Dear Friends,
What a semester it has been! We have all experienced profound changes in our lives, and have worked hard to quickly adapt to circumstances that are ever-changing. I am incredibly proud of everyone in the FRIT community who has come together to collaborate in record time on so many pressing issues that required quick and innovative solutions. Over the past two months, staff, graduate students, and instructors have exhibited an impressive amount of adaptability, imagination, and open-mindedness, and I am so grateful. For example, we transitioned over seventy Spring courses from in person to Distance, coming up with thoughtful ways to engage our students who are all adapting to new learning environments; when our amazing summer study abroad programs were cancelled, faculty came up with “Virtual Adventures” that take students to France and Italy and that integrate technology inventively; we came up with creative ways to hold graduate exams while our graduate students continued to excel in a variety of ways, as you can read in this issue.
For several weeks now, we meet regularly on Monday mornings via Zoom to share stories, connect, and to think towards the future. I always look forward to beginning the week seeing so many friendly faces, some of them furry as you will read in this issue of the newsletter. I also look forward to Autumn, when we can welcome Jonathan Mullins to FRIT as Assistant Professor of Italian Film and Media Studies.
We dedicate this issue of FRONTIERE to our 106 Spring graduates who received a B.A., minor degree, or M.A. from our department, including Alexei Vallo, a French and Chemistry double major featured in this issue. We are incredibly proud of you all, and know that you are going to go out there and change the world for the better!
We hope that you stay in touch by subscribing to our Friends of FRIT listserv, and following us on Twitter and Facebook where we will regularly post throughout to summer.
Sending warm wishes to all of you and please keep in touch,
Dana Renga
