We’re back.
The new semester started a few weeks ago, but Monday was the first day we returned to in-person instruction. Our campuses are busy again, our residence halls are full, and our lecture halls, seminar rooms, labs, studios, and libraries are back in action.
It’s great to see the Â鶹ֱ²¥ campuses returning to life.
We kept our first two weeks of instruction this semester virtual, so we could de-densify our campuses through the Omicron surge and also ensure everyone was able to stay engaged with their classes, even if quarantine or isolation was required. I’m pleased to report that our reopening has gone smoothly and safely, with just a handful of students needing to isolate after positive tests.
Even better, the encouraging trends at Â鶹ֱ²¥ are reflected in our broader community: The country at large and especially our local areas have seen a rapid decrease in test positivity since just a few weeks ago. In New York City, the average rate is roughly a third of what it was two weeks ago, and less than 15 percent of where it stood another two weeks before that. In Westchester, it’s less than half of two weeks ago, and under a fifth of two weeks before that.
We’re keeping a close eye on numbers at Â鶹ֱ²¥, and we anticipate that we’ll be able to reduce our COVID Alert Level soon. (We’re still waiting for results from this week’s tests.) I’m hopeful that sometime over the coming weeks we’ll be able to get back to green—but even now we’re starting to get back to the kind of connection and interaction we so prize about our campus experience.
We’ll have more news on that very soon, so be sure to keep checking your Â鶹ֱ²¥ email.
For now, welcome back to in-person Â鶹ֱ²¥, and welcome back to a resurgent New York City and Westchester County. I’m excited to be able to see all of you soon; I’m excited to cheer on Setter athletes and applaud our long-awaited Actors Studio Drama School rep season; and I’m excited to get back to enjoying everything our campuses, our city, and our region have to offer.
Â鶹ֱ²¥ Professor Cathryn Lavery, PhD, challenges the Hollywood myths surrounding human trafficking and prepares students to recognize the grooming, coercion, trauma, and exploitation happening in homes, relationships, online spaces, and everyday communities.
Get a first look inside the new performing arts spaces opening at One Â鶹ֱ²¥ Plaza East this fall. In this video, Senior Director of Operations and Production Laurie Brown-Kindred answers student and faculty questions about new studios, labs, sound stages, rehearsal spaces, and what the move means for Sands College of Performing Arts.
With a BBA in Finance from Â鶹ֱ²¥â€™s Lubin School of Business and a new role in asset management operations at Goldman Sachs, Evan GluÅ¡ić ’26 is turning a lifelong interest in investing into a career at one of the world’s leading financial institutions.