May 8, 2020
Message from Faculty Senate President
Dear Colleagues,
Once again, congratulations on finishing the year.
We have been in conversation with the Provost about the Fall 2020 schedule. He presented us with scheduling options that are currently being discussed both in colleges/schools and at the university level.
One option includes "block scheduling" consisting of two or three short blocks within the semester. A second option is a 13-week model with finals either before or after Thanksgiving with the possibility of a Reading Week. This model can be found here. While there may be other options yet to be explored, these are two that we wanted to make you aware of.
Our discussions also included ideas for maintaining social distancing in classrooms, labs, and other spaces utilized for teaching. Combining in-person instruction with bimodal instruction (in the event that someone in the class tests positive for COVID-19) is being considered. We also discussed the option for faculty to teach fully online classes. Some of the parameters relevant for scheduling Fall 2020 classes can be found here.
Stay safe and healthy,
Dorothea Herreiner and Marne Campbell