Goodbye, April! Hello, May!
#StayStrong Trinity
President Pat McGuire is communicating to the campus community frequently via All-Trinity e-mails to provide important information during the Coronavirus and offer positive messages of support. We’re posting her e-mail messages here. Additional information is available on the Coronavirus on Trinity’s Health and Wellness site. Read all of her March messages here and her April messages here. Stay up to date – read President McGuire’s blog.
UPDATE: Friday, April 1, 2020
Message from Trinity President Pat McGuire
Goodbye, April! Hello, May!!
Dear Trinity Students and Colleagues,
We made it!! Hooray! April has ended, at long last and what a month it’s been. As we close out the historic Spring 2020 semester, my greatest wish for you and all of us is to enjoy some real springtime and hope in May! Brighter days are coming! You have been absolutely marvelous through these last 7 weeks, braving the pandemic, switching overnight to new and unfamiliar teaching and learning modalities, or teleworking from your kitchen tables while managing the schooling of your children and competing demands for that home computer with a spouse or partner also needing to do telework and homework. You have been amazing! Open the window and give yourself a cheer!
The end of the semester does NOT mean the end of hearing from me…. for better or worse…!! Please continue to keep an eye on your Trinity emails for many important announcements about our status going forward, opportunities for you, and important news affecting all of us.
Here are several important news items:
Students who are graduating in May: you should have received a message from me yesterday about the schedule for our virtual graduation celebrations, and soon you will receive your academic mortarboard and tassel in the mail. Next week I will be sending out Zoom invitations to the virtual graduation events, please watch your mail so you can register for yours.
CARES Act Emergency Grants and Trinity Grants: we have made grants of more than $1 million to 734 students. As of today, we have exhausted the first wave of funding from the U.S. Department of Education. We are still receiving applications and will hold those received today and after today in a queue as we await word of additional funding from the Department of Education. We will let you know when we are able to make additional grants. I want to give a huge shout-out to Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Karen Gerlach for administering this program so well, and to colleagues who worked in support to go from receiving word of the grants on Saturday night to getting the distributions out today: Dr. Debbie Van Camp, Vice President Cathy Geier, Associate Controller Danielle Madden. Thank you!
Summer and Fall Schedules and Courses: As previously announced our summer courses will continue in the online format while the D.C. stay-at-home order remains in effect. Mayor Bowser has appointed me to the D.C. Reopen Advisory Group so I’m working closely with other university presidents and public officials to determine what our next steps will be for the late summer and fall. We will certainly proceed with all classes in the Fall 2020 semester, but how much of our work can be “live” in classrooms and on campus and how much will still be remote depends entirely on the public orders and readiness of the city to resume normal business. We are making extensive plans for all different scenarios, and will keep you informed as we know more. For now, please register for fall classes and plan on continuing your studying, teaching and work at Trinity! Know that we miss you very much and are eager to see you again in person! Zoom is no substitute for our personal community.
Catholic Charities Call for Volunteers: I am on the board of Catholic Charities DC and they have asked me to invite Trinity volunteers for their food distribution this weekend and into next week. Joan Fowler Brown, my contact, wrote to me, “On May 5 we are doing another food distribution at Northwestern HS. We had a very successful grocery distribution at our Mona Center in Prince Georges County on Tuesday – one of the many ways we are helping our community. Here is the NBC coverage of our event. We can use help packing the grocery boxes at SHARE now through Monday (safely distanced) and we could use help with the actual distribution on May 5.” If you are interested in volunteering for Catholic Charities on the food distribution, please send me a note and I will connect you with Ms. Brown.
Don’t Forget the Trinity Cookbook! We have many delicious entries already, but are welcoming even more! If you have some wonderful dish that you have enjoyed this spring, let’s hear about it! Send me your recipe and photo of the dish and you can be enrolled among Trinity’s Top Chefs!
Good luck to all still working on papers and finals, and know of my admiration for you along with my continuing care and concern for your health and safety.
With best wishes,
President Pat McGuire president@trinitydc.edu
Key Resources and Contacts:
Coronavirus Information, Trinity Health and Wellness Center
Dr. Jacqueline Newsome-Williams, Trinity Health and Wellness Center
Dr. Karen Gerlach, Vice President of Student Affairs
Dr. Carlota Ocampo, Provost, Academic Affairs
Who’s Who at Trinity – Who should I talk to about ….
Media Inquiries: Ann Pauley
