Endlessly in Return, a message from Dean J. Meejin Yoon
Dear AAP Community—
Ten months ago, profound changes at scales ranging from the global to the deeply personal began impacting the lives of people the world over, and continue today. In February, we vacated Rome. Weeks later we vacated AAP NYC, the Ithaca Campus, and the halls of our college. Yet, under the most uncertain circumstances, we continued teaching. We continued learning. We adapted. We came together remotely from virtually all corners of the world. Two months from the date we left campus, we conferred the degrees and celebrated the accomplishments of the Spring 2020 class—a testament to the commitment of the whole AAP community.
As spring became summer, we faced not only the uncertainty of a growing public health crisis, but a national reckoning with anti-Black racism and racialized violence in the U.S. We were angered. We mourned. We committed to making change. We have since taken the first of many necessary actions to oppose and end racism and discrimination, and keep bias of all kinds from impacting the lives of our students, faculty, and staff at AAP so that our community can thrive, excel, and lead change in our cities, communities, and disciplines.
Looking back, and given where we are today, I remain in a state of awe. Our community, despite having been exhausted and worn thin at certain moments, ready for calls to action at others, and at times rightfully cautious or apprehensive, came together across departments, generations, and geographies, to not only carry on but to advance knowledge and continue to raise the standards for excellence in education that make AAP so distinct. Research, scholarship, and creative practices across and at the intersections of design, sustainability, and equity in architecture, art, and planning pushed forward unfazed. This fall was full of exceptional moments. We launched the most logistically complex semester in recent memory with in-person, remote, and hybrid instruction. We welcomed the most diverse class in the history of our college. And our students—across time zones and new learning modalities—not only managed the complexity of their respective circumstances but also found ways to excel and produce imaginative, rigorous, and insightful work—among the best we have ever seen.
Faculty reinvented how they teach while juggling child care, caring for loved ones, and learning how to ‘unmute’—and somehow, still found ways to make critical contributions to their fields with a number of publications, exhibitions, and projects. Thank you to all of our faculty whose exceptional dedication and commitment was felt in every lecture, seminar, desk crit, review, and meeting this term. Thank you to all of our students for bringing the best of yourselves to your work. Thank you to the staff who worked tirelessly to support our students and faculty despite an environment where processes were upended and redefined in every way possible. As a community, we have faced challenges of epic proportion, yet challenge upon challenge, your resilience, resolve, and grace have been constant.
Two days ago, we celebrated the achievements of our Fall 2020 graduating class. I shared with them that today’s world reminds us that the future is not given—it is unimaginable, unapologetic, and even indelicate. Cornell alumna Toni Morrison reminds us of our purpose as teachers and learners across generations, sharing that “youth is indelicate—managing generation after generation not only to survive and replace us, but to triumph over us.” This year has proven that our current and graduating students are ready for anything. Our students have shown us that as the new generation they can see beyond the world as-is and explore possibilities that are not limited by our times. They are ready to act and to do so boldly and thoughtfully, to be prompted to see our present moment as a call to imagine new possibilities, to elevate and enlighten so that we all might be inspired to envision a better world, to design our brighter future.
2020 has asked and continues to demand so much of us. And so, as we near its end we can reflect on the year and look forward to the next, not because the first of January promises a magical solution, but because we have shown that throughout an endlessly trying twelve months we are ready and willing to give of ourselves endlessly in return—and not only to make-do or make the best of our circumstances, but to make things better. For this, I again offer my sincerest thanks to our entire community and hope that wherever you may be, you will make time to rest and restore, and have a healthy, safe holiday season.
Looking forward to 2021, and all its possibilities.
With deep admiration and gratitude,
Meejin
J. Meejin Yoon
Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of Architecture, Art, and Planning
