August 3, 2020
Dear Colleagues:
At Ball State University, we are looking forward to August 24, when we safely resume on-campus instruction and activities. Although this Fall will be different from a typical year, we will provide the excellent education our students need, expect, and deserve. And we will be guided by our enduring values, which include social responsibility.
We are encouraging socially responsible behavior on campus and in the community. Since July 1, we have required that all people on campus—including faculty, staff, students, and visitors—wear face masks inside buildings, including classrooms, with limited exceptions such as employees alone in their private workspaces or people eating and drinking. In outdoor settings, we require face masks if physically distancing is difficult. To serve our neighbors, we are working closely with community partners, including local government officials and businesses, to promote safety measures such as physical distancing and the use of face masks.
We recognize what we do on campus affects the community and what we do in the community impacts the welfare of our University.
Like most colleges and universities throughout the country, we are making temporary, but necessary, adjustments to the academic calendar and classroom instruction. The on-campus portion of the coursework will wrap up by Thanksgiving break. After the Thanksgiving break, all remaining instruction, as well as all final projects and exams, will be completed online. This modified calendar will help us protect our community in the event that, later in the year, the number of people with COVID-19 increases at the same time that the seasonal flu returns.
Through a very extensive process, we are also adapting how we conduct classes. The modifications include on-campus interactions with altered seating, hybrid personalized instruction with alternate activities and attendance rotations, and many more online courses. In whatever mode our students receive instruction, we are committed to providing the Ball State experience, where students and faculty are learning partners.
We will continue to monitor the situation and to communicate with the Ball State community as information become available. For the latest updates on our University’s response to the pandemic, visit bsu.edu/coronavirus.
I am grateful for the hard work of our faculty and staff all across our beautiful campus, for the persistence and tenacity of our students, and for the support from our community. We are all in this together.
Below are a few more stories that I hope you will enjoy and then share. Let your friends and colleagues know how “We Fly” at Ball State.
