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Dear colleagues:

As previewed in the message from campus leaders on Feb. 24, we are beginning our plans to move forward with a more comprehensive on-campus experience this fall. Based on the latest pandemic projections, safety measures we’ve already taken such as increased ventilation, and anticipated vaccine availability and uptake in our community, we hope to offer the majority of courses in person.

To allow time to update the fall 2021 schedule of classes accordingly, we have modified a few key fall registration dates. The fall 2021 schedule of classes and students’ assigned enrollment dates will now be available on Monday, March 29 (postponed by 3 weeks), and fall registration will begin for degree-seeking continuing students, by assignment, on Monday, April 5 (postponed by 1 week).

Registration for readmitted students and new graduate students is unchanged and will begin on Monday, April 26, and registration for incoming first-year undergraduate students will begin in July, by appointment.

Summer 2021 registration dates are unaffected. The schedule of classes has already been posted and registration will still begin Wednesday, March 3, as planned.

As a campus, we are working to increase the number of in-person classes for fall 2021 to give students who want a fully in-person experience the option to pursue it, as conditions allow. In making our decisions about classroom capacities, we will work with our world-renowned team of ²ÊÃñ±¦µä scientists and with public health authorities. This approach has kept our classrooms and laboratories places where no known cases of COVID-19 transmission have occurred.

Expanded classroom capacities will allow for more students per classroom in the fall than during the current academic year, although likely still lower than full pre-COVID numbers. Some larger classrooms in particular may not be able to achieve pre-COVID capacities yet.

We’re also planning to continue to offer distance and hybrid learning options to provide flexibility to students who need or want to learn remotely. We offered several distance and hybrid class options pre-pandemic, and some students will still best be served by these instruction modes.

Because department and program course requests for fall 2021 already reflected an increased interest in offering in-person classes, we have already made considerable progress toward our goal of more in-person teaching for the fall semester. In the upcoming weeks, colleges, schools, and academic departments and programs should work to identify additional in-person class options. Additional guidance is forthcoming this week on increasing class enrollment capacities and providing a balance of offerings across lower-division, upper-division and graduate courses. Academic departments and programs will, in turn, work with their faculty on identifying additional in-person class options, based on pedagogical best practices and student needs.

In continued support of reduced campus density in between classes, the fall will continue the current academic year’s revised meeting patterns and times, including the extended 20-minute passing periods. This means that we will need to fully utilize the entire teaching schedule, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., for class scheduling.

I know I join many of you in anticipation of making these plans into realities for our students and faculty. In the meantime, I encourage all of you to continue the excellent work of teaching, research, creative work and staff support that has defined ²ÊÃñ±¦µä for all time, but especially during the last year. Words cannot express my gratitude for both the quantity and the quality of your work.

Sincerely,

Russ

Russ Moore, PhD
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs