Dear New York Tech Community,

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have significant impacts on every aspect of our personal and professional lives, the economy, and our university. As we all know, higher education has been as hard hit as any sector. Colleges and universities, including New York Institute of Technology, continue to grapple with new challenges on a daily basis even now, a full year after the first coronavirus cases were confirmed in our region.

As I shared today at Academic Senate, we are very hopeful that we will be transitioning more students back to campus after March 1. Unfortunately, the current situation and health guidelines do not allow us to hold commencement in person this year, which is very sad. Commencement is the marquee event for us, and all of us—faculty, staff, and graduates—take great pride in it. This makes us even more eager for a time when we will be able to gather together again on our campuses.

Thus far, and to the credit of our faculty members, the hybrid teaching model is working and it is allowing our students to stay on track to reach their goal of graduating and starting their careers. The campus safety guidelines, as well as frequent guidance from Chief Medical Officer and Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Brian Harper, have been effective in mitigating the spread of the virus on our campuses. Thanks to everyone for keeping our campus communities safe while providing the best learning experiences possible for our students under these circumstances.

As I have communicated in the past, even before this crisis, we had already started to reduce our expenses beginning in 2017. Because of declining international and domestic student enrollments, revenues are down and will continue to be down considerably for several years. Therefore, to ensure the ongoing financial stability of our institution, we must reduce our expenses even further to bring them in line with our revenues. At the same time, we are looking to increase enrollments with new offerings as well as online and remote programs. Academic assessments will always need to be done.

As a result of the immediate impacts of COVID-19 and its precipitous effects on us, we have had to make difficult financial and academic decisions in order to protect our future and fulfill our core academic mission. These decisions included successfully transferring the Vocational Independence Program to the College of Mount St. Vincent, suspending our vigorous and proud intercollegiate athletic programs, deactivating some academic degree programs, realigning the use of our spaces, and reducing our staff.

Even as we do this, we are also seeking to expend the limited funds that are available to support programs that are thriving and to bring forth new programs and academic initiatives that will contribute to our future. There are still uncertainties that lie ahead of us, so we will continue to assess all that we do while executing our core mission at an even higher level and telling our story to the public, prospective students, and parents more effectively. Although we cannot say this pandemic has not been a crisis, we can say that we are coping with it and intend to emerge from it stronger and better adapted to the future.

Meanwhile, we are kickstarting our strategic planning efforts and the development of a three-year plan to reach our institutional goals. As you know, our strategy has been to rebuild our presence here in New York, improve the student experience, embrace our identity as a “polytechnic-plus” institution, reinvest in technology and facilities, foster a research enterprise, and market New York Tech by telling the stories of our alumni and their successes. There is also another critical piece of our strategy—knowing who our students are and what they want. For a variety of reasons, our students choose to remain in the region for their education. But they also want to achieve their goals of becoming productive professionals and leaders in their communities. For more than 65 years, New York Tech has provided these students with the guidance they need as they traverse their pathways to success. We have embraced this—it is who we are, and who we will be. So, our strategy is to work toward making their experience the very best it can be.

As proud as we are of the past, we need to keep an eye on the future and the emerging educational needs of our students. Thus, we have launched 13 new and exciting academic programs over the past year that prepare our students for careers of the future. Other innovations have included technology enhancements of our course delivery platforms, such as the transition to Canvas, and the creation of the Academic Technology Services group, with its many new initiatives designed to support students and faculty even more effectively. We also have an online program for registered nurses to obtain their bachelor’s degree in nursing, and have additional online programs for adult, professional, and nontraditional learners in the pipeline.

To thrive, we must make strategic investments to meet the evolving needs of students and the overall New York Tech community—even as we reduce our expenses. We want to provide better teaching environments and more up-to-date spaces for research. Therefore, we are making major infrastructure and technology upgrades to Theobald Hall, Anna Rubin Hall, the Riland Academic Health Care Center, the 500 Building, Education Hall, and Wisser Library. As we reopen these spaces, we will celebrate and showcase the progress we’ve made. We’ll also be launching a student mentoring program via our Women’s Technology Council and enhancing programming offered by Student Life, Career Services, and External Affairs. In Vancouver, we have located and contracted for new and larger leased space to provide the academic home to the many students who choose to study there and for the faculty and staff who serve them so well.

On the fundraising front, we look forward to the annual Big Give event on March 24 – 25, and a new alumni-giving campaign to directly benefit students. Our advocacy with government representatives continues as well. Kudos are in order for all the student volunteers who are posting videos, sending letters, and participating in meetings with our elected officials, asking them to reincorporate TAP and Bundy Aid funding in the New York State budget.

So, while we cope with this most challenging of times—and I thank everyone for their outstanding contributions and commitment to New York Tech and our students—we also look to a future that is full of promise. The COVID-19 pandemic is a storm that has blown us off our course, but we still know where we are going. What sustains us is our mission to provide students with access to opportunity and the promise for a better life. That is why we say: “Do, Make, Innovate, and Reinvent the Future—Your Future!”

Sincerely,

Hank Foley, Ph.D.
President, New York Institute of Technology