Faculty Development Center

MEMORANDUM

Date:               April 1, 2020

To:                   CSUDH Faculty

From:               Michael E. Spagna, Ph.D.

                        Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Subject: Alternative Instruction Update

Dear Colleagues,

I have no specific business to transact with this communication—other than to express my gratitude for all that you are doing to meet our mission of providing quality instruction and promoting student success.

 As we learned in a press conference yesterday, the next two weeks are going to be particularly difficult for all of us as the various measures we have taken across the country stand as a bulwark against the spread of COVID-19. But even as we navigate this difficult stretch, I wanted to let you know directly how incredibly impressed I have been by all of your efforts to deliver alternative instruction. The level of peer-to-peer support, sharing of expertise in providing online and virtual education, and overall commitment to our university and our students have been unbelievable.

As faculty members, you set an important tone in times of intense stress. Many of our students are employed in the very sectors hit hardest by the pandemic – the retail, restaurant, and gig jobs that disappeared a few weeks ago. Their hardships can be unimaginable. But I’ve seen you rise to that repeatedly, with gestures of understanding, guidance, and compassion.

I also want to acknowledge all of the efforts of the deans, associate deans, chairs, area leads, and staff. Every person has made a difference in meeting the seemingly endless challenges that confront us daily. One of the best gifts anyone can receive is a communication of appreciation and thanks. (I still treasure receiving such notes—whether it be from middle school students I taught years ago or from teachers that I worked with as they pursued their credentials in educator preparation programs.) So, go ahead and engage in thanking our colleagues.

Finally, as Martin Seligman, the father of Positive Psychology, reminds us, “the most satisfied, upbeat people [are] those who [have] discovered and exploited their unique combination of ‘signature strengths,’ such as humanity, temperance, and persistence.” I know that many of us are actively discovering strengths we didn’t think we had in the age of COVID-19. In my career as an educator, I rejected a deficit mindset a long time ago; instead, I urge you to spend these next two weeks in “strengthening strengths”—in yourselves, in your students, and in those you love.

Be well, stay safe, and thank YOU for working together for our collective good as a Toro community.

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