University of Montana President Seth Bodnar is praising UM's faculty and staff for their "adaptability" preparing for a combination of learning methods as the pandemic heads into fall.
As thousands of students return to campus this week, Bodnar is confident the university is prepared in unique ways to keep everyone learning, and safe from the coronavirus.
Bodnar preached adapting to changing times long before the pandemic. But he says it's been "awe-inspiring and humbling" to watch as everyone has worked hard through the spring and summer to innovate, and make the changes necessary to keep students learning.
"I am so grateful to our faculty members, to our staff members, for the way they've stepped up to serve this community as well," Bodnar said." I will tell you, UM, as you've probably saw was just ranked as one of the top 10 universities that is addressing the COVID-19 crisis. And so, not only are we serving our students, our faculty members, our staff members have really been stepping up in a big way in serving this community. And I've never been prouder to be a part of the UM family."
Bodnar says he's grateful to the state for providing the resources that will allow students to be tested rapidly for COVID-19, and says UM is exploring additional steps for monitoring and surveillance of how the virus is impacting the campus community.