Gratitude to MIT’s extraordinary staff

To MIT’s extraordinary staff,

As we prepare to begin this most unusual year together, I write from Gray House with a simple and heartfelt thank-you. Thank you for your late nights and early mornings, your creative problem solving, your care, your dedication, your wisdom and your partnership.

MIT’s staff have always been the Institute’s backbone – working selflessly and passionately on behalf of our community. These last five months, as we have faced one of the greatest challenges any of us have ever known, we have relied on you like never before, and you have come through again and again.

We have worked around the clock this summer to prepare for the weeks and months ahead, planning and re-planning for every scenario we can imagine. But there will be bumps along the way, developments we cannot anticipate. As I wrote to the community last week, the senior team and I will take full responsibility.

Thank you for all you have done this spring and summer, and for everything I know you will do this fall. I see you. I appreciate you. And I am honored to call you my colleagues.

With deep gratitude and admiration,

L. Rafael Reif