Dear Students and Colleagues – 

We are less than a month away from the first day of classes, and activity on campus reflects that fact. We continue to prepare classrooms, labs, and common areas to welcome students back to campus. Life will be different than last fall, for sure. There are challenges and changes, but we are facing them together. I am confident we will continue to support each other, and our commitment to each other will keep us all moving forward, as our students pursue their academic goals and next steps.

And we know there are questions. Students, you received an email on Wednesday, July 22 (yesterday) from Heather Harbach, V.P. for Student Development/Dean of Students, inviting you to participate in a series of webinars. Those are coming up next week: 

6:00 - 7:00 pm, Monday, July 27, 2020

Noon-1:00 pm, Tuesday, July 28, 2020

4:00 – 5:00 pm, Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Students - Send your questions ahead for any of these sessions to deanofstudents@edgewood.edu.

All students and their families are invited to attend – even if you’ve already participated in a webinar as a new, incoming student. I plan to attend these as well, as my schedule allows.

One of the things that we are challenged by during this pandemic is how to be really clear in our communications. It has come to my attention recently that there may be some misunderstanding of what we mean when we say “remote” learning or teaching. This word is not the same as “online” learning or teaching. For us, “remote” means that there is a class taking place on campus at a particular time, and some people are experiencing it from a distance. (As opposed to online, which means that there is no physical location for the class.) When we say that a student is participating in the class remotely, it means that the student is part of the class, involved in the discussion, witnessing what is happening as it happens through the use of technology.

We will be on campus, and in-person this fall – as we committed to in the spring. Students and faculty will have the flexibility to join classes remotely depending on their individual circumstances. As part of making this format successful, we’ve created a new work-study position for our students. It’s so new students can’t apply for it yet. These work-study students will assist in handling the day-to-day management of technology in a blended classroom; monitoring whose hands are raised, pointing the camera where it needs to be pointed, etc. You’ll have more information on that in a few short weeks, in plenty of time to apply if that role fits your schedule.

Cor ad cor loquitur.

-Andrew P. Manion, Ph.D.
President