[Music]
Hello. I'm Harvey Stenger, president of Binghamton University.
And, I'm making this video especially for you, students and their families, who live in India.
New students who are starting in the fall, as well as students who are already here . . .
But, may have gone home for the summer break.
Those of you who are already Binghamton University students, know why you chose us.
We have an outstanding ranking.
We have excellent faculty.
Incredibly new facilities.
A great community, we get to live in.
A place that you can call your second home.
And great programs; especially in the sciences and engineering and computer sciences.
So, we want to encourage you to continue to think hard.
We know that right now, it seems very difficult to imagine yourself coming to the United States or to New York State.
But, things will change, over the next days, weeks and months
And, I know that we are past the apex and that things will become much more calm and safer, in the United States.
New York City is about 300 kilometers away from Binghamton.
While you might land there, as your are flying here in August, you may land in JFK or you may land in Newark Airport.
We will come and pick you up.
You won't have to use public transportation.
We've done this for several years.
We have a Binghamton University-branded bus.
And a truck that can bring you and all of your luggage to campus.
We have more than 500 graduate students from India, going to school at Binghamton.
And, it's a very strong community.
And, when you get here, they will embrace you.
We have over 100 countries, represented in our student population.
So, you are going to notice when you get here, that it's a very international university.
Even though it's set in a very rural environment of Upstate New York.
I was recently in India for about a week and a half, and I visited many of your cities.
Hoonay, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, DeLore.
And, driving between those cities, I saw what I see here: rolling hills, lots of farms and people living in a rural lifestyle.
It's very similar to India, as it is here in Binghamton.
So, I think you're going to feel very comfortable when you do come to the Upstate New York area, this fall.
We also want to make sure that you understand some of the benefits of Binghamton University and it's relationship with industrial partners.
Many students will go on to get their OPT, with company partners that work with Binghamton University and research projects.
So, your going to have immediate connections with those kinds of opportunities.
I know that you may be having a hard time making a VISA appointment right now, but we believe that that will change.
But if you can't come this fall and you aren't able to make it here, we will be offering courses online for you.
You can take a full-time load of courses, so that you don't really miss anything.
And, that when you get here in the spring, you'll be on schedule to finish your degree.
I also wanted you to think hard about the fact that we're in an economic depression right now.
That will be temporary.
Maybe one; maybe two years.
And, when you recover from economic-depressed times, the economy grows very quickly.
Which means, when you are graduating, a year and a half to two years from now, the job market will be very strong, here and across the entire world.
So, that's another opportunity for you to think about, when you are deciding when and where to go.
If you are here, you'll also find that our courses will be taught in hybrid mode;, that they'll be offered streaming, as well as in person.
So, if you don't feel like you want to go to class someday because you are not feeling well, we will be offering those courses online for you . . .
even though you will still be a residential student.
There's a lot of time between now and the fall and I know that you are going to be talking about this with your family.
I just wanted to give you some good wishes and some thoughts from the President's Office.
And, I hope that you can be here in the fall.
And I hope that you will be a Binghamton University student very soon.
In the meantime, stay safe.
See you soon.