Dean’s Message to Alumni on Combatting COVID-19
In a message to the alumni and friends of the Pardee School, Dean Adil Najam says: “these are extraordinary times. Difficult times… But this is also a time for coming together.” In a video message sent to alumni on the ongoing global fight against the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), Najam points out that, “on this one, there are no ‘sides’; if we win in one place, we are better off in every other place.”
Najam concluded the video by saying, “the ask I come to you with, is: do whatever you can, wherever you are, in whatever way you can, to beat this virus… Please, please, please, do whatever you can to help those around you.”
The video message can also be viewed here.
Earlier this week, in a letter to Pardee School students, Dean Najam had written:
As we complete a first full week of all classes having gone online, student residences having been emptied, all faculty and staff having moved to remote-work arrangements, and as schools, daycares, shops, and nearly all of Boston moves into virtual lockdown, I wanted to write to you not with any announcements, guidance or instructions, but simply to say that wherever you may be, know that we are here for you.
…[What gives me strength] is to see our entire Pardee family come together to be there for each other; with compassion and with empathy. Despite the challenges and the pressures, the passion and commitment that our students, our faculty and our staff have shown to our core educational mission has been a source of real pride for me. I know this is not a short slog; our resilience will be tested; there will be slips; and there will be times when the stress will make us lose our patience. But this last week gives me confidence that we will not only persevere; we will come out stronger. None of us would ever have wished for it; but this, too, is a learning moment.
…As all of us do whatever we can to prevent the spread of this horrid virus by maintaining what they call ‘social distancing’ it strikes me that this is, in fact, a moment of coming together by moving apart. The distance we must maintain is physical. But we must do it while building our social cohesion; because that is what will see us through these trying times.
The Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University was established in 2014 to pursue the mission of “Advancing Human Progress.” It seeks a future with peace that lasts, development that works and knowledge that transforms. It is dedicated to improving the human condition through rigorous and creative education, path-breaking interdisciplinary research, and innovative initiatives to make a real-world difference in the critical challenges humanity faces. Prof. Adil Najam is its Inaugural Dean.