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August 5, 2020
With less than a month until the start of the new academic year, I would like to update the community about our activities during the summer months and share with you our preparations for the fall semester.
To start with, in late June the Board of Trustees endorsed our new strategic plan: Building on a Strong Foundation—NJIT 2025. This plan highlights our accomplishments under 2020 Vision including a Top 100 U.S. News national university ranking, a Carnegie Very High Research Activity (R1) classification, and a #1 ranking for student upward mobility. Most importantly, it establishes goals to develop an even more vibrant and diverse community over the next five years. Although the full implementation of the plan must be deferred due to current challenges, our upward trajectory has already produced successes, most recently our joining the America East athletics conference. We anticipate even greater accomplishments in the future.
As a university, we have approached the challenges of the pandemic as opportunities for change and innovation. We have spent the spring and summer planning a safe restart for our university community, and our 600-page Pandemic Recovery Plan (PRP) outlines a phased framework for doing so. The plan, developed collectively by our community, takes a measured approach to safely bringing students, faculty, and staff back to campus. The PRP adheres to government directives, respects health advisories, and uses common sense to respond to changing circumstances. The plan provides the flexibility to move seamlessly along a spectrum ranging from fully remote to in-person operations and instruction.
The State of New Jersey has been prudent in managing its reopening plan and is currently in Stage 2. We are, correspondingly, in Phase 2 of our recovery plan, with 25% of staff back on campus daily and many of our research laboratories reopened and doing important work, including studying the pandemic and its ramifications. The state is likely to make adjustments to its restrictions in Stage 2 or possibly move to Stage 3 prior to the start of the fall semester. This will allow us to expand in-person instruction and residential housing capacity.
Our goal is to welcome students to campus regardless of instructional delivery mode, but our reopening will be consistent with mandates, recommendations, and good judgment. The importance of having students, faculty, and staff on campus cannot be understated. We all are integral to the NJIT community; we all serve critical roles as friends, colleagues, mentors, and role models.
At the same time, in addition to the right public health conditions, we acknowledge that thorough and thoughtful planning is a prerequisite for campus-based instruction. For converged courses with a face-to-face component, we have implemented a classroom model that allows some students to attend the course in person while others join virtually, with real-time interactions facilitated by newly installed instructional technology. Unlike almost any other university, NJIT already has extensive experience in this modality going back to 2014. Additionally, every effort has been made to ensure the safety of faculty and students in the classroom, including increasing air exchange in all buildings, designating seats to ensure social distancing, sanitizing classroom seats after every use, and requiring face masks on campus. These measures necessitate that upper-level and graduate courses be offered in either synchronous or asynchronous online format. All course schedule modifications, including class starting and ending times, as well as delivery modes are now visible on the Registrar’s website.
It is difficult to predict exactly how this crisis will reshape the landscape of higher education, but there is no question that this pandemic will leave a lasting mark on individuals and institutions all over the world. However, NJIT is strong and resilient. We are prepared to face the challenges of the pandemic and we are confident in our ability to recover and emerge stronger.
I look forward to welcoming you all to the fall semester.
Stay safe,
Fadi