Meeting New Challenges, Innovating for the Academic Year: 2020-2021
September 21, 2020
Dear Students and Colleagues,
Together, we are about to embark on an academic year unlike any in our
history. We begin the fall quarter amid a global pandemic, a clarion call
for racial justice and a divisive political season in our country. It is a
moment that calls on all of us at Drexel to innovate, support one another,
and strive to be the best version of ourselves as individuals and as a
university community.
In times like these, we wish most of all that we could be together in
community. But our necessary pivot to remote learning, enactment of
sweeping health and safety measures, the smooth resumption of research by
faculty and graduate students, and the launch of lifesaving scientific
inquiry around COVID-19 has been nothing short of remarkable, and we are
determined to use all of our extraordinary creativity to ensure this is a
year of intellectual and personal growth for everyone. Collectively, we are
rising to meet the great civic challenge of our time — to create a
true anti-racist culture at Drexel and the broader community. And our work
continues on a new, 10-year strategic plan that will make racial and social
justice a key measure of our success; strengthen our capacity as a research
university; and secure Drexel's national leadership in experiential learning
as a model for higher education at a time of profound change and disruption
for all colleges and universities.
This is a moment that has only further exposed the inequality that exists
in our society, and in our own community; as well as a moment that has
required all of us to adapt in so many ways on a personal and professional
level. But I look ahead with confidence because we have so much on which we
can build, and such a deep reserve of goodwill that exists throughout
Drexel.
Financial Strength, Generous Support
We begin by ensuring a firm financial footing for our missions of teaching,
research and service. When the pandemic forced the campus closure, we took
difficult steps to reduce spending — some of which meant sacrifice
from faculty and professional staff to whom I am profoundly grateful.
The result: a balanced budget for the current fiscal year and a
cautiously positive outlook going forward. In July, the financial markets
also gave us a heartening vote of confidence in our $256.4 million bond sale
to enhance the quality of academic and student life, secure our investment
with Tower Health in St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, and benefit
the University's endowment for the future. We can be equally proud of our
stewardship of the $811 million endowment, which continues its steady 8.1
percent annual return in a turbulent financial period.
Looking to our own community, I'm enormously grateful for the support and
engagement from more than 10,500 Drexel alumni who joined
thousands of others in volunteering, attending events or making a generous
gift. The Campaign for Drexel has grown to $645 million, just 15 percent shy of its $750 million
goal, benefiting student success, teaching and learning, research and civic
engagement. Another $250,000 in special funds has been raised to directly
help Drexel students navigate the pandemic. And for this academic year
in total, the University has awarded more than $318 million in grant
and scholarship aid to undergraduate students.
First-Year Class
From this position of strength, we welcome the newest members of the Drexel
community — an accomplished, creative and diverse group of 2,400
first-year students and 560 transfer students starting classes today. One in
four of our first-years are first-generation college students and they hail
from 40 states and 53 countries. We are proud that students of this caliber
and commitment have chosen Drexel and we know this class is going to be an
extraordinary addition to our community in the years ahead.
These new undergraduates join a vibrant and engaged student body involved
in hundreds of student organizations supported virtually this year by
Student Life. Preparing for the new term last week, our first-year students
began to build bonds even before classes start by attending nearly 300
virtual programs — including more than 100 hosted by students.
And as these new undergraduates begin class, they will benefit from the
efforts of more than 200 Drexel graduate students who stepped up as remote
course facilitators to support faculty in the pivot to remote
learning.
A more diverse, inclusive Drexel
Each of these new students joining us, and the thousands already here,
expect to be judged on their own merits. We prize our diversity as a
community and are determined to enhance it. That's why I am deeply committed
to creating an anti-racist community at Drexel where all students, faculty
and professional staff know they are seen for their individual skills and
talents, not judged through the lens of preconceived perceptions or even
unconscious biases. Our work toward that goal will be a key focus this
academic year and beyond — particularly how social justice will be
woven through the fabric of the strategic plan being finalized this year.
I'm humbled by the task ahead of us and inspired by how the Drexel community
has embraced this mission — from the leadership shown by those
participating on our Anti-Racism Task Force, to the work being done to
create the new Center for Black Culture in the Rush Building at 33rd and
Market streets, to the thorough review of campus policing underway.
Civic Engagement, Active Citizens
Drexel's commitment to civic engagement in Philadelphia defines our mission
and values. Right now, we have put a strong emphasis on addressing the
immediate needs arising from the pandemic in the communities surrounding the
campus. Our Promise Neighborhood education initiative has led the way.
Whether helping to get the word out about meal distribution sites,
purchasing and handing out masks or posting health-tip posters created by
the Dornsife School of Public Health, we remain deeply committed to
improving the quality of life and learning in our West Philadelphia
community. The front porch of one Drexel employee's long-time home in the
neighborhood has even become a distribution center for civic leaders to pick
up books, toys, masks, cleaning supplies, and other needed items.
The Dornsife Center for Neighborhood Partnerships is offering online dance
and cooking classes and its monthly community dinner to-go, working with a
local restaurant, while the Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family
Health Services provides access to critically needed COVID-19 testing, in
addition to a full range of health care. And at the Lindy Center for
Civic Engagement, Drexel students are being connected to opportunities to
engage with and support the local community through remote service
placements, intentional learning communities, and limited in-person
engagement.
We expect to do this and more in the fall, especially supporting children
learning remotely in the schools from our area. And we're making a major
effort to register and get out the vote, both in person and by mail during
an election year that has generated unprecedented interest and engagement.
For anyone within the University who has not yet registered or made a plan
to vote, I encourage you to join in this most essential responsibility of
citizenship.
New Growth, Opportunities
Our efforts to enliven our campus and community have reached beyond the
classroom and lab. Visible progress this year will be seen in and around the
University City campus, with the new home for the Powel Elementary / Science
Leadership Academy Middle School at 36th and Warren Streets moving toward a
spring opening. Our commitment to building this school is not only an
investment in the families and schoolchildren of our community, but one of
many steps we must take to ensure greater educational opportunity and
diversity in the future. Also underway in uCity Square is the new academic
tower that will house the College of Nursing and Health Professions, as well
as some divisions of the College of Medicine. Meanwhile, our development
partner at Schuylkill Yards, Brandywine Realty Trust, is making plans to
break ground on two research and commercial buildings across from Drexel
Square that will grow the innovation district providing research, co-op and
employment opportunities for Drexel students, faculty, alumni, and residents
of the surrounding neighborhoods in University City and beyond.
Pioneering Research
From the earliest days of the pandemic, Drexel researchers took on the
complex biomedical and public health challenges of COVID-19, launching
a broad range of projects including inquiries into mental health and
substance abuse during the pandemic, manufacturing of face masks and
shields, and the search for therapeutics and vaccines. This work has led to
more than $1.8 million in new research awards from sponsors like the Gates
Foundation, National Institutes of Health and the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, with others in the pipeline. Drexel so far has produced six
inventions, one pending clinical trial, and more than 30,000 individual
pieces of personal protective equipment delivered to more than two dozen
community partners in Philadelphia.
In addition, we recently launched a rapid response fund for racial equity
research. This work is focused on a range of fields across the University,
including the relationship between race and public health, the impact of
policing on health, and disparities in education. Other projects will
explore the impact of racism, racial exclusion and racial inequity on Drexel
students themselves. All of the projects will contribute to our
understanding of the negative effects of structural racism in our society,
and also will help to actively create anti-racist response.
New Leadership
Paul E. Jensen begins his first full academic year as Nina
Henderson Provost, having served as interim provost since last
fall, and we welcome a new dean amid other leadership appointments.
Jason S. Schupbach, takes over as dean of the Antoinette Westphal College
of Media Arts & Design, joining us from The Design School at
Arizona State University. There, he led the ambitious ReDesign.School
initiative to position the ASU's design school to be a collaborative,
relevant and equitable model for a 21st century institution.
Brian Ellis, PhD, of the LeBow College of Business, now
leads the Goodwin College of Professional Studies as its new
executive director, succeeding Tim Gilrain, who guided the development and
growth of numerous Goodwin programs over the past five years. As
LeBow's associate dean for program administration, Dr.
Ellis created the award-winning LeBow BRIDGE, an academic
enrichment program for underrepresented minority students.
At the Office of Equality and Diversity, Patience Ajoff-Foster has been
named the new executive director of Diversity and Inclusive Culture
and will serve an integral role in Drexel's strategy to improve
diversity and inclusion results, develop the link between diversity and
excellence with accountability measures, and grow and sustain inclusion
efforts. At the new Center for Black Culture, Shardé Johnson moves from
Student Life to serve as interim director.
College of Medicine
Early last month, the College of Medicine held its annual White Coat
Ceremony to herald the start of nearly 300 students' journey to becoming
physicians. Although the event was remote, it was a reminder of the hallowed
traditions upheld at Drexel — and yet another sign of hope for the
future. The College's bright outlook includes the approaching launch of its
additional location in West Reading in collaboration with Tower Health,
where a new building will house a four-year branch medical campus. Guiding
our work there will be Karen Restifo, MD, JD, who last month was named the
inaugural regional vice dean, joining Drexel from the Keck School of
Medicine of the University of Southern California. Meanwhile, the
University's joint ownership with Tower Health of St. Christopher's Hospital
continues to mature, with the naming of CEO Donald Mueller, a health care
executive who brings an impressive track record of fostering growth and
excellence in pediatric clinical care.
Academy Visits Resume, Strategic Plan Advances
At the Academy of Natural Sciences, through which we both support the
education of so many visitors beyond our campus while elevating our research
and teaching in the sciences, we've implemented comprehensive protocols to
ensure museum visitors and professional staff find a welcoming and safe
environment. Museum hours have been adjusted from daily to Fridays and
weekends, and early this month we opened a gallery with the fascinating
"Wildlife Photographer of the Year" exhibit. The popular "Survival of
the Slowest" sloth exhibit has been extended to late October. With these
efforts to reconnect with visitors after the shutdown, the Academy is moving
ahead on its new strategic plan that positions the nation's oldest natural
science museum as a "force for nature" and strengthens its role at
Drexel.
Athletics
We can also take pride in the achievements of the women and men of Drexel
Athletics, while sharing their disappointment in not being able to compete
this spring and fall. Before the shutdown, the wrestling program repeated as
the nation's top academic team, while Ebed Jarrell, Parker Kropman and
Michael O'Malley received 2020 Division I Scholar All-American honors from
the National Wrestling Coaches Association. Earlier, Amy Mallon took over
for Denise Dillon as head women's basketball coach. The squash season
finished strong, including victories over Penn for the seventh-ranked women
and Columbia and Yale for the eighth-ranked men. While the pandemic has
cleared the schedule for most intercollegiate sports, Drexel senior golfer
Connor Schmidt last month repeated as the Western Pennsylvania Golf
Association Amateur champion.
Looking Forward
That's a lot to take in. But as we begin this most unusual of academic
years, I wanted to be sure that everyone was current on all that we've been
doing to keep Drexel moving forward. I certainly share the deep sense of
disappointment in not being able to bring undergraduates to campus right
now. But throughout the spring and summer, Drexel faculty have worked
tirelessly to create a fall quarter that I know will be robust and
challenging. Through grit, determination and ingenuity, I have no doubt that
our entire community will do incredible things this year — none more
important than working to ensure Drexel is living up to the vision of
inclusive learning and opportunity at the core of our founding and central
to our mission today.
The months ahead will require resilience, creativity, flexibility, patience
and commitment to the health and safety of each other. We have to push
ourselves to stay ahead. For my part, I will do everything possible to bring
us back together quickly and safely. I look forward to the day when our
energy and Drexel spirit fully enliven this campus once more. For now, I
wish you all a productive and rewarding academic year.
Sincerely,
John Fry
President