A President's Welcome

Welcome to the Fall 2021 semester! It’s wonderful to have everyone back, and especially energizing to see our students back on campus. Welcome back to all our returning students, and a special welcome to our first-year and transfer students – I look forward to seeing you in the Commons and on the Quad.

To our faculty and staff, I thank all of you for your unwavering commitment to our students, and appreciate your perseverance in spite of the challenges we’ve encountered over the past 18 months. Special thanks to all our colleagues, CAs, and HOWLs who have been helping our newest students move in and get acquainted with the campus over the past couple weeks.

As you recently read, the health and safety of our campus community remains a high priority for us as we begin this semester. We continue to track the COVID-19 virus, and we have mandated masking indoors on campus because of the recent increase in positive cases in our county. I thank all of you for your cooperation in support of our commitment to conclude the semester as we begin it: in-person, and with a vibrant campus life and educational experience for all students.

I ask each of you to please wear a face covering of some sort while indoors, and please check our regular campus email announcements and COVID-19 dashboard for the latest updates. I remind all students that they will be automatically entered into our scholarship lottery upon providing proof of vaccination to our Student Health Center (SHC). Please visit the SHC webpage for further information on the scholarship opportunities, COVID testing, and on-campus vaccine registration.

Best of luck to all our students as we commence this academic year together, and thanks again to all my colleagues for your hard work and dedication in support of our students.

Please continue to be safe, mask up, and GO HUSKIES!

    Bashar W. Hanna, President

Congratulations, Huskies!

Dear BU Class of 2021,

This weekend I'm elated that you and your families will be able to conclude the academic year with an in-person commencement ceremony, the 152nd spring commencement in our institution’s history. We are proud of your patience and perseverance over the past year as the pandemic has altered our lives in so many ways.

I also want to express my gratitude to our faculty and staff, who taught, guided, mentored, and counseled you during your years here at BU. This weekend, we all delight in celebrating with you.

As you move into your next phase of life, my challenge to you is simple. Wake up every morning with one goal in mind – to face life’s challenges and make a positive impact in the life of another so that our future is a better place than it is today.

Now, more than ever, our world needs compassion, empathy, and leadership. My wish for you is to develop and maintain a growth mindset and contribute to your respective communities in meaningful ways. Don’t be afraid to challenge what you see and hear as you continue to learn and grow. Be courageous. Make your voices heard and make a difference in the lives of others. Be leaders. Stay engaged. Be Huskies.

CONGRATULATIONS to all of you! May you and your loved ones continue to remain safe and healthy, and remember you’ll always have a home here at Bloomsburg University.
Onward! 

    Bashar W. Hanna, President

Servant leadership at BU

It’s often said that servant leaders put others before themselves. This statement epitomizes the leadership team at Bloomsburg University. At a time when we are stretched beyond reason, a simple challenge led to servant leadership in practice.

Two years ago, I proposed an idea to my 30+ colleagues who are members of BU’s Leadership Council (my direct reports and their direct reports): that each of us mentor between one and three students who were academically at risk.

Through the end of the Fall 2020 semester, we have now mentored 157 total students. As important as the intervention provided for our most valuable stakeholders (our students) are the lessons learned by my colleagues and me. It’s fair to say that each of us has learned far more from our student-mentees than we had anticipated.

The endless challenges that our students face — exacerbated by a global pandemic — are both heartbreaking and tear-provoking. The experience of hearing our students’ stories has made us more empathetic and altruistic, and perhaps most importantly it has galvanized us to remain steadfast in our commitment to transforming the life of every student.

History may remember us by the outcome of our efforts — let’s double down on making sure our efforts lead to better futures for our students, especially our most vulnerable.

Sincerely, 

        Bashar W. Hanna, President

Huskies Adapt

As I sit with my large mug of coffee on this Sunday morning and reflect on the semester, I am awestruck by our Husky adaptability.

After three-plus months of planning to return to campus for the fall 2020 semester, hundreds (if not thousands) of human resource hours went into creating plans to address and mitigate as many COVID-19 risk factors as possible.  Not long after we welcomed first-year and transfer students to the BU Family and said welcome back to returning students, we immediately began to encounter challenges that directly or indirectly impacted the entire Husky Nation.

As the number of COVID-19 cases began to increase and approach triple digits, we faced a “fork in the road” – march on or pivot. After many hours of exploring and assessing options, we decided it was more prudent to pivot. Such decisions are difficult and are seldom free of critique.

The remarkable quality of the BU Family to pivot and adapt continues to amaze. And it is with a spirit of awe and gratitude that, on behalf of our students, I express my deep appreciation and gratitude to our faculty and staff’s extraordinary commitment and dedication. 

THANK YOU!

Bashar W. Hanna, President

Welcome to the Fall 2020 Semester

Dear BU Family,

As we begin the Fall 2020 semester, I would like to take a moment first to welcome our newest Huskies – our first-year and transfer students, and our new faculty members. We are excited that each of you has joined the Husky Family, and I look forward to meeting you in the coming months ahead. I also welcome back our returning students and faculty members. For all of us, this semester will be an unusual one, and I am especially grateful to my colleagues who have spent countless hours over the past several months to prepare for this atypical semester.

My thanks, as well, to each of you for your patience and understanding during these challenging times. As we have done so since last March, we will continuously monitor the latest information on the COVID-19 virus (including any developing student incidence rates), and respond accordingly to the changing circumstances. 

The health and safety of the entire BU community remains our highest priority, and every single one of us must abide by the necessary safety precautions. This pandemic has given us the opportunity to demonstrate the sense of family that makes BU a special place – and that sense of family means taking responsibility for yourself and showing consideration and respect for others.

• please wear a face mask on and off campus
• socially distance yourself from others
• and wash your hands frequently

Lastly, I urge all of you to check in on a daily basis via our Husky Health Checker , and please continue to monitor our website for the latest updates. We are all in this together as one BU Family, and we will only contain and reduce the spread of this virus if each of us takes personal responsibility for our actions.

MASK UP, HUSKIES!

Sincerely,

Bashar W. Hanna, President

Doing our part

Each spring for the past decade, Bloomsburg University students have participated in “The Big Event,” a Saturday in which thousands of students volunteer their time and help members of the Bloomsburg community with projects ranging from assisting a local business with its exterior design to doing a backyard cleanup for elderly residents. Whatever the task, our students have accepted the various challenges with cheerful attitudes and a sense of pride in giving back – because giving back to the community is in their DNA. Organized each year by the elected student leaders of BU’s Community Government Association, this event serves as a wonderful example of the power of collaboration for the benefit of our neighbors and community partners.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and current social distancing guidelines, this year’s Big Event was unfortunately canceled not long after BU made the difficult decision last month to move to online instruction for the remainder of the semester.

During these extraordinary times, the opportunity to assist a fellow member of the community is challenging, if not impossible. Despite these challenges, however, I am proud to say that Bloomsburg University continues to do its part by helping in the community.

Since the last week of March, thanks to the generosity and compassion of our nursing department, and to the resourcefulness and ingenuity of my colleagues in both the College of Science and Technology and the Zeigler College of Business (where we used our 3D printers in the Nicholas J. Giuffre Center for Supply Chain Management to produce masks and face shields), Bloomsburg University has donated the following personal protective equipment items to Geisinger Bloomsburg Hospital, Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, and Evangelical Community Hospital in Lewisburg:

• 3,714 surgical masks
• 1,272 N95 masks
• 300 isolation gowns (and 15 disposable gowns)
• 150 face shields
• 60 visors
• 50 medical coveralls
• Multiple boxes of sterile gloves and non-sterile gloves

Because our students are not on campus and almost all of our residence halls are vacant, we are also prepared to provide temporary living quarters to Geisinger employees who are seeking alternative accommodations out of concern for exposure to their own family members. According to a metric geometry working group at Tufts University in Boston, there currently exist 46,167 total hospital beds in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania while there is capacity for 196,174 individuals in empty dorm rooms at colleges and universities across the state. It is my hope that this pandemic does not create an urgent need for rooms at BU or any other institution of higher learning in Pennsylvania. But given the current environment on college campuses, it is clear that universities are well situated to assist local hospitals should that need unfortunately arise.

While I am proud of the many Bloomsburg University alumni who are health care professionals fighting on the front lines of this pandemic in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, I am equally as proud of what BU is doing in this area – and I hope that our actions can serve as an example of the opportunity to make even a small difference in the community amidst challenging times.

As we face an uncertain future together, it is ever more important to strengthen our ties within this region so that all can benefit in brighter days ahead. I personally look forward to those brighter days ahead when our students return to campus, and to one day in particular next year: The Big Event in Spring 2021. I hope it will be the biggest and most impactful one yet.

Bashar

Our semester begins anew

Just a few weeks ago, our students left campus for various destinations with the plan to return for classes after their spring break. As you all know, our world has changed significantly since then because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today, we resume our academic semester through remote teaching and learning. This is not a day any of us had anticipated when we began the semester in January, but the current circumstances have required us to move to online instruction for the remainder of the semester. The health and safety of our entire BU community is our highest priority, and it is my sincere hope that this message finds each of you in good health.

I want to take a moment to thank our students and their families. In the past few weeks, we have made several decisions that have impacted our students’ academics, their living arrangements, and the BU experience with which they have become so accustomed. I am ever grateful to each and every one of them for their patience and understanding during these unprecedented times.

I also extend my heartfelt gratitude to my colleagues for their service, selflessness, and support these past couple weeks. This global pandemic has led to extraordinary circumstances, and the response from our faculty and staff has been equally extraordinary.

As our semester begins anew, I am filled with pride – Husky Pride – and great confidence that we are embarking on this journey together. As one pack, let us finish the semester with the grit and determination for which Huskies are known. May we face this uncharted territory as a family and do what we do best by supporting one another, even if from afar.

Please stay connected each day by checking our website, please focus on your health and well-being in the weeks ahead, and GO HUSKIES!

Sincerely,

Bashar