HIGHER ED TODAY 
  
  
 Back in early April, as the coronavirus was  
 tightening its grip on New York, Gov. Cuomo  
 issued an executive order allowing the state’s  
 fourth-year medical students to graduate  
 early  so  they  could  help  in  the  battle  against  
 COVID-19. One week later, members of the inaugural  
 class of the CUNY School of Medicine  
 received their degrees and began joining the  
 front lines as volunteers in city hospitals.  
 To me, it was a moment that symbolized  
 so much about CUNY. Most of those first-ever  
 CUNY MD’s are from racial and ethnic groups  
 that have been both traditionally underrepresented  
 in medicine  and  disproportionately  affected  
 by COVID-19. In the kind of virtual commencement  
 that would later become the norm,  
 I told them how proud I was of their willingness  
 to put themselves on the line.  
 What a year 2020 has been: It was a year  
 that constantly tested us, and frequently broke  
 our hearts. All of it demanded — and inspired  
 — great fortitude and resourcefulness from  
 the more than 300,000 students, faculty, staff  
 and leaders who make up the University, and  
 a great deal of sacrifice for the common good.  
 It’s important to recall the challenges and triumphs, 
  and to celebrate the fact that CUNY’s  
 year is ending on a high note. Let’s take a look  
 back.   
 The coronavirus was largely a remote concern  
 when the year began, but it soon gained a  
 foothold in New York that forced CUNY to all  
 but shut down its 25 campuses and quickly pivot  
 to  distance  education. When  classes  resumed  
 after a week-long academic recess, 95 percent  
 of  the University’s  50,000  course  sections had  
 transitioned to online instruction. We quickly  
 realized that thousands of students lacked the  
 tools to participate in distance learning. With  
 support from Gov. Cuomo, we purchased 33,000  
 laptops and tablets and made sure they were  
 safely loaned to students in need. It was just one  
 part of our broad efforts during the year to help  
 our students weather the academic, economic  
 and emotional challenges they faced. 
 Early in the crisis, we established the  
 Chancellor’s  Emergency  Relief  Fund  with  $1  
 million each from the Carroll and Milton Petrie  
 Foundation and the James and Judith K. Dimon  
 Foundation. By the fall, support from additional  
 donors grew the fund to more than $8  
 million and allowed us to distribute emergency  
 grants to more than 10,000 students. CUNY colleges  
 and schools raised another $8.6 million  
 TIMESLEDGER   |   QNS.COM   |   DEC. 25-DEC. 31, 2020 21  
 on their own. 
 Meanwhile, CUNY  joined  the  city’s  battle  
 against the coronavirus on many fronts. Campuses  
 used  3D  printers  to  produce  personal  
 protective equipment. Experts at the School  
 of Public Health and Health Policy produced  
 a weekly tracking survey of New Yorkers’ attitudes  
 and behaviors around the pandemic.  
 CUNY scientists repurposed their work to take  
 on coronavirus-related research. And so many  
 students rallied to help their fellow New Yorkers  
 even  as  they  faced  unthinkable  pressures  
 and loss.  
 The perseverance and accomplishment  
 came amid a backdrop of widespread grief. Every  
 CUNY campus has mourned faculty, staff,  
 students, alumni and retirees lost to COVID-19.  
 Among them were Allen Lew, CUNY’s senior  
 vice chancellor of the Office for Facilities,  
 Planning and Construction Management. The  
 University’s website now includes an In Memoriam  
 page to pay tribute to those we’ve lost.  
 Through  it  all,  we  hunkered  down  and  
 pressed on. This year CUNY conferred 56,527  
 degrees — the second highest total in our history  
 and just shy of the record high awarded  
 last year.  
 Looking ahead to life after COVID, we redoubled  
 our efforts to help students find sustainable  
 career paths and play an active part in  
 the city’s economic recovery. Among the most  
 important developments were a plan to expand  
 mental health services and a new partnership,  
 the New York Jobs CEO Council, which will  
 create a pipeline to job opportunities for 25,000  
 CUNY students. We also focused our professional  
 development training to help 3,400 faculty  
 become better online teachers, part of a  
 larger, longer-range initiative to improve pedagogy  
 at CUNY. 
 CUNY has many  reasons  to  be  optimistic  
 about the future. The long-awaited coronavirus  
 vaccine became available for public distribution  
 earlier this month, and it was a CUNY  
 nursing alumna, Sandra Lindsay, who was the  
 first person in the U.S. to receive it. The same  
 week, we received word of $60 million in gifts  
 to two CUNY colleges, Lehman and Borough of  
 Manhattan Community College, by author and  
 philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. A gift of this  
 size as we turn the page on such a challenging  
 year brings us renewed hope for the opportunities  
 it will create in the coming year and beyond 
 .O 
 n that hopeful note, we look forward to a  
 productive and fulfilling 2021 that helps us heal  
 the wounds of 2020, and allows us to fully reopen  
 the campuses of CUNY and of all universities  
 across the country. 
  
  
       
         
  
  
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