The year 2020 is past! All of us made necessary adjustments. Steve Schreiber, named 2019 Distinguished Professor by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and chair of Architecture at UMass Amherst since 2005, has a beautiful new design building on campus, mostly studios and shops for students. Architecture studio instruction (the core of design programs) is deemed to be “face-to-face essential” because it relies on one-on-one faculty-student mentoring and is very tactile (model making, physical drawings, etc.). Ideally, students learn from each other in studios open 24/7. Through August everything shut down at UMass, so he was forced to learn new technologies for teaching, discovering that Zoom and learning management systems are effective for one-on-one discussions; professor and student can see each other on screen and digital drawings are right in front of both parties. “In September we reconvened partially face-to-face, with students in the studios and faculty connecting on Zoom. That is effective, because students can use shops for models and desks for large drawings. However, it’s hard to maintain the student-to-student studio culture critical for design education.”

Donna Smyers, a self-employed physical therapist in Vermont, took advantage of pandemic unemployment assistance for eight weeks before returning to work with precautions. She is filling her time during shutdown with running and biking and, seeing many peers already retired, limiting her hours and pondering retirement.

Polly Ingraham has sent to agents a book manuscript, her memoir of being an “un-churched” clergy spouse. Meanwhile, we can enjoy Polly’s perspective at www.pastorswifeblog.com.

David Brown’s career has focused on growing communities through leading economic development organizations and chambers of commerce in several states. “Since 2003 I have been CEO of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, an organization with dual responsibilities of serving 3,000 business members while supporting economic growth regionally. Along with chairing the boards of our national professional association and local nonprofits, this gives me a unique perspective of community leadership nationwide in response to the pandemic, civil unrest, and economic downturn. Our chamber is a catalyst for change using collaboration to delve into community challenges. We led the effort in 2017 to create ‘Omaha 2040,’ a preferred future statement developed by hundreds of business and community leaders. As a result, we created an aggressive ‘People Initiative’ that is our vehicle to combat pandemic-associated unemployment and organized a CEO group that addresses issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Billions in capital investments have been committed in our urban core supported by our ‘Place and Prosperity Initiatives.’ While the chamber leads on many issues, we collaborate with dozens of committed public, private, and philanthropic leaders on other projects. We have developed trust amongst the leadership of these organizations, which makes it possible to accomplish remarkable things. Dartmouth drilled into our heads and hearts that we should make the world a better place. This collaborative, catalytic leadership model can work in any organization or community.”

—Janie Simms Hamner, 7327 Centenary Ave., Dallas, TX 75225; (214) 477-9868; jshandkids@aol.com