Returning to Campus in the Spring

Dear Goucher Community,

As the year comes to a close, I offer a few final updates and a hearty note of gratitude. Few could have anticipated how this pandemic would alter our world, so I remain thankful for the creativity, resilience, resourcefulness, and ingenuity on display by so many within our community and that proved so vital to the successes we achieved this year. 

Now as we take time over this holiday break to focus on family, we must also start to look ahead and envision what next year might bring. To help answer the many questions on everyone’s minds, we’ve updated the Frequently Asked Questions section of the Goucher website with new information that addresses your most recent queries. For new and returning students and their parents, this includes the latest information on residential life, academics, and financial aid, as well as many other topics that will be interest to everyone. Please visit the FAQ website and, as always, reach out as needed with any additional questions.

I know that these uncertain circumstances can create confusion, so we are committed to moving forward in the spring with complete transparency and putting our community's health and safety first. To that end, we’ve partnered with BrightStar Care to supplement our existing Student Health Center staff and manage student testing, daily monitoring/symptom tracking, physical assessments, and student documentation. BrightStar will also assist our Nurse Practitioner in the Health Center with clinical tasks to determine quarantine and isolation status, perform telehealth assessments, and develop individual student care plans. 

I know our faculty and staff look forward to welcoming students back to campus in the spring whether that’s continuing in an online format delivered via Canvas and Zoom or in isolated cases in the science lab, dance or arts studios. Our safe return now rests on how successful we are as a nation in containing any further spread of the virus and our collective responsibility as a community to keep each other safe. As we contemplate all that we have to be thankful for during this holiday season, I ask that you each of you remain vigilant in practicing socially responsible behavior. Small sacrifices now will hopefully yield considerable gains in the spring.

I know that it has been an incredibly tough year, but with the distribution of not one, but two highly effective and safe vaccines now underway, I remain hopeful that we are fast approaching an end to this long, strange ordeal. I am confident that by fall 2021 we can expect Goucher to emerge from this pandemic stronger than ever. Enrollment for J-term and the spring is up, and applications for the fall are well ahead of last year — evidence of an even greater interest in what Goucher stands for: an intellectually curious, challenging, interdisciplinary education and a welcoming and supportive community.

This winter break, I wish you and your family a safe and joyous holiday season. I look forward to seeing you on campus once again in 2021!

All my best,

- Kent

Kent Devereaux
President