Provost's Update
Posted May 9, 2020
May 9, 2020
Dear Colleagues, I know many of you are still busy grading final papers, projects, and exams. I appreciate all that you have done to help our students through this extraordinary time. Today marks our virtual commencement. It is an opportunity to celebrate their achievements and our collective work to make a difference in their lives by challenging them to think differently about the world, ignite their creativity, push to learn new information, and build the skills that will help shape our future. Thank you for making such a tremendous difference in their lives and learning.
Yesterday, our Academic Continuity Task Force (ACTF) had its first meeting. I wanted to share some next steps, elements of the charge, membership, and timeline below. We will post the full text of the charge on the website and distribute the link next week.
How will the ACTF communicate with the campus?
The co-chairs have committed to creating weekly virtual open forums each week to share information, answer questions and seek input from our community. Please stay tuned for those announcements. Additionally, I will share information regarding the activities of the Task Force in my regular updates.
We distributed a survey to students and faculty yesterday to seek feedback regarding the transition to emergency remote learning of Spring 2020. We recognize that with planning and time, we can avoid pitfalls we encountered this semester. We also recognize we can learn from this semester’s experiences.
We are also finalizing a template to share with academic programs to better understand the challenges and needs that we may experience in teaching, learning, technology, and research and creative activities next year. We anticipate distributing that document next week.
What are the key elements of the charge for the Academic Continuity Planning Task Force?
The Task Force will provide recommendations that will help achieve the following:
- Promote the safety of all members of our community, including those who may be more vulnerable (students, staff, faculty), thereby establishing and nurturing ‘trust’ on the campus.
- Consider the impact and feasibility of modifications to the academic calendar.
- Explore a variety of modes of delivery for the curriculum.
- Support the Continuity of Research and Creative Activities and High-Impact Engagement.
- Ensure thoughtful assessment strategies and supportive evaluation procedures during AY ’20- ‘21.
- Develop student-centered ‘onboarding’ and support for new students, transfers, and returning students.
- Support institutional and ‘curricular’ resilience.
Who is on the Task Force?
School of Business: Janice Joplin; Ayse Evrensel
College of Arts and Sciences: Jill Anderson; Sue Wiediger
School of Dental Medicine: Bruce Rotter
School of Education, Health, and Human Behavior: Huaibo Xin; Alison Reeves
School of Engineering: Chris Gordon; Igor Crk
School of Nursing: Ann Popkess
School of Pharmacy: Jingyang Fan Hecht
Library and Information Sciences: Marlee Graser
Information Technology Services: Steve Huffstutler
Staff Senate President : Ian Toberman
Graduate Council: E. Duff Wrobbel
Diversity Council: Venessa Brown
Black Faculty and Staff Association: Lakesha Butler
Student Government President: Jacob Graham
Non-Tenure Track Faculty Association: Laurie Wolff
Faculty Association: Mark Poepsel
Office of International Affairs: Mary Weishaar
ACCESS: Dominic Dorsey
Enrollment Management: Scott Belobrajdic
Student Affairs: Miriam Roccia
Director of Health Services: Riane Greenwalt
Provost’s Delegate: Eric W. Ruckh, Co-Chair
Faculty Senate President: Jocelyn DeGroot, Co-Chair
Science Advisor: Elizabeth Cady
Improvisation/imagination advisor: Charles Harper
What is the timeline for the Task Force’s work?
Proposed Target Date
24 April-7 May: Task force formed and planned; charge is developed
By 7 May: Composition of task force (and charge) announced to campus
11 May-5 June: Task force meets 6-10 times to initiate meeting (with science advisor), develop working groups, have working groups meet and develop plans for specific issues identified (reaches out to campus community through some sort of web-platform to get dynamic feedback), synthesize that work and develop contingency plans for academic delivery
6-8 June: Co-Chairs draft proposal and recommendations for curricular delivery
9/10 June: Task force presents draft proposal to Provost and Deans; gets feed back
11/12 June Task force revises
13-16 June: Co-chairs finalize revision and distribute
17-19 June: Task Force presents first draft to the Chancellor’s Council, Provost’s Senior Staff, Faculty Senate Executive Committee
By 26 June: Provost and Chancellor Announce Plan for delivery of Fall 2020
ACTF continues to meet to develop plans for other charges. We recognize that some aspects of the Task Force’s work will continue well-beyond the middle of June. Nevertheless, we have key decisions to make in the near term.
