June 24, 2020 To William Paterson Staff: I hope you are well and enjoying the start of the summer season. Building on the success of the inaugural summer learning and development program in 2019, I am pleased to introduce this year’s series, themed Growth Mindset in a Learning Environment. The program has four components: cultural growth , institutional growth , individual knowledge growth , and personal growth . Transformational growth occurs in an organization that is willing and eager to learn. William Paterson is a place of learning for a diverse community of students and colleagues. As such, when we all embrace a growth mindset, our interactions will positively impact both our work environment and the student learning experience. Students and colleagues also benefit from consistently positive interactions, which allow us all to better engage and persist in our work and ultimately realize our potential for individual and collective success. The idea that our collective effort will have a transformational and sustained positive impact on our workplace and diverse student body is inspired by the work of Stanford University psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success . Please note that most of the summer 2020 program is online. The few exceptions are on-campus workshops, which will be held in accordance with social distancing protocols. More details on the program and how to participate will be included in an email from Human Resources to follow later today. In the meantime, please click here to view the video introducing the 2020 program. I wish you a summer of personal and professional enjoyment and growth. Sincerely, Richard J. Helldobler, PhD President
