Dear Faculty,
Colorful hammocks dotted campus yesterday as our students enjoyed the sunshine. I hope you, too, have been able to enjoy the beautiful weather this week, and more than that I hope you have been able to register for your vaccination. Every day I’m hearing from more colleagues across campus who have been vaccinated and I am proud, once again, of UVM’s response to COVID-19. Ending this pandemic will require the use of every tool that we have, which includes our continued masking and distancing; avoiding gatherings and travel; and getting the vaccine for our own protection and for the greater good. Thank you for doing your part.
As I do each week, I’m writing to share some reminders and information that I hope is helpful to you.
- As announced on April 2, we will continue twice-weekly student COVID-19 testing through the end of the semester. Our students have been diligent in meeting their testing responsibilities which has allowed to implement our health and safety protocols swiftly. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize our incredible testing center staff for their work supporting this community effort.
- Since the end of October 2020, the UVM Admission’s Visitor Center has remained closed. With our newly admitted students about to make their college decisions, we have seen an increase in the number of campus visitors all while remaining closed. In order to better manage visitors, the Admission’s Visitor Center opened April 5, 2021. Admissions staff will ensure visitors are adhering to Vermont travel guidelines. In addition, visitors are expected to follow all UVM’s masking and distancing protocols. Visitors will be provided guidance on a walking tour of campus (reminding visitors that all campus buildings are closed to non-UVM affiliates). Limited guided tours may begin soon. Opening the Admission’s Visitor Center will provide greater structure to campus visitors, with the goal of keeping our UVM community safe.
- On Thursday, April 15 from 12:00 to 2:00 pm, the Academic Reorganization Working Group will hold a campus-wide brainstorming session to gather your ideas about how to improve both systems and structures at UVM. More detailed information about the session is available here. The meeting will begin as one large group and will transition to smaller breakout groups. Participants must register in advance. If you are willing to facilitate a breakout group (training will be provided), please register before Monday, April 12 at 4:30pm. All other participants should register by Tuesday, April 13 at 4:30 pm.
- The Office of Community-Engaged Learning invites you to attend their annual celebration featuring faculty stories of service-learning pivoting and ingenuity in the past year, award winners from 2020, and winners of the 2021 "COVID-edition" Community Partner in Service-Learning Award. The virtual event will take place April 14 from 4 to 4:45 pm.
- The Faculty Resource Network (FRN), a national consortium of over 50 colleges and universities centered at New York University, invites UVM faculty to participate in a broad range of intensive seminars meant to enrich their teaching and scholarship. The summer 2021 seminars will be held virtually June 7-11 at no cost to attendees. The application deadline is April 23, 2021. Please visit CCP FRN webpage to learn more and to apply.
- The student travel section of the most recent addendum to the existing UVM Travel Policy has been amended to specifically address travel for summer internships.
- Reminders and recent communications:
- We were delighted to announce that in accord with Governor Scott’s “Roadmap to Reopening” graduates are now permitted to have two fully vaccinated guests attend our in-person, on-campus Commencement ceremonies.
- The virtual Student Research Conference will go live on April 15. More information coming soon.
- Vice President Derr provided a vaccination update on April 1.
- Please help shape the RFP process for UVM’s Learning Management System by completing this brief survey.
- The addendum to the existing UVM Travel Policy has been revised for summer 2021 travel, and reflects the most current state and University requirements.
- Plans for the fall 2021 semester are outlined in this March 15 memo.
- You can find detailed information on COVID-19 tests administered and results on the Weekly Testing Report. Last week’s student test results included 54 off-campus positives and 40 on-campus positives out of 18,255 tests. Last week’s faculty and staff test results included 3 positives out of 1,086 tests. Faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to participate in regular testing.
Our number of student positives continues to be higher than we would like it to be (anything greater than 0 is higher than I want it to be), but it’s important to note that almost half of the new positive cases were students already in quarantine. We knew this semester would test our health and safety systems. It has, and our systems have responded. The end is in sight. Let’s continue to support and encourage each other until we get there.
Warmly,
Patty