As I reflect on the past academic year, I am pleased to see how Dyson College has continued to flourish. As always, our students, faculty, staff, and alumni are accomplishing great things and demonstrating the enduring importance of a liberal arts degree.
Like you, this spring we found ourselves facing a global pandemic that altered our lives and tested our resilience. As a community, we faced these challenges and redesigned all our courses to deliver a quality education remotely. More recently, we have been working collectively on creating a path back to what will be the new normal. I am proud to share with you in this Year in Review some of the ways that our faculty, students, alumni, and staff have adapted to remote teaching, learning, and working, demonstrating their strength and resolve.
During this time of uncertainty and unprecedented change in our lives, many of the people addressing the key issues possess liberal arts degrees. They are the professionals who have the requisite foundations to help society navigate the socioeconomic, cultural, medical and political challenges of COVID-19. They are scientists, researchers, physicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, economists, historians, humanitarians, artists, writers, journalists, government officials, sociologists, public health policy makers, and ethicists. These individuals will be bringing back to health those who have been infected, and creating vaccines and other treatments to combat the virus. They will advise us on how to stay safe, how to reimagine our lives, our workplaces, and our interactions, and how to make sense of what is happening. They will be the ones to provide the perspective we need to help us maintain our humanity as we grapple with the best way forward. In the context of this pandemic, the enduring importance of the arts and sciences stands out clearly.
As I write this, the semester has ended, but issues of equity, diversity, and social justice have come to the fore and our community is engaged in addressing these questions fervently. While the problems are complex and deeply embedded in our culture, I am confident that the knowledge—now more important than ever—that our students and alumni have gained through Dyson’s liberal arts programs will be put to critical use to benefit society.
I thank you for your support of Dyson College’s programs, faculty, and students. With your essential help, we will continue to fulfill our mission of providing students with the liberal arts programs that help them make the world a better place. We remain optimistic and focused on what surely is a bright future ahead as we continue to work together to make Pace and Dyson College more responsive and inclusive.
Dean, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences
