October 2022: A Message from President Krislov

It’s energizing to be back on campuses for an in-person, New Normal fall semester. I’m teaching two classes this semester, I’m cheering on Setters athletes in Pleasantville and applauding PPA performances in New York City, and I’m enjoying the serendipity of bumping into students, friends, and colleagues in elevators and on walkways. I hope the new semester is off to as inspiring a start for all of you as it has been for me.

As we embark on the new year, my main focus is on continuing to build a strong Pace University by guiding the implementation of our strategic plan, Pace Forward. As always, two cornerstones of our work are investing in graduate, interdisciplinary, and combined degree programs to meet market demand and continuing our progress on DEI initiatives and our work to become an anti-racist institution.

Beyond those foundational efforts, we have four priorities for this academic year. The first is building out the Pace Path across all undergraduate programs and ensuring each undergraduate has the opportunity to complete two experiential activities before graduation. The second is supporting and investing in the people who work at Pace by improving our culture of collaboration addressing priorities identified in the Great Colleges results. The third is improving administrative processes to make it easier to get our work done, addressing both student-facing and employee-facing processes. And the fourth is completing construction on 15 Beekman Street and developing plans for One Pace Plaza East, as we continue to invest in our physical environment to meet our academic needs across all three campuses.

Staff and faculty, I encourage you to join next week’s Community Conversation, where we’ll begin discussion of our collaborative work on these priorities.

I also want to note that October is national Emotional Wellness Month. At Pace, we have renewed our commitment to advancing mental health and wellbeing among our students, faculty, and staff, especially in wake of the pandemic. We offer programming and support for both our student and employee communities, and I encourage you to take advantage of them.

Finally, like many of you I have watched the scenes of devastation from Puerto Rico, Florida, and elsewhere in the southeast in recent weeks. For those of you from the affected areas, or with friends or family there, we send all our best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Have a good autumn. Have a good semester. And, especially in Emotional Wellbeing Month, do what you need to do to take care of yourselves.