News about COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Impact on NEAIR Operations from the NEAIR President

I am writing to you to recognize the strange place we find ourselves in these days due to the COVID-19 outbreak.  Who would ever have imagined the disruption that it has caused?!

I wanted to let you know that NEAIR as an organization and its leadership are continuing with business as usual.  I have been following your conversations on the NEAIR listserv and it is encouraging to see all of the information sharing that has been taking place, and the thoughts of our members on how we as IR professionals can work together to help each other and our campuses. 

The social distancing that we are currently practicing should ease the spread of the virus, and the level of uncertainty about the future should be reduced significantly.  Our fall conference will be more important than ever this year because this public health crisis has challenged us to think differently about how we do business.  We will need to connect with each other as we move forward. 

I encourage you to submit a proposal for our fall conference, and a workshop proposal for our summer and/or fall workshops.  I am hopeful that things will improve significantly by summer and that things will be more normalized by the fall.  The Program Team realizes that flexibility will be key to moving forward with our programming.    

I speak on behalf of the leadership when I say I hope all of you stay well and safe during these uncertain times.  We will be establishing a web page on the NEAIR site with information updates as needed.  In the meantime, if you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

Jen Dunseath
NEAIR President