Congratulations and Looking Ahead
May 26, 2022
Dear Brooklyn College community,
I want to begin by congratulating students in the Class of 2022 who will be graduating next Tuesday at Barclays Center. You have worked so hard, and we can now celebrate your accomplishments! I am excited to see you in person next week.
We are also planning a special celebration on campus this summer for the graduates of the Classes of 2020 and 2021, who never got a ceremony at Barclays because of the pandemic. We are pleased to be able to gather in person to herald these students' achievements as well.
At this time in any academic year, many students, staff and faculty feel spent, but the pandemic has unfortunately turned up the heat on burn out. Everyone worked so hard this last year. Students, staff, and faculty often had to juggle work with care for others. Many struggled to remain engaged with the campus community during this in person/hybrid/online time. We had to adjust to the ways that the demands of working, teaching, and learning in an ongoing pandemic continued to stretch our beloved community thin.
I want to say: I see you. I see you going above and beyond in your classes and meetings, preparing for them even when you felt you had little to give. I see you wishing that there were more hours in a day, more days in a week, to complete the tasks that seemed to pile up. I see you caring for a family member who got COVID-19, trying hard not to get it yourself. I see you calling your colleague to check in, e-mailing your students to offer encouragement, calling a friend to commiserate.
It's been one heck of a year. I urge all of you to try to get some meaningful rest this summer. Please take care of yourself, sleep in if you can, go to the beach or the park during your downtime, and rest.
This summer, we are looking forward to the restoration of our gorgeous East Quad. We will also continue to make critical repairs to our infrastructure. We will be implementing plans to increase student enrollment and retention. We will greatly enhance the College's mentoring program. We are also pleased to be able to welcome new academic leaders, staff, and faculty members. These changes will have an enormously positive impact on our campus community.
I want to close by expressing deep gratitude to the extraordinary Brooklyn College staff and faculty who have done an incredible job this year to carry out our critical educational mission. I hope the break brings well-deserved relaxation, so that we can face the fall semester feeling refreshed. Please have a safe, restful, and healthy summer.
Yours truly,
Michelle J. Anderson
President, Brooklyn College
