Coronavirus Update – March 10, 2020

Dear Faculty,

I am writing to follow up on President Cole’s message from earlier today, announcing that we are extending Spring Break for a week and moving the majority of instruction online for the rest of the semester. Our goal is to reduce the population density on campus, in order to reduce health risks while ensuring continuity of instruction and maintaining critical services.

We need every faculty member to prepare now to put their courses online. We have prepared a guide to assist you in moving your face-to-face instruction to online delivery.

Here are some specifics:

• Every course should be delivered remotely. There may be some exceptions, such as studio courses or labs. If you believe your course should be allowed to continue in person, submit a justification to your Dean immediately. All exceptions require my approval.
• When students return from Spring Break on March 23, we need to be ready to go.
• Fully online courses will continue according to the original, established schedule.
• Hybrid courses will, of course, move to fully online mode.

If you have questions, or need more information or support, please contact your Dean.

Sincerely,
Willard P. Gingerich
Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost