Dear Campus Community:
Winter seems to go on far too long. These past months under the omicron cloud have felt more like years, taking a toll on all of us both emotionally and physically. But, with COVID-19 case counts continuing to drop and temperatures on the rise, the warmer weather brings with it a renewed sense of hope and optimism.
I am so very proud of how our campus has fared throughout the pandemic. It has been a struggle unlike any in our lifetimes, testing us in a thousand different ways. And a thousand times, we found solutions. Through creativity, good fortune and force of will, we have made those solutions work. The fortitude and determination of our faculty and staff have kept things going – kept us moving forward so that we never lost momentum.
What we have accomplished this academic year – and since the beginning of the pandemic, really – is nothing short of remarkable. We not only launched a 10-year strategic plan in 2020 – at a time of great uncertainty – we have made great strides in the plan’s implementation over the course of two years marked by even more uncertainty. The reason is that our faculty and staff care. They care about our students. They care about their colleagues. And they care about this great institution.
Bricks and mortar are not what make this university strong. It’s people. The College of Charleston is the beneficiary of smart, hardworking and empathetic people. It may have been a small cadre of wealthy, white, male Charleston elites who founded this university in 1770, but the fulfillment of that original dream for a liberal arts education is now firmly in the capable hands of a diverse range of people – diverse in age, ethnicity, race, gender expression, sexual orientation, physical abilities/qualities, work experience and geographical location.
Together, we make the dream something even bigger and greater.
Best,
Andrew
Andrew T. Hsu, Ph.D.
President
College of Charleston