UWG President Branden Kelly, appointed to his role shortly after the school’s closing, has been adamant with reaching out to students during this time of crisis. Most recently, Kelly issued a personally-typed letter to student emails announcing that all of the university’s summer courses will operate fully online.
As reality settles in concerning the longevity of Covid-19, the state of Georgia and the University System of Georgia face the task of regulating work around daily updates. The pandemic will likely run its course the rest of 2020, or at least throughout the summer, and constant adjustments have to be made.
“Fortunately for UWG and our students, we are a leader in online education,” said Kelly in the announcement. “The robust offerings we already have in place as a university – and the systems and support to deliver them – create tremendous opportunities for you to continue your degree programs amidst an extraordinary set of circumstances. We are working closely with our deans and faculty members across the institution to create additional online options for the summer semester to ensure we have the most extensive selection of opportunities we can possibly offer that students will need.”
UWG receives continuous praise from different platforms for its online education programs, both in affordability and in graduation rate. Placing accountability in student’s hands prepares them for success in the work world and UWG owns a great formula for remote learning. Though USG’s plan is for the fall semester to ensue normally, there is a real possibility that a proper all-clear on this virus doesn’t happen within four months. Regardless of what happens, students can find solace in the fact the university caters its planning and decisions based on their needs.
“The past month has changed your educational experience in ways that seemed unimaginable a short time ago,” said Kelly. “I know the changes, postponements, and cancellations have had a significant impact on you. We understand the anxiety that can set in with disruption of this magnitude.
“One of the things I hope will decrease your anxiety is knowing as much about what comes next as possible. We don’t have all the answers, but the more information I can provide you, the better prepared we will be when we return to normalcy,” continued Kelly.
Education must continue onward, regardless of how helpless these circumstances may feel. There lies a real depression with campus life being stripped away from students. Even if the only social interaction one can get now comes from Zoom meetings, now is the time to show passion and prove that even a global crisis won’t stand in the way of the pursuit of dreams.