Dean's Community Message

March 21, 2020

Dear College of Engineering Community,

Let’s all take a deep breath — we’ve made it through the first week of remote teaching, learning and working. We ended the week with guidance from Nick Jones, Penn State Executive Vice President and Provost, who offered some clarity around Governor Tom Wolf’s recent announcement regarding further action to prevent the continued spread of COVID-19.

There are a still a lot of questions, and solutions to be engineered. Above all else, we are prioritizing health and safety of our community. While we are protecting our physical health, the social distancing and isolation can take a toll on our mental health. While we can’t gather in person, we can connect digitally. Reach out to your networks. You can start by adding me on LinkedIn and Twitter, and by following the College of Engineering’s social media pages (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn). Several departments also have social media pages you can find on the College of Engineering’s pages.

While many of us are already on social media, I also encourage you to try something new during this extraordinary and difficult time. I always encourage students to try something new in college that might not have done otherwise. For example, the NYC Met Opera hopes to brighten the lives of audience members even while the stage is dark. Every day, they are broadcasting a different encore presentation from past Live in HDseasons. Each presentation is available for free via streaming for 20 hours beginning at 7:30 p.m. EDT. Learn more at metopera.org/operastreams.

I’ve also attached some advice from a prominent local psychologist to help with everyone’s overall wellbeing. In summary, everyone has a right to feel how they feel. It helps to control what’s actually in your control, such as helping others (while still maintaining social distance), or writing down three good things every day. Mental wellbeing can be lifted with physical exercise, journaling, the things that helped prior to the current situation. Also, it is okay to be sad. Our lives have changed, and we can be grateful for individual health while still mourning the social things we looked forward to. Finally, check in with one another. Even with physical distance, we have the technology to be there for each other.

Lastly, I want to share one of my favorite quotes from Theodore Roosevelt: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” I would love to hear some of your favorite inspirational quotes, so please feel free to email them to me with the subject line “inspirational quote.”

As always, please continue to refer to the University’s informational site and the College of Engineering resources site. If you have unanswered question, please send them to L-COE_CORONA_CRISIS_TEAM@engr.psu.edu.

Stay safe and be well!

Justin Schwartz
Harold and Inge Marcus Dean, College of Engineering