Dear Students,
This month we reached the milestone of completing one year of remote learning and working caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This immensely challenging time has resulted in loss and grief, while also yielding great innovation and vitality. Our thoughts and prayers remain with all those impacted.
I remain grateful, too, for God’s blessings and guidance that have enabled us to provide community care without sacrificing organizational and fiscal sustainability. In turn, this has resulted in meaningful connection, engagement, and delivery of academic excellence to develop Christ-centered scholars and leaders, which transcends modality. Our faculty, staff, and students have navigated uncharted waters with resilience and excellence, discovering new technologies and approaches to deliver and learn academic content while continuing to serve one another with truth and grace. In addition, by careful attention to public health guidelines, our APU community has participated in practices to decrease the transmission of the coronavirus, promoting the health and safety of our members and the surrounding community.
Destination APU. The APU community is eager to return and is looking forward to an anticipated Fall 2021 in-person experience. Events are moving forward in a very positive direction. L.A. County recently moved to the less restrictive Red Tier (Substantial Risk) from the long-standing Purple Tier (Widespread Risk), which begins to relax, but not eliminate, many public health restrictions. Here are some key guidelines still in effect for APU:
- The L.A. County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) will not yet permit increases to residential living. This severely limits our ability to increase in-person education access equitably at this time. We will continue to monitor the guidelines in order to determine options for in-person summer course offerings.
- The commencement ceremony will remain in a virtual format. Although some external events are now permitted, they are only allowed at 20% capacity. In addition, many of our graduates are not local students. Given our inability to house these students, an in-person commencement ceremony cannot be conducted equitably or safely.
The guidelines will continue to reflect positive change provided that we stay patient and continue to practice appropriate health and safety precautions to limit the spread of COVID-19. In addition, vaccination plays a very important role in securing our planned fall return. L.A. County is not anticipated to mandate vaccination; however, the required health and safety precautions will correlate with the percentage of vaccinated individuals to achieve community immunity (“herd immunity”). It is expected that we will continue to uphold social distancing, masking, and limitations on maximum occupancy requirements until the community reaches sufficient vaccination.
As a result, the APU Administration strongly encourages all individuals able and eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to do so at their earliest opportunity in alignment with appropriate health and safety protocols and in consultation with their own medical professionals. Please monitor the California Department of Health website and sign up at My Turn when permitted to do so. For more information or to sign up with a local provider, see here. For those living out of state, visit the CDC vaccine finder. For our anticipated Fall 2021 return, APU will require those who are vaccinated to provide proof of vaccination (more details to come). Unvaccinated individuals may be required to comply with enhanced social distancing protocols and routine surveillance testing in order to help us ensure the safety of APU and our surrounding community.
Women’s History Month. During Women’s History Month, APU joins the nation in honoring and celebrating the vital role of women, past and present, in advancing our society through their contributions to education, business, sciences, the arts, ministry, and government. Be sure to review all celebratory events sponsored by the Office of Women’s Development and the Center for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Excellence.
National Science Foundation Grant to APU. I am so pleased to share in congratulating Dr. James Hsi-Jen Yeh, Associate Professor, Department of Engineering and Computer Science; Dr. Bradley “Peanut” McCoy, Chair and Professor, Department of Mathematics, Physics, and Statistics; Dr. Louise Huang, Assistant Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Director, Center for Research in Science; and Dr. Christopher B. Newman, Associate Professor, Department of Higher Education, upon their receipt of a $650,000 NSF S-STEM grant. This grant is designed to recruit, retain, and graduate high-achieving, low-income, first-generation students called to make a difference as computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and physicists. This effort is well-aligned with a number of the Grand Initiatives in Renewal.
A Closing Word. This past month I have been blessed in a study of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Most appropriately, as we hopefully turn the corner for home from this troubling time brought about by the pandemic, I have so appreciated Paul’s instruction and encouragement of how faith and hope are victorious over difficulty (Romans 5:1-5): “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance, character, and character, hope. Now, hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
With grounded and established hope,
Paul W. Ferguson, PhD, DABT President