Dear Southwestern staff and faculty,

Like you, I am looking forward to the winter break. As with most of 2020, this holiday season will be different. The ongoing pandemic means our gatherings will be smaller and our masks will be on, but I hope you take time to observe your traditions and enjoy a restful time with your family. My son and I are ready to heartily ring out 2020 and welcome the promise of a new year.

As we close out the 180th fall semester at Southwestern, I am filled with immense gratitude for your sacrifices, creative solutions, long hours, and good care of our students and one another. Nothing has been easy this semester. We have all been forced to adjust as we’ve adopted new processes, learned new technology, and worked in new environments. I have marveled at how quickly and expertly you made these changes. In fact, I would say that your pioneering and innovation this year have moved this university further and faster than we may have thought possible. Your hard work and dedication ensured our community was kept safe, our students received a first-rate education, and our financial future remained secure.

You recently received a summary of the staff survey results. I have reviewed them with senior staff, and we have taken your feedback to heart. Even with all the unforeseen challenges of 2020, we know there must be continual improvement. We will keep you updated as we act on your suggestions.

To that end, I’d like to share with you some of the plans for the spring semester.

Let me start with the most pressing issue: COVID-19. In terms of health and safety protocols, the spring semester will look much like the fall semester—required mask wearing, physical distancing, and testing. The Campus Health and Safety Committee is researching home testing kits for staff and faculty. These PCR kits, paid for by the university, will allow you to administer a nasal swab test yourself and get your results at the beginning of the spring semester. You will receive more information from Human Resources once the testing company and protocols are confirmed.

We will begin surveillance testing during the first week of classes. The COVID-19 Dashboard will once again be available on the website to allow you to track the status of COVID-19 cases in and near our university community. We will continually monitor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidelines and adjust as appropriate based on our situation and in pursuit of the most cautious approach to containing infection rates.

Please work with your supervisor to determine whether you can work remotely or if alternative scheduling may be possible within your department. If you need any equipment, supplies, connectivity, or software in order to work remotely productively and seamlessly, please speak with your supervisor so they can coordinate with IT and other departments as needed to figure out how this might be accomplished.

As previously announced, we reinstated a number of the suspended paid days off for benefits-eligible staff. These can be used between November 30 and January 15. In addition, we have decided to restore the Labor Day holiday and also provide an additional floating holiday for benefits-eligible staff to use in the spring. These days off can be taken between January 19 and May 7. Staff should coordinate their days off with their supervisor. Finally, we plan to resume the Summer Fun Days Off (SFO) program this summer. Of course, all plans are subject to change due to the pandemic.

There are a number of new initiatives underway I would like to share with you.

First, the Board of Trustees has established a task force made up of trustees, community members, faculty, and administrators to begin reviewing options for how to best use university-owned acreage. This Land Use Task Force will work with the City of Georgetown to determine how to derive the most benefit from the 500 acres of undeveloped university property. The work of this task force will begin in January, so you can expect more updates in the coming months.

Food is part of our history and heritage. It plays a huge role in our entire ecosystem, it brings us together, and it provides comfort as well as nutrition. In order to continually evolve the food offerings at Southwestern, we will be surveying all staff, faculty, and students about dining options, food selections, and culinary needs or wants in early 2021. The results of the survey will be shared with the university community and lay the groundwork for an upcoming food service Request for Proposals. Over the course of the next academic year, the Southwestern community will be asked to participate in the selection of our food service provider. I highly recommend watching the documentary City of Gold about renowned food critic Jonathan Gold for an inspiring look at how food can lead to a greater understanding and appreciation of culture. I also encourage you to read “Food for Thought: Frequent Interracial Dining Experiences as a Predictor of Students’ Racial Climate Perceptions,” an insightful and important Journal of Higher Education article authored by our very own Dr. Maria R. Lowe, Dr. Reginald A. Byron, Griffin Ferry ’12, and Melissa Garcia ’12.

One of the many things 2020 has taught us is the importance of informing and engaging with our students’ parents. In order to provide new students and their parents with a single resource for all the information and forms they will need for enrollment, we are developing a new parent portal. Members of the Parent Relations and Marketing and Communications teams will be gathering information from across campus to include in this portal so that parents and students will have everything they need at their fingertips to ensure a smooth transition to the university.

As we announced in November, Southwestern is an inaugural member of the Liberal Arts Colleges Racial Equity Leadership Alliance (LACRELA). We join 51 other institutions from across the country in the alliance, launched by the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center. Our membership in LACRELA includes access to a curriculum led by racial-equity experts; an online resource library of rubrics, readings, and case studies; guidance on designing action plans; and campus climate surveys. Every month, eight members of our university community will attend a special meeting along with representatives from the other institutions to hear and participate in best practice scenarios and case studies. Serena Bettis, Ken Mello, Rene Maule, Terri Johnson, and Julie Sievers have agreed to lead our participation in LACRELA, and they will provide more information in the future about how you can participate.

In the fall, we enrolled our most diverse class in university history. This milestone is the starting point for Southwestern’s pursuit to be designated a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). In order to achieve this coveted recognition, we need our enrollment to consist of at least 25% Latinx students for a second year. This goal is very much at the forefront of our current student recruitment efforts. Once we achieve it, we will then apply for HSI status.

We will also be launching a Staff Training and Development Program in fall 2021 to provide more opportunities for staff to gain new knowledge and skills. Be on the lookout for more details.

The following construction projects will take place in the coming months as we enhance the functionality and aesthetics of our campus:

Finally, we have begun our long-term tactical planning. The Tactical Planning Committee is holding a series of retreats in January and February. I look forward to reporting on the committee’s progress in the coming months.

I leave you with a quotation from Maya Angelou that takes on special significance for my son and me as we consider how you all have been so welcoming and kind: “Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good.”

Wishing you all a healthy and joyful 2021,

Laura E. Skandera Trombley
president@southwestern.edu
512.863.1454