A Thank You, Along with Plans for Summer and Fall
MICHAEL K. YOUNGPresident
April 30, 2020
Howdy Students,
As the semester draws to a close, I cannot thank you enough for your flexibility and resilience, especially over the past six weeks. Just thinking about how you – the largest student body in the nation – rapidly responded to so many changes is both humbling and awe-inspiring:
- More than 1,000 of you quickly adapting international travel plans, with more than 280 of you safely returning from overseas and self-isolating when asked to do so;
- More than 57,000 of you participating in online classes, working with faculty across nearly 13,800 class sections; and
- Many of you answering the call to serve as only Aggies do – including nursing students who opted to expedite your instruction early and members of the military who were activated.
Thank you!
Next week, 10,796 of you are expected to graduate. While spring commencement, as we know, has been postponed, we will mark in a number of special ways the conferral of degrees.
This summer, we’re fully online and enrollment is actually up, a sign that you remain undeterred in pursuing your goals. We will advise about plans for August commencement by the end of May.
In the fall, our Aggiebound Aggies numbers are also up. While we know online classes are an option if needed, we plan to be fully open and operational, with dedicated faculty and staff leaning into preparing for all the requirements necessary to do so safely across academics, athletics and campus activities. We will continue to keep you updated in detail for plans to open responsibly, and will, of course, follow updated federal, state officials and healthcare guidance that dictate our ability to do so.
It’s been quite a semester! We love you and wish you and your families safety and happiness as we continue to move forward together.
Sincerely,
Michael K. Young
President