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

Love what you do

The late Steve Jobs said, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

The greatest joy I have had in my first 19 months here at Bloomsburg University is the opportunity to work with so many great people. With the tireless dedication of so many individuals, BU would not be the strong institution it is without our great faculty and staff.

We recently held our annual Faculty and Staff Appreciation ceremony to honor the nearly 180 employees who were celebrating a work anniversary from between five and forty years. The total combined years of service for all these employees added up to more than 1,900 years – an amazing total and a number of which we can be quite proud.

Many times in speaking with our faculty and staff I have heard, “My plan was to stay here a few years, and then move on. But that was over twenty years ago. I realized I loved it here and stayed.”

That sentiment speaks volumes about our campus community. I am grateful to all my colleagues – not only those who are celebrating work milestones, but also those who have joined us more recently – for the great work that they do every day, for loving what they do, and for contributing to the success of our students.

A big THANK YOU to all our faculty and staff, and GO HUSKIES!

Bashar

Servant Leadership

Servant leadership. According to Robert Greenleaf, who coined the term servant leadership, this exercise of power “begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.” During my almost three decades of higher education experience, the most effective leadership is servant leadership in action.

Far too frequently our students provide us with amazing lessons in this type of leadership.

As I walk the campus and observe, often from afar, I am amazed what our students do for each other, the university, and our neighbors.

During move-in week our OWL’S and CA’s provided servant leadership with poise, dignity, and most importantly a genuine SMILE. There was no task that was too small or no frustrated first-year students and their family, that would keep this dedicated group from making the day a memorable one for everybody.

Also, Joar Dahn, our CGA president and an immigrant like me, along with his executive board, have shown leadership in action. Joar has met with town leaders to facilitate conversations so that our students and our neighbors in town can exist symbolically along-side each other.

Our faculty also show us servant leadership. I am utterly amazed at the level of service the BU faculty provides on and off campus. For example, two faculty members, Kurt Smith and Scott Lowe, both from the department of philosophy, serve on the town Planning Commission. Retired faculty members Jim Pomfret and Chang Shub Roh also work together delivering meals on wheels. And I am sure I haven’t even scratched the surface of others who volunteer in many ways across campus and our town and region.

Our staff is also very active serving others. For example, Donna Gillaspy, administrative assistant in the sports information office, is a volunteer at the Bloomsburg Elks Lodge as well as with the Bloomsburg Women’s Civic Club and serves as mission team leader at the Wesley United Methodist Church.

BU is a special place because of the servant leaders that prefer to lead with action rather than words. Valuable lessons for all, especially newcomers to the Huskies family like me.

Bashar