Thomas and Wippman discussed a range of issues. In talking about the last few months, Wippman said, “I feel like I and the college are trying to run a marathon at a sprint pace. It’s exciting. It’s overwhelming. It’s challenging. It’s energizing—it’s everything at once. We’re trying to deal with a pandemic and reinvent how we do things, how we teach, how we learn, how we engage. We’re trying to manage a process forward around diversity, inclusion, and equity at a time of enormous challenge and systematic protests in our country over racism and policing. …
“I think all of us are learning how we function and adapt under stress. The pandemic forced us to completely reinvent how we teach and learn and engage our alumni and reach out to prospective students. We did that in the spring on very short notice. I learned that the college, and higher education generally, is not slow to pivot or slow to change when circumstances demand it. The faculty, staff, and students at the college really rose to that challenge.”
Thomas has interviewed individuals representing a wide range of endeavors for his blog including Carnegie Hall Chairman Robert F. Smith, Writer Octavia Butler, NPR’s Jazz Night in America host Christian McBride, Westchester Institute for Human Development Medical Director Elsa Escalera ’85, MD, and Brown University evolutionary biologist Brandon Ogbunu.
