Thank You, Rambler Family

On Friday, March 27, 2020 Dr. Rooney shared a Zoom video message from her home office with faculty and staff thanking them for their extraordinary response in shifting to online classes and remote working as part of the public health response to COVID-19.

 

Hello, Rambler family. 

I want to reach out directly to thank each member of our community for your dedication, compassion, good will and flexibility as we implemented unprecedented actions to support the public health recommendations and needs addressing the global pandemic of COVID-19. Many of you are on the front lines of our efforts to ensure our academic continuity and quality, student support and continuation of our business operations without interruption.

 Every one of you has been a part of this effort.

These have been an extraordinary few weeks, filled with uncertainty, anxiety, and emotion. Yet through it all, your steady work, focus and ability to creatively adapt to protect the health of our community and continue our educational mission have been inspiring. You have provided what all of us need now….Hope.

 I want to share some numbers with you, just to capture the magnitude of the efforts by everyone. As of this week, all university courses--more than 3,400 class sections in all--have been transitioned to online instruction, a feat accomplished with great expertise in a remarkably short period of time.  Almost all of our more than 4,000 employees have shifted to remote work. Yesterday, alone, we had over 41,000 participants in 3,500 zoom sessions. Clearly, we are active and thriving.

This has not been easy. Frankly, it has been very difficult. However, the emphasis on serving each other, serving the greater good and caring for each other with love and compassion throughout the process fills me with immeasurable gratitude. More than ever we are reminded how critical our Jesuit mission is and the role each and every member of our community plays in fulfilling it.

From my remote location to yours, please accept my deep and abiding “thank-you” for your work and care in addressing these urgent challenges with such dedication, courage, and love.

In this time of uncertainty, I encourage each of us to make time to pause, in gratitude, acknowledging our many blessings. At the same time, we should also recognize many who are suffering, less fortunate and more vulnerable, holding them deeply in our hearts.

Please continue to care for yourselves, your families, and neighbors. Know that you are in my prayers.

For now, take good care and stay well. I look forward to connecting with you again soon.