Conquering COVID-19 as OneSLU

One year ago this week we were in turmoil across the University. Billiken students were hastily returning from spring break to pick up their belongings to move back home, not knowing when they would see friends, faculty and staff again. Faculty were quickly pivoting from the in-person instruction in which our students thrive to a new modality of online teaching and learning using the quickly acquired Zoom. SLUCare physicians began putting their lives on the line treating the first local patients who contracted a deadly disease about which we understood little. And members of our staff were grappling with how to best do their jobs under rapidly changing conditions and protocols.

 Each one of us was forced to make many accommodations and undertake significant sacrifices this past year. Some have suffered enormous loss, but we are emerging from the darkness into the dawn. Today, one year from our "grand pivot," we remain together, filled with hope as we watch hundreds of eligible faculty, staff, students and loved ones walk into the Simon Recreation Center and receive the COVID-19 vaccine, one which SLU researchers tested. 

This video offers my thanks and reflections on the past year.

With gratitude for each one of you,

Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D.
President