| Dear Red Wolves:
With January almost finished, I would like to update everyone on campus about the opening weeks of the Spring 2021 semester. As always, I’m so very proud of the way our students, faculty, and staff are maintaining their distance, wearing masks, and taking care of each other. I know the ongoing pandemic and our protocols are stressful for some, and if you need someone to talk to, remember that Pack Support is there for our students and our employee health program for our faculty and staff.
Vaccinations
This past week, we had the privilege to take care of over 1,000 of our employees with their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. It took the cooperation of our entire community to make this happen over the four sessions on three days. My gratitude begins at the top with Gov. Asa Hutchinson moving up the start time for persons classified “1-B” in the state’s vaccination plan, and for those at the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) who assisted our local pharmacy provider partners. Two different pharmacies in our area played a major role through securing vaccines, and more than 75 on-campus volunteers made the events happen at First National Bank Arena. Employees who participated last week will receive their second vaccinations beginning in mid-February.
Spring Break 2021
Getting our faculty and staff vaccinated is a key step toward finishing the Spring 2021 semester safely AND to prepare for the Fall 2021 semester. At this time, I have decided that we will not cancel or modify the 2021 Spring Break schedule (March 22-26). I am also optimistic that we will be able to continue our mostly in-person instruction following Spring Break, but we continue to monitor local and regional COVID-19 conditions. Just like we did at the start of the Spring semester, we have the option of moving to online instruction after the break if we believe that is necessary. Remember, you can find more information about classes and protocols at our Spring 2021 Return to Learn plan.
Fall 2021
I am also becoming more optimistic about the prospects of returning to more on-campus life for this fall. Just like last fall, we will continue to monitor a wide range of metrics related to coronavirus on our campus and in our community. As a reminder, you can keep up with how COVID-19 is affecting our campus by following our COVID-19 dashboard, which is updated daily during the week, Monday through Friday. As we anticipated, we have seen a slight rise in active cases (particularly among students) with the advent of the spring semester, but not like we experienced at the beginning of the Fall 2020 semester. I attribute this improvement to so many of us following our campus protocols so closely. We remain in relatively good shape for this point in the semester, but our options to move coursework online remain in place if conditions on campus warrant a change.
W, W, & W
Now that the majority of our employees have been vaccinated and as the number of regional COVID-19 cases continues to decrease, it is tempting to let our guard down. Please join me in redoubling our commitment to the three Ws – wear your mask, wash your hands, and watch your distance. Even as more of us get vaccinated, the CDC and ADH both remind us that wearing a mask will be required for some time, and keeping our distance in the classroom and elsewhere remains one of our most powerful weapons in the battle with coronavirus. If you have vaccine or mask guideline questions, look at these pages from the CDC or ADH, or at our own coronavirus FAQ page.
Fall 2021 Recruiting
Part of preparing for Fall 2021 is welcoming new Red Wolves to the pack. While COVID-19 protocols are limiting high school visits, our Enrollment Management division is hosting meetings this week with students in Jonesboro and Paragould to assist those who may need to get some documents or paperwork in to complete their applications. Just as a reminder to all, our scholarship deadline for both A-State and private scholarships is coming up next week on February 1.
Black History Month
Don’t forget that next week opens Black History Month, and you can find a calendar of related A-State events on our website at AState.edu/BHM. Like our community-wide Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day event earlier this month, many of those events will be virtual.
In closing, I wanted to point out a milestone that we just passed. I sent my first email to the campus about coronavirus one year ago this past Sunday. As I look back over the past year, I am simply in awe of how well we faced all the challenges that COVID-19 placed in our path. I am also reminded that we cannot under estimate this virus. Over the past year, every sign of progress in our fight with the virus was almost immediately dashed with a new unanticipated challenge. Please keep this past year in mind as we move forward. We are gaining confidence every day in our ability to deal with COVID-19, but ultimate success will be elusive for a while. We need to persevere in these final weeks and months ahead. Let’s continue to all do our part to keep those around us safe.
#MasksUp and #WolvesUp!
Best,
Kelly
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