Dear LLCC Family,

First, I hope this finds everyone well. I know we all have our own personal challenges dealing with this unprecedented time. I wanted to check in with you as we head toward the last stretch of spring semester. It has been incredible seeing the innovation and dedication of our faculty and staff. Some faculty have shared snippets of their courses and demonstrated that creativity abounds. Staff are finding all kinds of ways to connect with students and keep them engaged. Administrators are trying to stay on top of the seemingly daily policy changes from the state, the feds, and our many accrediting and approval bodies. It is taking the efforts of all of us to get our students across the finish line.

As I talk with faculty and staff, I have been reminded that these last few weeks are a challenge for keeping students motivated in good times. Our current situation will only serve to increase that challenge. This is again where creativity and purposeful connections will go a long way. Most courses can be completed on time. Unfortunately, we do not have the answers as to when we will be able to complete those courses that will still require some face-to-face/hands-on activities. Just know, and let students know, we are developing plans on how to see those students through to completion as soon as that is possible.

The good news is that we plan to celebrate everyone’s effort with a commencement ceremony, albeit virtual. Student services and PRM are planning our event, including recognition of every student who plans to graduate, and release that video on May 15 – the originally scheduled date for graduation. It is an ambitious undertaking, but certainly something to look forward to.

We also hope to have a portion of our employee recognition event in virtual mode. HR and PRM plan to launch a week of celebration for employee anniversaries and retirements. We hope this can take place beginning May 5. The awards portion will be delayed until fall.

In the meantime, we are working on alternate course scheduling and preparing for the inevitable increase in online and hybrid courses for at least summer and fall. We certainly hope our campus will be able to slowly reopen in the not too distant future, but know this must be done safely and within any forthcoming guidelines. I would like to say we can get back to normal, but the reality is that we do not know what future “normal” will look like.

So, I am reaching out to let you know that each and every area is doing its best to take care of our students, while working to keep our faculty and staff safe, and to make sure our business operations are not interrupted. We do not have a map for this. However, we clearly have a college full of faculty and staff who are up to the many challenges that lie ahead.

Continue to take care of yourselves, your family and your friends.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President