Message From Our President
Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Friends,
I am pleased to present to you this Guide to our plans for the upcoming fall semester and reopening of our campuses. In form and in content, this coming semester will be like no other. We will live differently, work differently and learn differently. But in its very difference rests its enormous power.
The mission of Yeshiva University is to enrich the moral, intellectual and spiritual development of each of our students, empowering them with the knowledge and abilities to become people of impact and leaders of tomorrow. Next year’s studies will be especially instrumental in shaping the course of our students’ lives. Character is formed and developed in times of deep adversity. This is the kind of teachable moment that Yeshiva University was made for. As such, we have developed an educational plan for next year that features a high-quality student experience and prioritizes personal growth during this Coronavirus era. Our students will be able to work through the difficulties, issues and opportunities posed by our COVID-19 era with our stellar rabbis and faculty, as well as their close friends and peers at Yeshiva.
To develop our plans for the fall, we have convened a Scenario Planning Task Force made up of representatives across the major areas of our campus. Their planning has been guided by the latest medical information, government directives, direct input from our rabbis, faculty and students, and best practices from industry and university leaders across the country. I am deeply thankful to our task force members and all who supported them for their tireless work in addressing the myriad details involved in bringing students back to campus and restarting our educational enterprise.
In concert with the recommendations from our task force, I am announcing today that our fall semester will reflect a hybrid model. It will allow many students to return in a careful way by incorporating online and virtual learning with on-campus classroom instruction. It also enables students who prefer to not be on campus to have a rich student experience by continuing their studies online and benefitting from a full range of online student services and extracurricular programs.
In bringing our students back to campus, safety is our first priority. Many aspects of campus life will change for this coming semester. Gatherings will be limited, larger courses will move completely online. Throughout campus everyone will need to adhere to our medical guidelines, including social distancing, wearing facemasks, and our testing and contact tracing policies. Due to our focus on minimizing risk, our undergraduate students will begin the first few weeks of the fall semester online and move onto the campus after the Jewish holidays. This schedule will limit the amount of back and forth travel for our students by concentrating the on-campus component of the fall semester to one consecutive segment.
Throughout our planning, we have used the analogy of a dimmer switch. Reopening our campuses will not be a simple binary, like an on/off light switch, but more like a dimmer in which we have the flexibility to scale backwards and forwards to properly respond as the health situation evolves. It is very possible that some plans could change, depending upon the progression of the virus and/or applicable state and local government guidance.
Before our semester begins, we will provide more updates reflecting our most current guidance. Please check our website, yu.edu/fall2020 for regular updates. We understand that even after reading through this guide, you might have many additional questions, so we will be posting an extensive FAQ section online as well. Additionally, we will also be holding community calls for faculty, students, staff and parents over the next couple of months.
Planning for the future during this moment has certainly been humbling. This Coronavirus has reminded us time and time again of the lessons from our Jewish tradition that we are not in full control of our circumstances. But our tradition also teaches us that we are in control of our response to our circumstances. Next semester will present significant challenges and changes. There will be some compromises and minor inconveniences--not every issue has a perfect solution. But faith and fortitude, mutual cooperation and resilience are essential life lessons that are accentuated during this period. And if we all commit to respond with graciousness, kindness, and love, we can transform new campus realities into profound life lessons for our future.
Deeply rooted in our Jewish values and forward focused in preparing for the careers and competencies of the future, we journey together with you, our Yeshiva University community, through these uncharted waters. Next year will be a formative year in the lives of our students, and together we will rise to the moment so that our students will emerge stronger and better prepared to be leaders of the world of tomorrow.
Best Wishes,
Ari Berman
Michael Strauss is the associate dean of the Sy Syms School of Business as well as a clinical professor of strategy and entrepreneurship and director of The Rennert Entrepreneurial Institute.
He also bears the intriguing title of Entrepreneur-in-Residence, and in a wide-ranging conversation with YU News, he explained how he came to possess the title and how he works with students to help them sharpen and promote their entrepreneurial ideas and skills.
Before he came to Sy Syms, he ran his own business, a management advisory firm dedicated to steering emerging growth companies. Prior to that, he had had a long career in corporate America, including 12 years at American Express, where he served as one of only three executive vice presidents of the Travel Related Services Division.
In 2007, Dr. Steven Nissenfeld, who, among the other titles he held at Sy Syms, was director of the Kukin Executive and Entrepreneurial Lecture Series, invited Strauss to come speak about his personal and professional journey. Strauss, who was born in Israel, came to the United States when he was 14, and Nissenfeld wanted people to hear about the challenges and opportunities Strauss found in his newly adopted home. “There were about 50 men and women who came to listen,” he recalled, “and I just loved it.”
Between Dr. Charles Snow, Sy Syms’s third dean, and Dr. Michael Ginzberg, the fourth, Rabbi Dr. Joel Hochman held down the fort as interim dean, and it was he who offered Strauss his first opportunity to teach a class. Strauss had never taught before, and “I was enjoying what I was doing with my own company,” but he was intrigued by the offer and decided to mull it over.
While he was considering the offer, Dr. Ginzberg came on in 2011, and he not only wanted Strauss to teach as a clinical professor but also wanted to create an entirely new (though unpaid) position for him as Entrepreneur-in-Residence. “He told me that many of the students, though smart and inventive, needed a guiding hand to help them turn their ideas into realities,” Strauss recalled, “and he thought I could be the person to do that.”
To ease the workload (after all, Strauss had a full-time job running his own company), Dr. Ginzberg told him that he only needed to come in a half hour or so before the class to talk with students, and Strauss, pleased by the experience he had had as a Kukin lecturer and curious to see what he could do to help the students, agreed to take on the responsibilities. “Again, I found myself loving the experience.”
He was soon to take on even more crucial duties as Sy Syms moved to revitalize the school under the stewardship of Dean Dr. Moses Pava. Dr. Morton Lowengrub, then the provost for YU, asked Strauss to work with Dr. Pava as associate dean to implement the programs that would lead to its growth and development, which he and Dr. Pava did until 2017, when Dr. Pava returned to the faculty and Strauss was appointed interim dean.
As interim dean, Strauss headed up the search committee to identify the new dean, “and it was one of my greatest pleasures when Dr. Noam Wasserman agreed to become our leader in 2019.”
As Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Strauss sends out an email each semester soliciting students of all three undergrad schools to come and talk to him about their ideas and goals connected to starting a business. Here’s what he sent in January:
