Recently, my daughter had to move out of her apartment because of an issue with the building roof. I offered to help but, luckily, the company hired movers to get the job done. I’ve moved many times in my life and have never used a moving company, so I have many times yelled, “Pivot!” while trying to maneuver a couch up a stairwell or through a door. It’s usually not nearly as funny as Ross and Chandler made it. However, I have yet to fail to achieve ultimate success in getting something where it needs to be.
Pivot might as well be the theme of the last few months for many of us. Just when we think we’re going in one direction, something blocks our path and we have to quickly change our track and find another way. We only get where we’re going if we’re flexible enough to pivot. Blindly going the same way never works in the end.
Luckily, our leadership at MSU knows how to pivot a lot better than Ross or Chandler. President Stanley knows you can’t just yell “pivot” if there isn’t room to do so. He and his advisers know that for every well-laid plan, you have to have a backup that is just as feasible.
Yesterday, President Stanley announced that he had made the “extraordinarily difficult decision” to ask undergraduate students to stay home for fall semester and continue their MSU educations remotely. It’s a decision no one wanted to have to make, but it is the best way to ensure that students, staff, faculty and the community are as safe as possible. His expertise in infectious disease and his leadership assures me this is absolutely the best thing to do, no matter how hard it is.
Andrea Weinrick knows how hard pivoting can be. After serving in the military, earning her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice while raising a family, she took a hard turn in her career and pursued her first passion — veterinary medicine. Currently pursuing a master’s degree in public health and a doctorate in veterinary medicine, she says, “My journey to vet school has been somewhat unconventional, to say the least.” Read her STUDENT VIEW: Taking a scenic route, and learn more about the ways she changed her path.
Sometimes it takes a lot of effort and time to convince people it’s time to go in a new direction. Marita Gilbert is the associate dean of diversity and campus inclusion in the College of Osteopathic Medicine. She says higher education “really is where we are supposed to take on the big questions.” Read her FACULTY VOICE: Diversity, equity and inclusion in education, to learn about the work she is doing and why she believes “higher education is the right place to have the crucial conversations our current moment in history necessitates.”
While things this fall will certainly be different for students and faculty, the same spirit of discovery and learning will remain the same. We might have to pivot a bit to climb that ladder to success, but we will get there. Our students will still get an exceptional education and research will continue. We’ll still do important work like growing the first functioning mini human heart model, closing the health care gap, supporting Michigan’s K-12 schools, studying aggression in animals and more.
Of course it is disappointing that undergraduates won’t return this fall and that sports seasons remain unknown. It’s also a logistical challenge of enormous proportions to pivot like we have to do. But the ultimate success of providing an exceptional education for students while keeping them safe is what we all should be focusing on. The pivoting isn’t easy, but it’s necessary to reach our goals. We can do this. We can do this because no matter the physical distance, the corners we have to get around and the staircases we have to climb, we are all still one Spartan community in this together. And Together We Will. #SpartansWill
Lisa Mulcrone
Editor, MSUToday
