St. Cloud State University Update from President Robbyn Wacker

Robbyn Wacker, the 24th president of St. Cloud State University.

Dear St. Cloud State University Alumni and Friends,

I am writing to let you know about some of the unprecedented steps that St. Cloud State is taking in response to the coronavirus crisis. As you know, this past year we commemorated our university’s 150th anniversary, and we were reminded of the many times our campus and our country adapted to circumstances beyond our control – world wars, Spanish flu, poliomyelitis and dramatic demographic shifts, to name a few. While I think we all agree that we have not experienced anything like the current and continuing chain of events, we are confident that our university will weather this crisis as well.

We have two goals this semester – to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of our students, faculty and staff, and to enable students to complete the spring semester and progress toward their educational goals. SCSU is responding around the clock to the decisions and directives of our state leaders and health care professionals as we care deeply about the health, safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff members and our St. Cloud community.

To ensure our students’ progress toward their educational goals, we extended our spring break through March 29 so our faculty and students can transition from face-to-face instruction to an alternative format. Classes will resume on March 30 through alternative delivery formats and will remain in that format the rest of the semester. Online resources to help both faculty and students to prepare and to successfully create remote learning experiences have been made available.

Because of the CDC directive to cancel large group events, we cancelled in-person commencement for Spring 2020. I understand this is incredibly disappointing news to our students and their families. We will, however, be identifying an alternative option that will enable students to celebrate this significant milestone in a way that follows current protocols aimed at preserving the health and safety of all in our campus community.

Here are some other updates:

• As of Friday March 20th, the majority of our staff will be working from home via telework technology;
• As residence halls are “home” for many of our students, we are giving students the option to continue to live on campus. We are bringing students together in one location and providing single rooms. We are following all state and federal guidelines to ensure the safety and health of those students. Students who have checked out of their residence halls will receive a partial refund, but we are still working out the details;
• Athletic conference playoffs were cancelled and this decision was devastating to our women’s basketball, men’s and women’s swimming & diving, and wrestling programs who qualified for the NCAA championships;
• We will continue to employ our graduate assistants and student workers;
• Our Health Clinic is operational and serving students remotely; and
• We are conducting virtual town halls for the campus community and for parents and will continue to provide daily COVID-19 operational updates.

Imagine taking an entire university of over 13,000 students and 1,400 faculty and staff and transitioning to a virtual university that continues to operate and provide students a high quality education. That is exactly what SCSU has done in less than one week. I am so proud of the entire Husky community – the people who care for our facilities, and staff in admissions, financial aid, records and registration, business services, student support, health, wellness and recreation, international services, administrative offices, university communications, deans, chairs and faculty and our alumni and development team – for how everyone has pitched in to make this transition. The current crisis has catapulted us into new ways of delivering the same excellent education and I am confident we will be able to serve our students well.

To say we all are in this together is no exaggeration. It is critical to all of us to take care of ourselves and to consider the health and wellbeing of our families, our neighbors and our communities and follow the advice and guidelines offered by the medical community and local, state and national leaders who have our best interests at heart.

You are an important part of our St. Cloud State University family and I wish you well in the challenging months ahead. Stay safe and let’s take care of each other.

With best regards, 

President Robbyn Wacker
St. Cloud State University