Media Contact
Steve Walentik
Director of Public Relations/Content
University Marketing & Communications
314-516-6690
walentiks@umsl.edu
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 25, 2021
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University of Missouri–St. Louis preparing to welcome back students for fall semester with support services, events held in person
With COVID-19 cases plummeting across the St. Louis region and an ever-increasing number of people vaccinated across the state, the University of Missouri–St. Louis is amending its policies on masks and social distancing and readying for the return of in-person activities on campus this fall.
In alignment with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, UMSL is no longer requiring fully vaccinated students, faculty, staff and visitors to wear face coverings or maintain social distancing when entering or occupying university owned, operated or managed facilities and outdoor areas.
The university continues to strongly advise people to get vaccinated as well as to continue to wear a face covering and practice social distancing to protect themselves and those around them if they are not vaccinated.
While the university will continue to offer a robust array of online and hybrid courses, the improved public health trends will allow the university to provide courses fully in person to students who choose with classrooms open at full capacity in the fall. Students also can count on support services to be staffed in person across campus, ready to tend to their needs. Similarly, in-person events will resume as well this fall.
“We are absolutely looking forward to returning to campus engaging face to face with our students and providing the support needed,” Dean of Students D’Andre Braddix said. “The virtual options for us to engage allowed us to meet the core educational needs of our students over the past year, but we value that face-to-face interaction – seeing our students, seeing the life and activity on campus, having that ability to engage with your faculty member as you're leaving a class or strike up a conversation with the student sitting next to you. Those opportunities for engagement and connection take place in person much more organically than online.”
UMSL will be reopening communal spaces across campus, including in the Millennium Student Center and the J.C. Penney Conference Center. Campus dining services are expected to be able to provide more variety and increased hours of operation. The university is no longer restricting visitors to students living in Oak Hall, and residents will again have access to in-person dining, common lounges and the swimming pool in season. Campus Recreation staff are planning to increase the amount of equipment available for use in the Recreation and Wellness Center, with intramural sports returning this fall.
UMSL will also hold in-person orientation events for both freshman and transfer students in July and August as well as Welcome Week activities and the Fall Expo for students in August.
“That whole face-to-face piece is so crucial, especially for our first-time college students,” said Jessica Long-Pease, UMSL’s senior director for student affairs. “I think that's something that they all mentioned they were really missing in the last year. So, to be able to provide that for the upcoming semester is really exciting.”
The university recognizes that many individuals remain concerned about the risks of COVID-19, and it will continue to provide services and offer some programming remotely to meet students where they’re most comfortable.
It will also continue to offer accommodations for students and employees related to COVID-19. Students requesting COVID-related academic accommodations should contact Disability Access Services while employees should contact the Office of Human Resources.
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The University of Missouri–St. Louis (UMSL) is the largest public research university in eastern Missouri, and the third largest in the state, priding itself on creating greater access to higher education and opportunity for its nearly 16,000 diverse students. UMSL confers more than 3,000 degrees annually and offers a wide range of baccalaureate and master’s degrees, two education specialist degrees and 17 doctoral degrees, including the only professional doctor of optometry program in Missouri. Established in 1963 as the fourth campus of the University of Missouri System, UMSL boasts more than 105,000 alumni, 73 percent of whom live and work in the St. Louis region.
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