To begin, I want to thank everyone who has prayed for the safety and good health of our students, our faculty, our staff, and our Board of Trustees during this Pandemic. As far as I know, the CDU Family has been spared the effects of COVID-19, and we hope and pray that God will continue to protect us. CDU has a unique perspective in the world of Catholic higher education. As the only Catholic ONLINE university, we have not missed a second of our daily schedule and responsibilities. Our academic terms and curriculum are planned a year in advance, our terms begin and end promptly, our faculty teach and support students with the help of our Student Success Team, our Board of Trustees meets on their schedule, and CDU has continued a new strategic planning process during the pandemic.
However, we continue to learn of great stresses in higher education, especially for faculty suddenly forced to teach online and administrators dealing with obsolete financial models because of empty dormitories and luxurious but unused campus facilities.
Because of our expertise in online education, three recent projects have been added to our workload. One of those projects is the preparation and execution of a 10-hour, 4-week course, Teaching in a Digital World, for international faculty whose institutions are members of the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), headquartered in Paris, France. CDU is a member of IFCU and is delighted to educate international faculty to teach online.
As we return to a “new normal” there will be a growing recognition of online education. While CDU was an anomaly only a few months ago in the world of Catholic higher education, we think our modality will be a permanent part of the future of Catholic higher education.
