Update to Tuck Faculty and Staff
April 3, 2020
Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,
I want to begin by saying how terrific it was connecting with you this week at our faculty and staff virtual town halls, yesterday and today. We deans enjoyed sharing various updates and hearing the range of your questions and ideas. For all the ways you are supporting our community’s health and our students’ education, thank you.
As I shared in my end-of-week message with students today, our decision to move to remote-only learning for the entire spring term raised some fundamental questions for our school.
Two weeks into the term, we are beginning to learn some answers. Though these are still early days, the feedback thus far to our online course offerings is encouraging. Discussions in our virtual classrooms have been lively, and the trust and teamwork that characterizes learning at Tuck continues to thrive in this new format.
More generally, we are learning more about the resilience of our Tuck community. Two weeks ago, in my Friday missive to students I acknowledged the regret we were all experiencing over what cannot be this spring term. Yet I also shared my deep hope that students bring to this historic term a spirit of resolve and determination. It is now clear to me how many of our students have marshalled this spirit in abundance. It is now also clear to me how many of you faculty and staff have similarly marshalled that spirit in equal abundance.
More challenges for our community clearly lie ahead, including those outlined by Dartmouth Provost Joe Helble and Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration Rick Mills in their Dartmouth-wide announcement this afternoon. We will need to find new ways to steward the School’s finances and yet still achieve Tuck’s research and teaching excellence. None of knows exactly what these challenges will be. But I do know that continued resolve and determination will enable us to meet them.
Thank you, and take good care this weekend.
Matthew J. Slaughter
Dean of the Tuck School of Business
Dartmouth has formed a high-level task force to plan for and manage possible disruptions related to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, monitor federal and state recommendations, implement guidance, and communicate with our community.