The Class of 2020: Resilient and Adaptive Leaders

Resilience is often recognized as the ability to adapt and thrive despite difficult circumstances. The Class of 2020 has reached a major milestone in their lives and future careers, graduating in the midst of a pandemic, after having to adapt quickly to difficult circumstances and in many cases producing their best work yet. In normal times we would have marked the occasion with an NJIT commencement ceremony in the Prudential Center in downtown Newark, followed by a graduation celebration in Weston Hall and on the "college green". This year, with the help of Mike Smullen, Executive Director of Alumni Affairs,  we adapted and came up with a unique and virtual version of these events, gathering on Streamyard in a live event before the main commencement for a celebration and awards ceremony, and for a social hour with students, their families and our faculty and staff in attendance via WebEx. 

This adaptability and resilience demonstrated by our students is entirely consistent with the skill sets of designers. They learn to solve problems as a way of thinking. For them, tackling design challenges requires that they know the nature and dimensions of the ‘problem’ they are taking on, the limits of their freedom and the design parameters, and the context that is calling for a design solution. Architects and designers often work on enhancing community resilience through infrastructure design and planning, or designing open source 3D printed personal protective equipment for frontline health care workers. 

In the world since Covid19, the design mandate for an architect might be defined by a need for medical testing and isolation facilities that are both low cost and easy to build, and are designed to meet the needs of poor communities in countries without adequate health care facilities. For a user experience (UX) designer it might mean creating a mobile phone app that allows for individuals to proactively track their own locations and contacts while masking their personal data, so they can contribute without anxiety to collective exposure mapping or contact tracing. 

As Dean Kolarevic put it, “this pandemic is an unprecedented event that will certainly act as one of the defining historic markers of this century, which will likely leave an indelible impact on our lives, society, culture, the economy and how we relate to each other.” Kolarevic hopes, however, that “the year 2020 will be also remembered as the year our society addresses in earnest the racism and inequality that continues to persist around us.” Designers can no longer look away from the lack of diversity in their ranks, and must recognize that they need to pay more attention to how public and private spaces in the built environment are inclusive or exclusive, safe or unsafe, equitable or unequal. Digital designers of all stripes are bringing their creative talents to express the moment and describe a new future. As Glenn Goldman, Director of the School of Art + Design, points out: “As designers we come together with common cause and we all get our jobs done, and as you move forward you will understand the significance of this. The required collaborative design studio is all about different people bringing their own skills to complete a task together, and this is how everything works outside of school.” 

The overwhelming sentiment expressed by the Hillier College Class of 2020 was one of finding friends, community and support on the path to graduation, and having experiences that shaped not only who they are as designers but who they are as people. Many students said that they know they have the tools to go out and make a difference in the world, whether to address issues in the built, natural or human environment. In his gallery biography Ricardo Ramos said: “My experience as a Student Mentor, and Founding Treasurer of the National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS) has allowed me to prove myself a profound leader among multiple communities. Throughout history, good architecture has captured the culture of how the people of tomorrow seek to live. My ambition is to foster a culture that addresses the social and environmental climate, through my built work.”

Vicky Sherman echoed Ricardo’s words in her ambition to make the lives of others better: “Graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture degree and a minor in Sustainability, I hope to use the skills I’ve developed to start a nonprofit organization specializing in urban housing projects." Arvind Manivannan put it like this: “The main goal of my architecture is to bring the local ecology back to its natural balance by giving the habitat that these birds own and deserve. This ‘adaptive architecture’ tends to respond to the immediate environment in the present, while also providing for the future by developing areas in the salt marsh that act as barriers and help create an environment for the growth of native plants and animals.” Adaptive architecture that responds to the immediate environment as it is now, and provides for the future is exactly the point, and as Gernot Reither, Director of the School of Architecture said in his remarks to the Class of 2020, “we all talk about the new normal but you will define it, design it and build it.” 

The Dean, Directors, faculty and staff wish this unforgettable group of students the best as they move forward into the next stage of their lives, confronting a worldwide pandemic and the need to remake our societies. In his concluding remarks Dean Kolarevic reminded graduates that they must build a better world and better society and that they have a lot to do.