Welcome to the Fall 2021 semester, and welcome back to a much more normal Pace experience.
The last 18 months have been tough. And we’re not fully out of the woods yet. But we’re reopening our world, safely and carefully, and I couldn’t be happier to see our campuses once again busy, our residence halls once again full, and the Pace Community once again going about many of our in-person activities.
Thank you for doing your part—for getting vaccinated, for being safe, for following the rules and procedures we’ve put in place to have a safe and successful new semester. I know you’re as excited as I am to see our students in-person again, to engage with our colleagues again, and to be able to teach face-to-face again. Right now, nearly 90 percent of our students and more than 95 percent of our full-time faculty and staff are compliant with our vaccine requirements. We continue to work to achieve full compliance for those who will come to campus.
I want to give you a sense of where things stand at Pace as we start our new academic year.
First, I am very pleased to announce that we are accelerating the 2022 merit increase schedule, and we will enact an across-the-board 1.5 percent salary increase effective October 1, 2021. (This will affect all those employed by Pace prior to April 1, 2021. Adjunct faculty will receive an increase effective September 1, 2021, per our collective bargaining agreement.) Last year, at a time of great uncertainty, we were forced to suspend any increase. In recognition of that sacrifice, everyone’s hard work, and the ultimately successful year we had, I thought it was important to get at least part of next year’s increase issued as soon as possible. You’ll see it on your October 15 pay stubs. Per our usual system, we hope to be able to provide an additional, merit-based increase on January 1, 2022, contingent on enrollment and revenue results and in recognition of performance. More details on that will be forthcoming.
At the same time, we’re thrilled to welcome our largest new class of incoming students in at least 20 years (and probably our largest in history). At Haub Law, we enrolled our biggest new class in 15 years, and we nearly doubled the number of part-time law students.
We’re excited to continue progress on our transformation of the New York City Campus, with three floors of brand-new classrooms, including a new home for the Lubin School of Business, now open on the west side of One Pace Plaza. We’re moving forward with our plans for 15 Beekman Street, which will include a dedicated home for the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. In Pleasantville, we’re moving ahead with plans for a state-of-the-art new Healthcare Hub serving students in the College of Health Professions. We’re also renaming the former Wright Cottage in honor of CHP dean emerita Harriet Feldman (who is now our first-ever chief wellness officer). At Haub Law, we’re renovating spaces to host other University offices, as we continue to more deeply integrate that campus into the broader Pace Community.
We’re starting to work together to implement our new Strategic Plan, Pace Forward, which will set us up for a strong and successful future. There will be much more discussion of that in the coming weeks and months. And we’re continuing to roll out our new, modern brand platform—which will mean more storytelling and more media attention, plus our up-to-date new website and the new flags and banners you’ll see on our campuses and more new signage on the way.
Finally, we’re reaffirming our commitment to ensuring that Pace is an inclusive space, where everyone sees themselves in our community. Thanks to the faculty for your work to ensure that syllabi and scholarship reflect a diversity of voices. We launched a new website on which community members can register incidents when we are not living up to our values. And I have received the final report of the Presidential Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion; now we’re working with the community to adopt its recommendations.
I also want to take a moment to mark the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Here at Pace, we remember those we lost, and we salute the veterans in our community who have served to protect us all. In New York City, we will be observing this milestone with a ceremony in the West Lobby of One Pace Plaza this afternoon at 5:00 p.m. In Pleasantville, Alpha Phi Delta, the national service fraternity, will host an observance at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday in front of the Kessel Student Center. Thank you, veterans, for your service.
The tough last 18 months have shown us what the people of Pace are able to do when we work together toward a common goal. We’ve persevered, and we’ve come out stronger. I’m proud of our accomplishments, and I’m excited for our future.
Let’s go and build it together.
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Marvin Krislov
President
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See our Coronavirus website for additional communications from Pace University. For the Elisabeth Haub community, please refer here for the most up to date information.
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