The email included information on teaching, research and employment policies, enhancement of diversity, equity and inclusion, mental health and well-being resources for students, faculty and academic staff, as well as information on the university’s health and safety requirements regarding COVID-19.

Woodruff said the university made noteworthy progress, over the past year, in improving campus culture and work environment for all. 

This year, Woodruff said MSU aims to continue this progress by implementing strategies to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion when hiring, and reviewing policies to address any inequities. 

Regarding mental health and well-being, Woodruff named a few resources accessible to employees and students, including the Employee Assistance Program and Counseling and Psychiatric Services, or CAPS.

Woodruff added MSU is requiring everyone to wear appropriate face coverings indoors and be vaccinated against COVID-19, with limited exemptions, and refusal to do so will result in discipline. Additional information can be found on the Together We Will website.

Woodruff ended the email saying, she often stops at Beaumont Tower, while walking across campus, and reads the tower’s inscription, “Whatsoever a man soweth.”

Woodruff said by working together in support of academic excellence and student success, the MSU community can make this coming year one in which it successfully renews, refreshes, repopulates and resets. 

“I share your excitement and eagerness to experience a more typical semester on our beautiful campus,” Woodruff said. “Beaumont Tower beckons all of us. It asks us to remember. It asks us to gather. It asks us to listen. It asks us to sow. And in answering these calls, we beget the culture we seek.”