President’s Update
Summer 2020
A lot has changed, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, since our last alumni newsletter. For our alumni, many of our annual events this year had to be cancelled or postponed — including Alumni Reunion.
For our students, the sudden shift to online coursework and other distance learning modes made the spring semester a very strange one. While we are proud of the support SUNY Broome provided to our Hornets, the situation did reveal and exacerbate the difficulties that lower-income students face. That’s why the college’s Foundation launched fundraising for the Student Emergency Fund to help Hornets with vital non-tuition expenses through $500 grants. Due to overwhelming generosity — with 73% of gifts coming from alumni — and a matching grant from the SUNY Impact Foundation, over $117,000 ultimately was raised.
Another change for our students is that graduation became a virtual event. While this is certainly different, it will hopefully turn out to be a memorable and positive experience for the brand-new members of our alumni family. Feel free to leave our graduates a note of celebration on the graduation website.
As we look forward to a unique-in-history fall semester, I’d like to mention how SUNY Broome will be continuing our unwavering mission of excellence in education while addressing necessary safety requirements. Our SUNY approved plan will be to proceed with both in-person and online classes with a traditional semester schedule, while we will be prepared to revert to all distance learning should it become necessary.
Before I conclude this short update, I want to take a moment to recognize our graduates in medical fields who worked the front lines of this pandemic and everyone who volunteered to take care of their neighbors. Your work is critical and we are so very grateful to you.
If you have a story about COVID-19 or just a general update, let us know by submitting a class note. We will be covering the role of SUNY Broome and our alumni during the pandemic in the next edition of BROOME.
Be well and stay strong out there, Hornets!
Dr. Kevin E. Drumm,
SUNY Broome President