. That said, given the uncertainties of the virus, it would be irresponsible to not also be planning for other possibilities, including a continuation of remote learning and a delayed start to fall semester.

As described in earlier missives, despite the desire to wrest certainty from uncertainty we are fleshing out three scenarios now: 1) regular calendar, on-campus semester; 2) regular calendar, off-campus semester (remote education); and 3) delayed calendar (mid-fall start), on-campus semester. Refining them and ultimately deciding our direction depends on virus epidemiology, national and state guidance and directives, and the capacities and welfare of our college community.

To convey the complexity and tradeoffs of this planning, let me describe several of the interrelated categories we are examining for each of our three basic scenarios. In parentheses is a sampling of topics for which we are devising policies, systems, infrastructure, practices, and logistics.

• Health and safety (e.g., achieving social distancing and standards of sanitation; arranging protocol for testing, contact tracing, masks, PPE, quarantine, and isolation; readying responses to an outbreak; managing visitors to campus; enforcing protocol for coronavirus response)
• Academic operations (e.g., reorganizing schedules and calendars; training for remote and hybrid instruction; arranging classroom distancing and technology; managing field-based experiences and practicums; establishing criteria for phased return to campus; operating the library; adjusting expectations for research, scholarship, and professional activity)
• Residential life (e.g., preparing a COVID-19 testing protocol; determining room occupancy and priority assignments; arranging bathroom usage; enforcing health and safety standards; reserving quarantine/isolation space; determining and arranging dining options; ensuring accommodations for persons with vulnerabilities) 
• Student Affairs (e.g., managing social spaces and gatherings; determining recreation options; arranging health testing protocol for events; organizing orientation activities; delivering mental and physical health services; accommodating special needs and circumstances; engaging students)
• Equity and Inclusion (e.g., accommodating and supporting students and employees with pre-existing and immune-compromised conditions; addressing needs of those with financial, technological, health, and housing vulnerabilities; providing education, awareness, and support around pandemic-based bias incidents and hate crimes; increasing academic advising and access to resources; monitoring and addressing inequities in learning conditions, technology access, and academic outcomes)
• Facilities (e.g., cleaning, maintaining, repairing and retrofitting spaces for social distancing, health and safety; managing utilities; coordinating staffing; scheduling and monitoring capital projects; installing signage guides)
• Information Technology (e.g., readying and testing classroom and lab equipment; training classroom users; determining ongoing cleaning and distancing protocol; upgrading technological tools for academic and business operations; assessing touchless technologies; determining student and staff needs for technology hardware and software)

There is more. Other categories include external relations, communications, employee relations, finance, and enrollment management. The outcome of this ongoing planning is a set of viable scenarios in line with legal, health, and financial stipulations at TCNJ.

Your input is helpful and welcomed. Please offer your thoughts directly to colleagues in governance, deans, cabinet members, or me. We benefit from your wisdom. 

Graduating Class.  Let’s face it: these last eight weeks have been disconcerting for everyone. If you are a soon-to-be-graduate, though, this period has been exponentially disconcerting—and disheartening—as COVID-19 shattered your hopes and dreams for your culminating spring semester.

Graduating class members: I stand in awe of your courage, circumspection, and positivity given the circumstances. By handling this setback with grace and determination, you have shown us what it means to be Lion Strong. That so many of you have used this time to serve in your communities and on the front lines of the pandemic is magnificent and humbling. You are an unforgettable class.

Herewith a few data points on the historic Class of 2020:

• 305 graduate students, 1,771 undergraduates, and 12 CCS college certificate recipients
• 141 (46%) of graduate students earning a Master’s of Education degree, followed by 93 (31%) earning a Master’s of Arts in Teaching, and 48 (16%) a Master’s of Arts (in counselor education or in English)
• Graduate nursing program graduates have a 100% employment rate; several graduate counselor ed students are completing Disaster Mental Health Certifications to work on COVID-19 front lines
• 1,378 (78%) of undergraduates entered as first-year students, with 330 joining as transfers
• 209 undergraduates (12%) will graduate with two majors and 1(!) with three majors
• 618 undergraduates (35%) will graduate with a minor, 102 with two minors, and 7 with three minors
• 384 undergraduates will earn a degree from the School of Business (22%) followed closely by 373 (21%) from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. Rounding out the degree distribution by school: Science (249), Arts and Communication (222), Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science (208), Education (185) and Engineering (129)
• Five most common majors: finance (135), psychology (113), marketing (97), biology (93), and communication studies (84); 21 self-designed their major (9 in anthropology)
• 595 (33%) of undergraduates earned Latin Honors with GPA of 3.6 or better; of these, 15 students (<1%) are on track to graduate with a remarkable 4.0 GPA
• 1,664 undergraduates (94%) are from New Jersey home origin; the most common origins for out-of-state students are New York and Pennsylvania
• Next step graduate schools include Princeton, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, University of Minnesota, Ohio State, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, UC Berkeley, Texas Tech, Penn State, University of Pennsylvania, Michigan State, Columbia, Rutgers, NYU, Emory, Hofstra, Drexel, University of Delaware, University of Iowa, Duquesne, Dominican, Temple, Quinnipiac, John Jay, University College Dublin, University of Helsinki, Holy Trinity Monastery, and….TCNJ (!)
• Next step employment and volunteer service run the gamut from school districts, hospitals, public health departments, and the Peace Corps to NFL Films, Goldman Sachs, Blizzard Entertainment, International Rescue Committee, Deloitte, EY, JP Morgan, Merck, PwC, U.S. Census Bureau, J&J, Carrier Clinic, Google, Lockheed Martin, Burlington, AT&T, NJM, and more

Please mark your calendars now for noontime on Thursday, May 21, 2020, for the virtual commencement of the Class of 2020. It will be a celebration to remember.

Speaking of celebrations, today is May 1, that ancient celebration of spring and contemporary recognition of International Workers’ Day. Here’s to the turning of the seasons and to all who fight for workers’ rights, here at TCNJ and around the world.

With warm regards,

Kathryn A. Foster

President