REDDING, Calif.–Simpson University President Norman Hall shared the following announcement May 5 with students, faculty and staff:

Dear SU community:

It gives me great joy to announce that Simpson University is planning to resume all on-campus instruction when it opens for the fall semester on Sept. 7, with measures in place to deliver our century-old academic quality, fortified by our Christ-centered community, while mitigating risks and promoting safety. This includes our traditional undergraduate, degree-completion, seminary, and graduate programs. 

We know that our students thrive in our uniquely community-based, personalized and experiential learning environment, and we are pleased to be ramping up to bring our students back for what we believe will be an amazing fall 2020.

In mid-March our extraordinary faculty quickly moved our whole curriculum delivery to an online and remote format. Simultaneously, I appointed a COVID-19 taskforce made up of faculty, staff, medical personnel and communication specialists to help guide our response and reduce our campus footprint in concert with state and regional guidelines.

The health and safety of our students and employees is our top priority as we navigate this new landscape for safely reopening our campus. For this reason, last week I appointed an expanded “reopening” committee to meet daily, study, and provide a multi-phased framework for reopening this fall. You can be confident that we will continue to work with state and regional government to ensure we meet or exceed all distancing, cleaning and safety protocols related to residential housing, dining, classroom instruction and methodology, athletics, chapel gatherings, campus safety, and more.

If you are a student, faculty or staff member, I want you to know that the Cabinet, reopening committee and I are working hard to reopen with your safety and needs in mind. You can be sure that we will put all necessary precautions in place to ensure our students can join us on campus under conditions safe for learning, living, and participating in co-curricular activities. At the same time, we will remain flexible as needed, with alternative strategies outlined well in advance.

The university offers free telemedicine health and wellness service to students and employees through our partnership with HealthiestYou and maintains close relationships with local public health officials and area healthcare facilities. Faculty and staff at Simpson University’s Betty M. Dean School of Nursing, ranked No. 7 among California nursing schools, are also a guiding resource.

We are thankful and exceedingly fortunate to live in one of the lowest COVID-19-incident regions in California. We are also fortunate to be surrounded by gifted faculty and staff, who have pivoted creatively and with determination during this unprecedented time. I am grateful for their hard work and adaptability and look forward to starting the 2020-21 school year with their energy, prayers and enthusiasm.

Simpson University has outpaced a nationwide trend, growing our undergraduate program two years in a row while launching programs in kinesiology, engineering, digital media, and computer information systems. We also launched new sports including track and field, women’s wrestling, men’s volleyball, swimming and diving, and bass fishing.

The COVID-19 event certainly took us by surprise but did not take the wind out of our sails, as our data tells us to expect growth again this year. Yes, it has been challenging. And yes, we are better and more refined to opening this fall with increased know-how, academic flexibility and renewed missional commitment to be the gateway to world service.

Students, keep an eye open for updates and start making plans to be in Redding, California, this fall. We can’t wait to see you. Go, Red Hawks!

About Simpson University
Simpson University will celebrate its centennial in 2021. Founded in Seattle in 1921, the university relocated in 1989 from San Francisco to Redding, where it has seen expansive growth in all programs and campus facilities. The university offers more than 20 undergraduate majors, as well as an adult degree-completion program, teaching credential program, and master’s degrees in education, business, counseling psychology, and through A.W. Tozer Theological Seminary. Simpson is home to 18 athletic teams — including new teams in swimming and diving, track and field, women’s wrestling, and men’s volleyball — and a 1-year-old bass fishing team ranked No. 1 in California.

Known locally as “Redding’s hometown university,” Simpson University welcomes students from 19 states and 14 countries. The university’s longstanding motto is “Gateway to World Service,” lived out each year through student-led mission trips and service projects. Simpson University alumni serve around the world in ministry and marketplace settings.

Simpson University operates a Veterans Success Center ranked No. 11 among Christian universities and partners with the Army National Guard in a program where students can earn their education while serving in the Guard.

The university’s attention to individualized learning and its caring faculty and staff enable it to serve many first-generation and economically disadvantaged college students. Simpson University is tied for the No. 5 Top Performer on Social Mobility by U.S. News & World Report among western regional universities and is one of most affordable private universities on the West Coast.

As it looks ahead, the university is launching new programs in digital media, computer information systems, and engineering, designed to help meet marketplace needs in Northern California. Simpson University offers aggressive scholarships and is working to better serve community-college transfer students through its commitment to Associate Degree for Transfer agreements.

Interested in “visiting” campus? Take a virtual tour at simpsonu.edu/visit. Set up an online meeting with an admissions counselor and be eligible for a $1,000 Campus Visit Scholarship. 

Learn more at simpsonu.edu. Follow Simpson University on social media; follow SU news at simpsonunews.com; and follow SU athletics at simpsonredhawks.com.

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Follow Simpson University COVID-19 updates at simpsonu.edu/coronavirus.