President's Monthly Update: Perspective and Gratitude in 2020

December 2020

Members of the Rutgers Community,

Think about how much goes on at a major research university in a typical year: how much teaching and learning, exploration and discovery, advising and mentoring, social development, volunteering, medical care, communication, community engagement, maintenance, training, and growing takes place on our campuses. 

Now, overlay a global pandemic on every one of those processes—and many more—and we all begin to wrap our heads around the profoundly different year we have experienced at Rutgers, along with the rest of the world. Just consider, for example, that since universitywide access to Zoom was introduced in July, we have used the videoconferencing service for nearly 5 million hours of classes, meetings, health care consultations, celebrations, and conferences. The impacts of 2020 will be long felt.

Like few other states, COVID-19 has hit New Jersey hard from the start and has already taken more than 17,000 lives in our state. We grieve those we’ve lost, and our hearts go out to all those who have suffered the effects of the pandemic.

For these and other reasons, it might be easy to be overwhelmed. Here at Rutgers, that has not happened. It has been my profound honor to witness, first from afar and then up close, the remarkable ways in which you have reacted to a nonstop series of challenges since last winter in order to keep yourselves, your families, and Rutgers moving forward.

In the first months our clinicians moved into 24-hour pandemic mode, leading by example and helping save lives. We continue to see front line health care heroes at Rutgers working not only on COVID but also on all the other medical and health needs that still require attention even in a pandemic. We celebrate you just as we cheer the ongoing efforts of our medical researchers in search of diagnostics and testing, treatments, and a vaccine—including those now facilitating vaccine clinical trials.

Throughout these months, those of you who are students have been showing grit and determination as you advance in your studies in a predominantly remote environment while grappling with the pandemic’s effect on your home lives. Many of you are also taking an active role as student leaders, as engaged voters, and as participants in a global reckoning on racial injustice.

Meanwhile, you on our faculty have retooled your courses and otherwise found creative ways of reaching and teaching students without the benefits of a traditional classroom setting.  In our labs and other settings, Rutgers researchers have been working tirelessly to keep projects going.

Among staff employees, we found out what “essential” really means, and just how dedicated you are. You never stopped doing your jobs—keeping our buildings and grounds clean and safe, caring for patients, housing and feeding students, keeping our labs operating, ensuring that our IT infrastructure continues to function, performing public safety operations, and so much more.  I know many of you are keeping us going from a dining room table while helping your own children navigate remote schooling or while caring for an older relative.

Meanwhile, our alumni, board members, and friends have helped us raise millions of dollars in Scarlet Promise Grants to help students who might not otherwise be able to continue their studies at Rutgers. And speaking from personal experience, I know the families of our students, faculty, and staff have provided invaluable support throughout the year.

I am so grateful to all of you. You have made many sacrifices and demonstrated extraordinary compassion throughout the year, supporting others within our beloved community and reaching out to help others across New Jersey. I especially want to mention the Rutgers Against Hunger initiative called Adopt-A-Family. In a time of true need across the state, the Rutgers community has come together—within units, as colleagues across departments, and individually—to support this annual holiday project to give to families served by local social service agencies in our host regions. Although we don’t have final numbers, I understand our efforts have provided nearly $100,000 and reached at least 300 families throughout New Brunswick, Newark, and Camden.

This has been a hard year, an exhausting year, a troubling year. You have also made it a triumphant year by your spirit of resolve. Thank you. I wish you all a rewarding New Year, and I can’t wait to see you in person in 2021.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Holloway
President and University Professor