From the President: Nurturing our students during a pandemic

When the employee community gathered together in August 2019 to launch a new academic year, we never could have imagined that just seven months later, we would be confronted with the risks, uncertainties and complications of a global pandemic. What was once inconceivable has become today’s reality, and we are navigating a 2020 fall semester unlike any other! Yet, we continue to believe in the promise and pursue the possibilities for Messiah University, our students and our extended community during these challenging times.

In my inaugural State of the University address, presented remotely on Aug. 27, I encouraged our employees to remember our blessings, demonstrate exceptional care for one another and our students, remain hopeful in the midst of uncertainty, persist in fulfilling our important mission and embrace the value and practice of adaptability and creativity. Allow me to share some brief excerpts of my remarks:

“During these distressing times of a global pandemic, civil discord, economic turbulence and political polarization, we have the responsibility of tending to the holistic education of all of our students as we prepare them for lives of service, leadership and reconciliation. To fulfill that privilege in our current context, Messiah’s institutional culture must be characterized by adaptability and creativity.

“A culture of adaptability depends on each person’s willingness to learn and mature in his or her field of specialty. We each need to increase our own learning and skills so that we can more competently and confidently adapt to changing circumstances and the needs of different student populations. We must pursue knowledge and allow credible information to broaden—and even change—our thinking and practices as we adapt to complicated situations with wisdom and agility.

“In addition to adaptability, we must demonstrate creativity as we navigate our increasingly complicated context. During the 16 years of my presidency, I have witnessed that every Messiah employee, indeed every individual, is inherently creative. Our expressions of creativity will differ, and at Messiah there is space and the need for each of us to utilize our creative and rational abilities in support of our mission. Creativity and rationality are complementary and critical to the flourishing of an educational institution.

Additionally, we must nurture the inspired imaginations and intellectual capacities of our students so they become thoughtful and creative problem solvers who are able to competently adapt to the complexities and crises of life.

“No doubt, our current context seems daunting, but today we take heart as people empowered by God to simultaneously hold loss and hope, rationality and creativity, uncertainty and confidence as we labor together to make this academic year less about merely enduring and more about embracing this Kairos moment to educationally transform the lives of our students.

“Hebrews 10:23-24 exhorts, ‘Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.’ May unswerving faith and hope be our earnest prayer and may Messiah University be known for its unwavering commitment to deep learning, generous love and the practice of good deeds. May our common efforts bring honor and glory to the One who remains faithful—even in the hardest of times.”