On the afternoon of July 5, Drexel students received an email about an aggravated assault by shooting. The incident happened to a Drexel student in Drexel Park while he was watching the Fourth of July fireworks.

The Triangle contacted the Drexel Police Department for more information.

According to the police report, the student was set up on a blanket with his girlfriend close to 32nd Street across from Pearl Street. Behind them, there was a crowd of people playing a disc-throwing game and a father that was setting off small fireworks for his children.

Around 9:20 p.m., the student heard a loud noise and instantly felt a pain in his arm that kept getting worse, the report said.

He initially thought it might have been parts of the fireworks set by the father, but he had already left the premises.

The student’s pain was increasing. He realized that his sleeve had been in a cone shape and was pulled in his arm. He walked to the closest Drexel police officer to show him what happened and a Drexel Sergeant drove the student to the Presbyterian Hospital.

There, he found out that he was struck by a .40 caliber bullet. After the bullet was removed from the student’s upper left bicep, he was treated and released.

Drexel Police confirmed that the Philadelphia Police had no reports of gunfire around the Drexel Park area. It is unknown where the bullet came from or who shot it.

The Drexel Park surrounding area was checked for evidence of a shooting and the results were negative. The Police did not receive any calls reporting any shooting in the immediate Drexel Park area.

President Joseph Biden came to Philadelphia to give a speech at the National Constitution Center on the value of voting rights Tuesday.

“I’m here in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center, the city and the place where the story of ‘We the People’ — ‘We the People’ — began,” Biden said, emphasizing the importance of Philadelphia in our young democracy.

To begin his speech, he defined the most important fundamental of America: the right to vote.

“With it, anything is possible. Without it, nothing,” Biden said.

As the speech progressed, the president retold the civic feats of certain citizens in the past election.

“Just think about the past election. A 102-year-old woman in Arkansas who voted for the first time on the very spot she once picked cotton. A 94-year-old woman in Michigan, who voted early and in person in her 72nd consecutive election, you know what she said? She said this election was, quote, ‘the most important vote we ever had.’”

Going further, President Biden presented metrics on the 2020 Presidential Election. According to him, 150 million Americans voted in the last major election with “unyielding courage and faith in our democracy.”

However, he talked about how those numbers do not show the entire description of the United States democratic institution. From anti-vote legislation that impedes access to voting, to the denial of election results that sparked the Capitol attacks on Jan. 6, millions of Americans were forced to succumb to the tainted voting process in the United States.

“In 2020, democracy was put to a test: first by the pandemic, then by a desperate attempt to deny the reality and the results of the election and then by a violent and deadly insurrection on the Capitol, the citadel of our democracy,” said Biden.

Because of the impediments, Biden makes a case that the U.S. and its government must make preparations for the 2022 elections.

“We’ll engage in an all-out effort to educate voters about the changing laws, register them to vote, and then get the vote out. We’ll encourage people to run for office themselves at every level,” Biden stated.

Through a concerted effort, Biden is sure that democracy will be ensured as the Founding Fathers intended it to be. By providing education to voters about changing the laws and allocating resources to voting rights organizations to register citizens and vote, Biden is sure that there will be a greater voter turnout in 2022 than there had been in 2020.

Although we are “facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War,” Biden claims that not all hope is lost.

“It doesn’t have to be this way… We have the means. We just need to show the will — the will to save and strengthen our democracy,” Biden said to the applauding crowd.

Fully vaccinated students are no longer required to wear a mask on campus or inside Drexel-owned buildings, except in Drexel Healthcare settings and public transit, including Drexel Shuttles, according to an email sent out to the Drexel community June 23. The exceptions to this are Drexel healthcare settings and public transit, including Drexel shuttles, where masks will still be required regardless of vaccination status.

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated students still must constantly wear a mask at all times on campus and inside on public transit.

“Vaccination is the only main way to get through this pandemic and to get back to the healthiest place we can be and to be able to have college. The number one reason we are doing it is for the health and safety of the students,” said Marla Gold, Senior Vice Provost for Community Health and Chief Wellness Officer. “The number one reason we are doing it is for the health and safety of the students.”The number one reason we are doing it is for the health and safety of the students

Eating on campus is no longer restricted, as masks are no longer required for most of the vaccinated community members, Gold said. However, unvaccinated students, for their safety, are recommended to stay away from others when eating, Gold said.

As of June 21, the Drexel Recreation Center has expanded access to Drexel alumni and the public in addition to faculty and professional staff already-admitted faculty and students, according to a Drexel One article. All areas are open within the Drexel Recreation Center. Locker rentals will remain on hold until further notice.

Squash courts one to seven are open for normal play and can be reserved, though reservations are not required.

Drexel Libraries has expanded on-site services for students, faculty, and staff while complying with public health guidelines and the University’s health and safety protocols. The seating capacity limit is lifted and reservations are no longer required, according to the library’s website.

This comes after the Spring term announcement that vaccinations will be required for all students by the beginning of Fall 2021, with certain exceptions. The fall term aims to return to an in-person schedule.

This mandate applies to incoming and returning full-time and part-time Drexel students that will be spending time on campus. Students enrolled in Drexel University Online, and those who will not be on campus do not need to provide proof of vaccination. Even so, Drexel strongly encourages these students to receive vaccinations for the safety of themselves and those around them. Online students who have residency or on-campus components to their studies are required to be vaccinated.

In order to return to campus, students are required to be fully vaccinated and submit proof of their vaccination on the Drexel Health Checker app.

Some International students that may not have had access to vaccines, or have already taken a vaccine that is not approved by the World Health Organization; these cases, will be eligible to take an approved vaccine upon arrival to Drexel’s campus. Although the window for getting vaccinated upon arrival is yet to be decided, it is anticipated to be short.

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals returning toon campus will be enrolled in mandatory weekly testing and must abide by additional safety measures. Drexel also plans on making vaccines available at Race Hall for students arriving unvaccinated for whatsoever reasons.

“For people who arrive unvaccinated but are willing to get vaccinated, we will begin their vaccination right at the time they arrive,” Gold said.

Drexel aims to have a fully vaccinated campus, besides exempted students, by the start of the fall term. The deadline for all Drexel students and employees to be vaccinated or have received an exemption is July 1 for semester students and August 1 for employees and students on the quarter system. Vaccinated students must provide proof of vaccination—or be granted a medical or religious exemption—within two weeks of coming to campus this fall.

Vaccines not only protect an individual’s health but also the health of the people around them. It is Drexel’s goal to create widespread immunity on campus. If the circulation of coronavirus can be stopped, it will not have the genetic errors that produce variants, Gold said.

People exempted for religious and medical reasons must sign an agreement requiring that they would remain masked indoors at all times, check for symptoms regularly, and receive a weekly COVID-test done.

Drexel has not yet announced the time period during which these regulations will be applicable.

Drexel’s student-run radio station, WKDU, will celebrate its 50th anniversary on July 17. The celebration will be a week-long event starting on July 10 and ending with a celebratory outdoor bash in Drexel Park.

WKDU Philadelphia 91.7FM is Drexel’s free-format non-commercial radio station located in the Crease Student Center basement. The station has brought in thousands of members since its creation and has been a big part of Philadelphia’s underground music scene ever since. WKDU is known for its musical diversity and its community-oriented approach.

“The 50th anniversary celebration gives us the great opportunity to celebrate and commemorate all current and past alumni that have made such a grand contribution to the station. This would include the Black Experience in Music, our Electronic Music Marathon, our Reggae Music Marathon and all the other DJs that have come through and made a name for themselves at WKDU,” Bart Jaskulski, WKDU’s general manager, said. “With this celebration, we’re looking to make ourselves situated for the next 50 years. Any donations that come through are gonna be used to upgrade our control rooms to make sure that the station can keep on running for the next 50 years.”

The first event is the July 10 Fundraiser Kick-off followed by The Black Experience in Music programming day. July 12-14 will be filled with special releases such as special edition merch, zine-reissues, a compilation album, an archive web page and much more. The On-Air Alumni Marathon will happen between July 15-17. The closing event will be WKDU’s outdoor birthday bash in Drexel Park, open to any members and listeners.

“It’s the biggest event of the summer, actually the biggest event of the whole year… actually the biggest event for music ever. WKDU is the most important thing in my life and hopefully, our birthday celebration plans will share how many others have been touched by the experience that college radio provides,” Derek Hengemihle, WKDU’s station manager, said.

For more information, visit 50.wkdu.org/.

On March 26, it was announced that Dean Norma Bouchard of College of Arts and Sciences is leaving Drexel to become a provost at Chapman University. She served as dean for almost two years. She agreed to talk to the Triangle about her time at Drexel and her “bittersweet” departure. This interview has been edited for clarity.

Ioana Racu: Can you tell me a little bit about your background before coming to Drexel?

Norma Bouchard: I came to Drexel after having served for four years at a very similar college, San Diego State University. Prior to that, I was a faculty member, a permanent member and then an Associate Dean at the University of Connecticut for 17 years.

IR: Can you tell me a little bit about your experience at Drexel specifically?

NB: It’s been an interesting experience because, within six months of my arrival, we were in a pandemic. It’s been a very positive experience. The college is full of incredibly talented students, faculty and staff. It’s really a jewel of a college — I can say that without a shadow of a doubt. I’ve been privileged to work with some of the best people I’ve ever worked with in academia in 25-30 years, thanks to the College of Arts and Sciences.

IR: Besides your administrative work at Drexel, what are some of your academic interests?

NB: Cultural studies, cultural history — I work broadly. I started as a modernist, 19th and 20th century. In the last five or six years, I’ve been working on Mediterranean studies, Post-colonial studies [and] Diaspora studies across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. I also dabble in film studies.

IR: How did the pandemic affect your work as a dean and as a member of the Drexel community?

NB: There were certainly many challenges. We’ve all experienced those. The big challenge that everyone had to face was to maintain continuity in teaching, research and service. We all had 24 hours to get out, remember the announcement? That was a very short period of adjustment. It was remarkable that everybody adjusted. The faculty, the students and the staff learned how to do everything remotely. I would say another big challenge was to continue to grow the college, to expand, to address our vision and move it forward, while having the added complication of not being together. I’m very proud to report that we were able to do that. We had a plan of reorganizing major functions of the college, we did Women’s Day in Research, and we maintained teaching continuity. We did a lot of public outreach to the community.

IR: What are some of the most important goals that you accomplished in your time at Drexel?

NB: I come from the public school system. I am the product of public schools. I have an accent. I was born and raised in Italy. I went to school at the University of Turin. The European school system is 99 percent made out of public schools. I started graduate work at the CUNY grad Center in New York, finished up at Indiana University. So, Drexel was my first experience, actually, in a private institution. I’ve always been in the public school system. What I have been very committed to is shared governance, distributed leadership. Institutions are so complex, and they’re becoming more complex. Post-pandemic, they’re going to be even more complicated, right?

There are many determinants we saw in the pandemic — who came back, who couldn’t, who could do hybrid learning, who had to move. We really need to think hard about bringing everybody to the table when we make decisions — faculty, staff, students, alumni. We need to strive for diverse teams, because when you have lots of different people with different perspectives and experiences, you come up with better decisions. That is something that I think I pushed very hard for the College of Arts and Sciences. We’ve done everything as a group. That was sort of a cultural shift. I do think it’s very important to be very forthcoming. Explain what our reality is. I stress the collective achievement, because it was everybody’s effort to really figure out ways of working much more together as a college sharing services that are crucial to support everyone, as well as working on the strategic plan. The fact that we’ve been able to do all of that in the pandemic is big kudos to the [Drexel] community.

IR: You were part of the committee that created the Anti-Racism Taskforce. What other initiatives did you start in your time at Drexel?

NB: Diversity is something that’s very close to my heart, as an immigrant. My first academic job was actually in Puerto Rico, where 95 percent of the students are Hispanic, Afro-Caribbean and so on. I was a dean at San Diego State, also a very large Hispanic-serving institution. So naturally, underrepresented students, underprivileged students, first generation students are very close to my heart personally, but also professionally. I work in post-colonial, migration and  diaspora studies. In the pandemic, I decided to start the first ever Office of an Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the college. With [Amelia Hoover Green’s] (Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) leadership, we launched a community read, which was a book selected by students — Wilder’s book, “Ebony and Ivy,” a big study on structural racism. I also asked each and every department to create a Diversity Council. We have 13 diversity councils now. We launched a mentoring program for underrepresented students. Another thing we’re launching this summer is actually a mentoring program, especially focused on underrepresented students in STEM, in partnership with Johnson & Johnson. We decided that it was time to start investing into our Africana Studies minor. We just finished a cluster hire of African Studies scholars. We launched a Curriculum Innovation Award. Under the leadership of the Associate Dean of diversity, equity and inclusion, we’re also providing training and support for faculty for inclusive pedagogy. There is a lot that still needs to be done!

IR: How do you feel about leaving Drexel after spending two years here?

NB: It’s been very bittersweet. I’ve been privileged to work with some of the most amazing individuals I’ve ever worked with. I think it’s probably the best way of putting it. I am sure that I will stay in touch with the friends and colleagues I have been privileged to work with. I have no doubt. I’m even keeping my place in Philadelphia!

IR: What do you have to say to current students of College of Arts and Sciences as a last message and as a goodbye message from the current Dean?

NB: First of all, keep your brilliant selves, the students in class are just amazing. My message to the students is that the knowledge base now flips every five years. That means that you’re going to have many, many jobs in the course of your lifetime. Think about really acquiring foundational skills and competencies, transferable skills and competencies. Try to train the mind and just your work habits, for flexibility, creativity, and ability, really, to navigate bodies of knowledge, both breadth and depth. In the College of Arts and Science, we train students with important competencies, a variety of qualitative, quantitative problem-solving skills. Those are transferable skills that employers demand all the time.

I also think that besides those vocational values or career competencies, there are a lot of epistemological values that come within education in arts and sciences. We study humanities and the social sciences, because we want to understand ourselves, the world, the impact of ourselves in the world a lot better. Deep disciplines such as history, anthropology, philosophy, train us to understand the different beliefs that have shaped communities and the world right across history. They help us understand and foresee the broad implications and the consequences of our behavior of runaway technology. I also believe that your generation will have to contend with a lot of challenges, including the environment, climate change, and how you need the technology, but you also need the mindset, the culture. Take arts and sciences courses, major or minor in Arts and Sciences. Make sure that you really establish those fundamental foundations that are going to make you successful. We educate, and we try — this is what science is all about.

For many high school students, the last few years of their public school journeys are occupied by one looming question: what will I do after high school? This question became muddied for graduates of the Class of 2020 when the global COVID-19 pandemic not only upended senior proms and graduations, but also every aspect of their decisions in pursuing post-secondary education.

Faced with a tide of uncertainty, seniors were forced to make a choice between taking a gap year or committing to attend a school they had might never have visited. Statistics show that for many seniors, a gap year was the decision. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in October 2020, 62.7 percent of the 2020 high school graduating class aged 16 to 24 were enrolled in a college or university, down from 66.2 percent in 2019. The report notes that this change reflects the overarching effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over a year after initial lockdowns, the graduating high school class of 2021 is still facing challenges due to the pandemic amid the start of a return to normalcy.

According to 18-year-old Allison Sauers, a graduating senior at Penn Manor High School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, the pandemic was an aid in her college decision. She said it gave her time to consider what she really wanted to do with her life, and time to pick the right school for her goals.

“I could think more about what I wanted to do versus what I wanted before the pandemic, and I could actually do some reflection,” Sauers said. “That reflection helped me figure out what I enjoy doing and what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”

Another of Penn Manor’s graduating seniors, 18-year-old Luke Horst, will be an incoming computer science student at Drexel this fall. He was able to visit Drexel in person, which is an experience many students weren’t afforded this year or last. Horst cited the pandemic as having a small influence on his college decision, saying he already had an idea of where he wanted to attend prior to the shutdowns.

“There were a good amount of resources I could find online,” Horst said. “That definitely helped.”

He also pointed to Drexel’s virtual Admitted Students Day, as well as a virtual presentation on the co-op program, as experiences that aided in his decision to attend Drexel.

High school counselors have also been able to track trends among the 2021 graduating class and how they compare to the class of 2020’s experiences.

According to Sallie Bookman, who has been a gifted counselor for 21 years at Penn Manor High School, the pandemic has affected students less this year compared to last. Students in 2020 were not expecting a global pandemic, but this year’s graduating class has been dealing with it for over a year.

Jonathan Zimmerman, another gifted counselor who has worked at Penn Manor High School for seven years, said that his students haven’t been met with any unique troubles due to the pandemic. He points to financing college as the biggest hurdle, but that has always been the case.

“I would say, overall, I think a lot of students — at least my students that I advise — are just approaching it like nothing has changed, ” Zimmerman said.

He points out that the biggest change he has seen for students is the inability to tour their future campuses.

“[Students are] blindly applying to schools based on what they’ve seen online without actually stepping foot on campus,” Zimmerman said.

For many of his students, virtual tours were their only option. He pointed out one instance where a student gave up on virtual touring, deeming it a “worthless endeavor.”

Bookman said that while some students were able to tour, they might have missed the opportunity to sit in on a class or visited when the campus had fewer students, giving a less accurate picture of the actual experience.

The pandemic has also forced college admissions offices to adapt how they approach students. Given a year of experience, universities have been able to refine their virtual student outreach. Drexel’s Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, Michael J. Keaton shared input from the university perspective.

“In response to COVID, we had to switch our main method of recruiting from face to face to virtual,” he said. “This past recruiting cycle, we participated in over 2,400 virtual events as a team, including college fairs, high school visits, counselor receptions, and individual student appointments.”

Keaton stressed that Drexel’s admissions numbers are strong, with the projected 2,800 first-year students for the fall exceeding this year’s goal by 200. Keaton also commented on the status of deferrals this year.

“We are not seeing an increased demand for deferrals,” he said. “I think students are eager to start their collegiate careers, especially with the rollout of vaccines and other measures to contain COVID.”

After 11 days of bloodshed and over 200 people dead, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire on Thursday, May 20.

The Palestinian militant group Hamas fired over 4,000 rockets into Israel, and Israel carried out hundreds of airstrikes targeting Hamas’ military infrastructure, according to the BBC.

At least 230 Palestinians were killed, including 65 children and 39 women, with 1,710 people wounded, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In Israel, there were 12 reported deaths, including a 5-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, according to a BBC article.

In response to the extensive damages done to the region caused by this ongoing conflict, Drexel students have taken action to raise their voices. One such group is Students for Justice in Palestine.

SJP is an international movement for students to organize and advocate for Palestinian liberation on their various college campuses. The organization stems from the General Union of Palestinian Students which began in the 1950s, according to acting Drexel’s Chapter President Banah Khamis.

According to Khamis, the student movement for the liberation of Palestine first began in the 1950s. Drexel’s specific chapter, however, was founded in 2019 by Ashly Chteh, the organization’s previous president.

SJP does a lot of work both on and off of Drexel’s campus. Some of this includes public protests and Instagram Live conversations on the intersection of Black and Palestinian liberation with the local Black and Brown Coalition. One of SJP’s largest events covered the deadly exchange, where they highlighted the effects that the United States, Philadelphia, and even Drexel policing have on the conflict between Israel and Palestine, Khamis said.

However, the work is far from over, according to Khamis.

“The brutalization, ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians by the Israeli Apartheid regime has not stopped for a split second within the past 73 years,” she said.

And a ceasefire will not solve this ongoing issue.

“Over 252 Palestinians, 66 of whom were children, were killed in the 11 days of Israeli aggression on Gaza. A ceasefire will not bring back our dead, rebuild our schools, or our homes; it is merely a spectacle and a pacification to the international community’s concerns,” she said.

Therefore, even with the current implementation of a ceasefire, SJP will continue to work within the Philadelphia community. One of its upcoming events, the Interfaith Vigil for Palestinian Martyrs, is being organized in collaboration with multiple organizations in Philadelphia such as the Jewish Voice for Peace Swarthmore, BLM Philly, the Free Palestine Coalition Philadelphia and Temple SJP.

Khamis will continue to work and advocate for Palestine, gathering support for SJP and speaking up for oppressed people everywhere, she said.

In addition to SJP, there is another Drexel organization working to make their voices heard.

Students Supporting Israel is an independent, grassroots movement that supports Zionism and pro-Israeli ideology. SSI was initiated in 2012 at the University of Minnesota. Since then, it has grown to 50 chapters in the US, Canada, Argentina and Norway, according to acting president Gisele Kahlon.

Drexel’s specific chapter was founded on May 7 by Kahlon because she felt an absence of a pro-Israel organization on campus. She sought to create a platform to highlight and celebrate the rich history of Israel, while also educating the Drexel community about the current events in the Middle East, she said.

According to Kahlon, SSI intends to advocate for Israel’s right to defend itself and act in response to the anti-Israeli propaganda dispersed in the community. SSI hopes to be a platform where students can have open discussions to promote a better understanding of the Israel-Palestine conflict within the Drexel community.

According to Kahlon, SSI recognizes the mass destruction caused by the recent clash and empathizes with the civilians that bore its burden.

“Every time there is war all civilians are affected regardless of the side, but like every war, it eventually dies down, and everyone resumes with their lives,” she said.

However, similar to Khamis, Gisele believes that the ceasefire will not be the end of the conflict.

“The ceasefire isn’t a solution or even ‘end’ to the conflict; a ceasefire is only a short pause that will, unfortunately, resume soon enough,” she said.

Therefore, SSI will continue to be active on social media even after the ceasefire to keep the Drexel community well-informed about the conflict. SSI wants to caution the Drexel community about the misinformation that is spread about the conflict and work to create a healthy community of well-informed individuals, Kahlon said.

On March 26, 2021, President Fry announced that Dean Bouchard will step down as Dean of College of Arts and Sciences to become a provost at Chapman University. The interim dean, Professor Kelly Joyce will replace her. She is currently a professor in the Department of Sociology and agreed to talk with the Triangle about her new position. This interview has been edited for clarity.

Ioana Racu: Can you tell me a little bit about your background and what you did before becoming interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences?

Kelly Joyce: So, I’m a sociologist of medicine and science, and my research looks at the sociological dimensions of medical practice in the United States. I have been at Drexel for eight years as a tenured professor in the Sociology Department and the Center for Science, Technology and Society. Before that, I was a tenured professor at the College of William & Mary in Virginia in the Sociology department. Drexel was expanding its investment in the Humanities and Social Sciences, and that’s why I left William & Mary, which I love very much, to join the Drexel community.

IR: What are your academic interests, specifically in sociology, what have you been doing in the sociology department?

KJ: In terms of research, I focus on medical technology development and use. I have been part of a project here at Drexel that works with a team from the College of Engineering and the Center for Functional Fabrics. We’re working together to create new smart textile medical devices that would replace the plugged-in machines and hospitals. I do the sociology part. I do focus groups with doctors, nurses, patients and caregivers to figure out what their priorities are and also to bring their expertise into the innovation process so that we make a device that actually works for them and supports their knowledge, instead of causing problems. My other area of interest is around aging science and tech. In the United States, our population is aging. We’re going to have what’s called a graying of the population, so we’re going to have a bigger percentage of older people in the United States than we’ve had in the past. There’s a lot of research and development going on to think about how we’re going to support this older population. I look at the values and politics that drive that research and development, to see if elders’ perspectives are front and center or if they are kind of sidelined in that process.

IR: How do you feel about starting this position now, in a transitory phase with COVID-19 restrictions being lessened?

KJ: Just like you, we’ve all been working from home. I feel pretty lucky honestly, because the university and Dean Bouchard and her whole team really did the heavy lifting during the pandemic and now we’re coming back to campus. This is not the hard part, right, this is exciting, we made it we’re here, and I think it’s going to be a wonderful fall quarter. What I’m trying to say is I don’t have to come up with all the plans. The university has provided a lot of support and we’re on the tail end of this, we’re going back to campus in September. I really feel like Dean Bouchard did all the heavy lifting on this one and should get the credit and a long vacation.

IR: A lot of colleges were extremely affected by the pandemic. Zoom changed students’ and faculty’s lives tremendously from teaching methods to everything else.

KJ: Oh everything! I mean everything! I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how you make education, because it’s not just teaching online, right, it’s teaching online in a pandemic. I’ve been so impressed by my colleagues and the people who put a lot of effort into thinking about what it would look like to teach online in this pandemic. That was a high learning curve, but people did it. And for the students, what does it mean to do your work during a pandemic from home? I mean, this has been a heavy lift on everybody’s part and — you know, we’re making it we’re almost done it’s been an incredible hopefully once-in-a-lifetime year.

IR: What are some of your goals for the College of Arts and Sciences or some plans you have for the future as the interim dean?

KJ: We’re going to be launching a national search for a replacement dean, so I might be here for a year, a little longer if they need me, and then I’ll go back to being a professor in sociology. In terms of this year, we’re hoping to hire tenure track faculty and staff we haven’t been able to hire for the last few years because of fiscal austerity, and I think that will be really exciting. It’ll be great for the students to have new faculty coming in. So any of the hires we do, we do the searches this fall and then they would start September 2022, but [it’s] very exciting and so we’re working on the hiring plan right now.

Also, we are starting to engage in discussions about curriculum at both the undergrad and grad levels. Are there ways that we can make our undergrad curriculum more nimble and more flexible? I don’t know what your experience has been but a lot of times we hear from students that it’s very hard to double major at Drexel. The major itself takes up so many credits, they can’t really explore a lot of other options, and so I want to collectively think with the department heads in Arts and Sciences about what other universities on the quarter system are doing at the undergrad level: how their curriculum looks like, what their major requirements look like and what we are doing in comparison and how we could make our undergrad curriculum more nimble so that students can double-major and have more time to explore, because I think that’s a really important part of the undergrad experience. I feel like the students are very creative, trying to double- or triple-minor to compensate, so I say that under Dean Bouchard’s leadership, Arts and Sciences has been looking at the core curriculum to see if we can reduce the number of credits and standardize it so it’s easier to double-major.

The second part is to have the conversation with the department heads and my colleagues this year as well about how many credit hours are required for each major, and is that in line with natural national standards or other universities.

IR: What do you have to say, as the interim Dean, to the current and future College of Arts and Sciences students?

KJ: Well, I would go even beyond that, I would say that almost every student at Drexel takes a class in Arts and Sciences. I think Arts and Sciences is the heart of the institution where every student comes through. Hopefully, every student gets pushed to think a little differently and develop skills like writing, critical thinking as well as knowledge about whatever topic they’re in. I love teaching sociology of medicine. I love teaching classes like that, because I get every major under the sun in that class and the discussions are so interesting in the material. Hopefully, they’ll take out every possible career and use it, you know what I mean. So anyway, I would say to the Drexel students, welcome to Arts and Sciences, we can’t wait to have you in our classes, we look forward to interacting with you in the upcoming year and we’re going to be on campus.

IR: Classes in Arts and Science are where you meet people from all around Drexel that have nothing to do with your major because everybody from every single college will have to take math or something like that.

KJ: You know, that’s such a good point, I never thought about it that way. Arts and Sciences doesn’t just teach every student at the College, but it becomes a node that connects all the students. We’re in class together and you get to know each other right with all the small group activity or hanging out. It also builds community. You share your expertise. One of the things I really enjoy about teaching at Drexel is the co-op. When I teach the sociology of health and illnesses, many of the students have had experience in a hospital or some kind of our public health policy, and then we can share that and learn from each other, even as we’re learning the material in the class. I think you know it’s unusual for undergrads to have so much work experience, and I really see that as an asset in the classroom. We come together across our different majors and we get to know each other, and then we also get to share what we know with each other

The pandemic has posed as a caveat to milestones across the country; from weddings to birthday parties, major events have been restricted from occurring due to COVID-19. Nonetheless, Drexel University has announced that graduating seniors can now bring up to nine guests to the graduation ceremony at Citizens Bank Park on June 11.

Thanks to lifting restrictions in the city and at the stadium home of the Philadelphia Phillies, graduates were allowed to request seven more tickets, compared to the two they were previously offered. Due to the Class of 2020’s in-person graduation having to cancel last year due to the COVID-19 virus, the class is now invited to join the Class of 2021’s ceremony.

Apart from the University-wide ceremony at Citizens Bank Park, individual colleges will also be holding respective ceremonies for their own college and students in a virtual format.

Graduates should be ready to reserve their tickets on the Phillies ticket order website on June 1, according to an email sent to all graduates.

Each graduate can request up to nine tickets, which includes one for themselves. To reserve the tickets, graduates will use their Drexel ID number as an access code to get to the reservation page.