End-of-Year Update

A Message from Dr. Pierner, BTC President

As we wrap up another academic year, I continue to be blown away by everyone in the Blackhawk family. This was a challenging year, and yet this weekend, we will celebrate 300+ graduates who have completed this leg of their educational journey. Commencement is the culmination of all of your hard work, and for those unable to celebrate in-person with us, it is my hope you will tune into the ceremonies at 9:00 and 11:30 a.m. via the live stream on our website.

I am very excited about the future of BTC. We are making great progress on our future Public Safety and Transportation Center on our Central Campus and have several renovation projects slated for Central Campus beginning late summer into next fall. For those students returning for another year at BTC, you will see a significant transformation of our campus next year with the completion of renovation projects slated for December 2021.  Exciting times indeed.

At this time, we are still in Stage 6 of our reopening plan – facemasks continue to be required inside our buildings, and the capacity of events and activities are still limited. As we monitor the data, we anticipate moving to Stage 7 at some point this summer - more to follow on that.

Our Emergency Preparedness Committee and Incident Management Team have done an excellent job of leading us through the pandemic. This has been a very busy year for all of them. In regards to COVID on our campus, here are some statistics regarding what we have experienced this academic year:

• We have had 0 community spread on campus.
• We investigated 489 cases; there are only four active investigations at this time.
• Of those investigations, only 137 were known positive cases.
• Approximately 72% of investigations involved students, and nearly 87% of investigations were based on Central Campus.

Your safety has been a top priority during this pandemic, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to you. We continue to closely monitor the pandemic in cooperation with local, state, federal, and CDC guidelines and keep you informed of any changes to our pandemic response.

The DHS vaccination clinic on our campus is increasing its capacity and is now serving walk-ins as well as individuals aged 12 and up. And, we are looking forward to the pandemic lessening its grip on our region and a full return to “normal” operations by summer/fall semesters.

It’s been a great year, and I am incredibly proud of the outstanding work all of you have accomplished this year. It is my honor and privilege to serve as your president. You make Blackhawk an outstanding place to learn and work, and I am excited about our future.

All my best,

Tracy P. Pierner, Ph.D.