Sending kudos and thank yous to all of Information Technology

for helping Penn State embrace new reality. 

The pandemic was coming and right out of the gate,

IT’s innovation kept supporting Penn State.

So many priorities, each one more daunting,

but our staff refused to leave anyone wanting.

 

Students, faculty, and staff in thousands of places

set program development off to the races.

Teams came together and soon ideated,

and before long we had brilliant solutions created.

We knew it was vital to get everything right,

which meant working on weekends and into the night.

Supporting Zoom classes and providing loaner equipment

required new programs and hundreds of shipments.

 

With remote operations, labs were idled spaces,

but ingenuity gave rise to virtual access, in most cases.

Websites were spun up, and advice was replete,

so teaching, learning, and working missed nary a beat.

Facilities followed all protocols and guidance

to secure and maintain buildings, now hushed in silence.

Operations Center staff, too, were considered essential

and reported each day with their masks and credentials.

 

Don't forget updating the Penn State Go app,

where the COVID health check could be found with one tap.

Or unveiling SIMBA to maintain things financial,

with skilled coordination and effort substantial.

As the calendar pages flipped and fall semester drew near,

new challenges arose but were nothing to fear.

Virtual Student Orientation was a smashing success,

using Canvas for sessions took away all the stress.

 

Commonwealth Campuses needed a safe option

for students to work between classes with caution.

Infrastructure quickly devised a solution;

adding Wi-Fi to parking lots was one contribution.

All this, while still meeting standard expectations,

meant deferring time off and long-planned vacations.

Collaboration, adaptability, respect, and grit

were the behaviors we needed to accomplish all of it.

 

You likely now see that IT folks are brilliant,

not to mention creative, hardworking, resilient.

I am exceptionally proud of all we achieved –

but hope 2021 will provide a reprieve.

 

— Don Welch, Vice President for IT and Chief Information Officer