In difficult times, we step up

Dear Fellow Penguins,

We have written often in this space about the far-reaching impact that Youngstown State University alumni, students, faculty, staff and supporters have on the region and the nation. This spring, as the coronavirus pandemic hit, that impact became even more apparent.

YSU alums working as nurses, respiratory therapists, counselors, school teachers, police officers, entrepreneurs, social workers, researchers, scientists and in dozens of other careers across the spectrum have stepped up with great urgency, dedication and compassion in this time of uncertainty.

When the pandemic surfaced and personal protection equipment was in short supply, a group of faculty – although away from campus under statewide stay-at-home orders – stepped up and designed a 3D-printed cartridge filter that could help lessen the shortage of protective masks.

As the pandemic spread, staff across campus stepped up to help hundreds of students living in university housing quickly pick up and leave and assisted dozens of other students overseas for Spring Break to work their way back home as quarantine orders went into place.

When many students began to face significant financial hardships caused by the pandemic, the YSU Foundation set up an online campaign to raise $50,000. In a little over two weeks, more than 350 alumni, faculty, staff and other supporters stepped up to surpass the goal. The campaign is now over $75,000.

And when faced with the challenge to switch hundreds of on-campus classes to online courses that students could take remotely from the safety of their homes, dozens of YSU staff and faculty stepped up to design new remote instructional methods, provide laptops and internet hot spots, invent new ways to provide remote counseling and advising, and even come up with ways to keep “open” virtual versions of art exhibits and musical performances.

In difficult times, we step up.

Many of those difficulties and uncertainties are likely to continue, and maybe even multiply, as we move to return to something that resembles normalcy. Circumstances are sure to remain tough, choices unpleasant, and the way forward a bit bumpy.

Rest assured, however, that your alma mater is committed to doing all that we must to get to the other side of this horrible health crisis. And when we get there, while we are likely to be changed, we also hope to be even stronger and more committed than ever. And there we will be, again ready, to step up.

Thank you, be well...and Go Penguins,

James P. Tressel, President