What is to be said about 2020? . . . many things, in fact. In 2020, we have been tested by a global health pandemic. We have witnessed and been party to a racial reckoning. We have experienced a chasm surfaced by the presidential election cycle.
We engaged in teaching and learning in new and different ways. We traded smiles through masks. We performed elbow-knock greetings. And, in certain instances, we became overwhelmed by our humanity and engaged in the most instinctive human act of hugging. I choose to take these events from 2020 to celebrate our collective humanity.
Through all of this, we have endured. And we were able to do so because of your strength, which permeated throughout the Penn State community. You rose above and beyond and stepped forward in service to this community. You were asked to do more, and you responded by doing more. You stood up for the person next to you.
Penn Staters, I thank you for your stalwart support of our university. Together, We Are.
--Danielle M. Conway
Dean and Donald J. Farage Professor of Law
Penn State Dickinson Law