Dean's Community Message

June 26, 2020

Dear College of Engineering Community,

Good afternoon. Today’s inspirational quote was submitted by Martin Pietrucha, professor of civil engineering:

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
—Francis of Assisi

As the college continues to take steps forward in planning for fall, I want to remind our engineering community that your feedback, questions, and concerns are vital during this strategic planning period. We are all in this together, and the college is taking all of your feedback into consideration when planning for the return to campus. Please continue to send your questions and concerns to the crisis team at L-COE_CORONA_CRISIS_TEAM@engr.psu.edu.

Here are today’s updates:

Reminder: College of Engineering Return to Resident Instruction Town Hall

As a reminder, the college will be hosting a virtual town hall for faculty and instructional staff on Wednesday, July 1, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. This town hall will be focused on the return to resident instruction and the questions surrounding this topic. Please submit your questions here by Monday at 5:00 p.m.

President Barron to Host Town Hall on Race and Bias

President Barron will host a virtual town hall on Monday, June 29, at 3:00 p.m. He will discuss the elements outlined in his June 10 message and the University’s planned efforts to fight ignorance and intolerance, model inclusivity and embrace diversity. More information can be found here.

June 22 Virtual Town Halls Archived and Online

For those of you who were not able to tune in for the University’s virtual town halls that took place on Monday, the recordings of those events are now available here. These town halls were focused on the plans and questions surrounding the return to campus for Penn State students and employees.

Remote Teaching Tip #20 – Engage students with Zoom polling

When teaching a remote synchronous class, use polling during your Zoom session to keep students engaged and to gauge student learning. See this information on enabling polling during your Zoom session. For more assistance with engaging students, contact the Office for Digital Learning.

Please continue to email me your inspirational quotes. Penn State updates are available on the University’s coronavirus information site. You can connect with me on LinkedIn, and follow the college on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Be well!

Justin Schwartz
Harold and Inge Marcus Dean, College of Engineering