{"id":511,"date":"2021-02-24T11:38:30","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T11:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/?p=511"},"modified":"2021-02-24T20:59:13","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T20:59:13","slug":"president-rod-hanley-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/president-rod-hanley-update\/","title":{"rendered":"A Word from LSSU President Rodney S. Hanley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear LSSU Alums:<\/p>\n

As I write today, we are about a month into the Spring 2021 semester.\u00a0 I must admit that I wasn\u2019t sure if we would make it this far due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.\u00a0 It seems like whenever I read the news, I would learn more about the effects of the pandemic, the spread of the virus, and its deadly consequences.\u00a0 To get the semester underway, we conducted considerable planning, made testing common and widespread, and made university facilities available to county health officials for vaccination distribution.\u00a0 As a result, I am pleased to report that today the number of active cases of Covid-19 among faculty, staff, and students was reduced to zero.\u00a0 In fact, LSSU has had among the lowest number of cases of any university in the state or the nation.\u00a0 We also had among the lowest positive rates of any university in the state.\u00a0 We know that new cases may arise at any time, but I am proud of how the university responded and continues to respond to this unprecedented global emergency.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, not everything happening at the university has been fearful of the pandemic.\u00a0 On January 1st<\/sup>, the university released its annual banished word list.\u00a0 Particularly egregious entries made it on the list this year, including \u201cCovid,\u201d \u201csocial distancing,\u201d \u201cin-an-abundance-of-caution,\u201d and \u201cin these uncertain times.\u201d\u00a0 I personally hope to never hear these words and phrases ever again.\u00a0 The list was picked up by news outlets across the nation and in many other countries, including throughout Europe, Asia, and even on the island of Borneo.<\/p>\n

Perhaps one of the most significant achievements since my last letter was a major grant awarded to Dr. Ashley Moerke and the team at the Center for Freshwater Research and Education.\u00a0 The U.S. Department of Commerce\u2019s Economic Development Administration awarded almost $1 million to support research and help build capacity within CFRE.\u00a0 This award is expected to create about 20 jobs and generate $14.2 million in private investment.\u00a0 Being awarded this grant is a major accomplishment, and I want to congratulate Dr. Moerke and the entire CFRE team.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve said many times, we are in the middle of the most disruptive time in the history of higher education in the country.\u00a0 We have courageously confronted this difficult time with the grace, dignity and grit that is expected of Lakers everywhere.\u00a0 There are many challenges that we are confronting, but LSSU is moving in a great direction and we will come through the global pandemic stronger than ever before.<\/p>\n

As always, we appreciate your support of Lake Superior State University!\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n

Superior Education. Superior Experience. Superior YOU!<\/em><\/p>\n

Stay safe and best regards,<\/p>\n

Dr. Rodney S. Hanley<\/p>\n

President<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Lakers<\/a><\/div>
Make A Gift Today!<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear LSSU Alums: As I write today, we are about a month into the Spring 2021 semester.\u00a0 I must admit that I wasn\u2019t sure if we would make it this …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1482,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakerlog.lssu.edu\/spring2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}