Fall 2020: Message from the President

Craig’s Message for Fall 2020

Hi, this is President Craig Williford coming to you from the campus of Multnomah University. We are so excited about your return to campus in August. This campus without students just does not feel like a campus. Your energy, excitement, and presence make us a learning community. We are eager and working hard to prepare the campus for your return in August.

Safety is our top priority
We are focused on the safety of our students, faculty, and staff. We want to ensure that we are implementing all the safety procedures from the CDC and the Oregon Health Authority. We are committed to protecting everyone in the next school year. We want you to know that we are working hard in cooperation with the Oregon Health Authority to make sure that we are ready. This will mean that we are redesigning our classrooms and public spaces like the dining hall, library, and the gym. This will affect what we do in the dorms with capacity and shared spaces. It will involve new cleaning procedures as well. So, please know that safety is our top priority.

Rewarding Experiences
In addition, we want to provide you with a rewarding educational experience that continues to meet your educational goals. We are working hard to be prepared for your coming and to be ready if we are required to adjust like we did last spring. We hope that we don’t have to and are not planning to transition our education again. However, we understand that we need to be ready if it is necessary. But, please hear me, we are ready to continue our face-to-face educational experience and we are looking forward to your return. Our plan is to launch an adaptive learning environment that combines on-campus class sessions with enhanced online learning which will allow our faculty to be responsive and engaged regardless of how the fall unfolds.

To our athletes:
We want you to have a highly competitive season that will encourage you as an athlete and help you accomplish your athletic goals. We are doing everything we can to ensure that you have a rewarding experience. Our coaches are working hard. We are waiting on the NAIA to finalize their decisions and announce their plans. Once we have those, we will implement them. We already know ahead of time what most of their guidelines will be and we have been working on them in advance of their announcement. You will return to campus in August and we are excited to have you on campus again in the fall. We are planning on a meaningful athletic season for you this fall and spring.

Beyond COVID-19
I want you to know that we are looking beyond the current challenges of COVID-19. One of the things that we are working on is preparing you for a career and renewing our emphasis in that area. Through partnerships with local businesses and organizations for internships, we want to ensure that you are prepared with relationships and opportunities that enable you to enter a meaningful career after you graduate.

Increased Affordability
We are working hard to make your education as affordable as possible. We are striving to lower our expenses and operating costs. We want you to have an opportunity to continue your education despite the financial challenges you face as many have experienced unemployment because of COVID-19.

Resilient Hope
Finally, we want you to find a resilient hope that will carry you into the future. We believe that God is faithful. For 84 years, God has blessed Multnomah and he has proved his faithfulness over and over again. Not only to our institution, but he has been faithful in the lives of our students, faculty, and staff. We can trust him together as a learning community. We can believe in him knowing that he is faithful and that he will care for us no matter what we face.

See you in August
We are so happy for your return. We are praying for you. We are eager to meet you if you are a new student. Together we will have a rewarding, meaningful year as God provides for us. Thank you for being a part of what God is doing at Multnomah. Stay tuned for more announcements and strategies that we will continue to release in the coming weeks.

See you in August!

Craig

May 28, 2020 | News