Q&A with President Szymanski on university continuity among COVID-19 challenges
President David Szymanski recently spoke with the Spinnaker, UNF’s student newspaper, on many important topics related to the university, including COVID-19 challenges, remote instruction, graduation and more.
In the article, Szymanski shared what it is like to be a university president during these unprecedented times and how his goal is to keep UNF operational and continuing instruction, now remotely. While there are many challenges related to the coronavirus that the university must deal with, he believes “as an institution, we are doing really well in terms of the best we could possibly be doing at this point in time.”
The well-being and safety of the Osprey community, including students, faculty and staff, remains very important to the president. He stated there are two fronts to the challenges the university faces, “the continuity of the institution and its academic programs with no disruptions,” and “how can we ensure that people are not only coping, surviving and maintaining an academic standing, but also that people are relieved of stress and anxiety.”
With the return to normal university operations currently unknown, Szymanski encourages everyone to stay connected and help each other out. “Sometimes you don’t know that your call made a difference, or that your Facetime made a difference, or that your post made a difference. It’s a different time but people still need to see and hear other people.”
Read the full Spinnaker article.