Dear Faculty: I hope your first week of classes went well. I certainly enjoyed being back in the classroom with students eager to learn. I know my class this semester will keep me on my toes as my students bring knowledge and experience to our discussions about those affected by autism spectrum disorders.

As always, I want to reinforce and offer some important information that I hope will be helpful to you.

  • The Daily Health Screening is a central component of our health and safety strategy. Unless you are working remotely 100% of the time, you are required to submit a health screening form every work day (even on remote work days). On your on-campus days, please complete the form before your arrival. Employees must use the web form for this purpose (students are required to use the Co-Verified app for screening/symptoms). If you are a supervisor, you are also required to monitor your dashboard to verify that your direct reports are completing the form before reporting to work, and you need to update employee statuses as appropriate. More information can be found on the Daily Health Screening Tool website. Please contact UVM.Strong@uvm.edu with questions, and thank you for contributing to our efforts to keep our campus healthy.
  • Spring 2021 final exam times and locations have been posted on the Final Exams page.  Please note the following as you look for your course(s):
    • The Registrar’s Office is still working on finding spaces for some large final exams, so you may see a date and time, but no room for a small number of classes presenting logistical challenges related to reduced room capacities.  The page will be updated next week.
    • A room will be scheduled for all INPR courses unless you indicated that you will not be offering a final.
    • If you have a MIXD class and the Registrar’s Office did not receive a response via the spreadsheet that was sent out to Chairs, a final exam space was NOT reserved for your class.  If you need a room, please email classroom@uvm.edu as soon as possible and indicate whether you will need a space large enough for the entire class, or if the room your class meets in will suffice.
    • If your class meets in a non-GP space, please verify with your department that the space is available during the corresponding final exam time.
    • If your course is showing an error (*** ERROR) in the date and time field, this will be fixed shortly.
    • If your INPR class will not be holding a final exam or you will not need a room please complete the Opt-Out form.
  • CTL is available to support the use of MS Teams in your teaching and has scheduled two Teams Troubleshooting sessions (Feb 8 and 9) and Teams Breakout Rooms (Feb 5 and 11). For specific times and to register, see CTL Events. Additional events on a variety of topics will be added after the semester gets rolling.
  • Many of you participated in the National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity’s Fall Writing Challenge. Now you can sign up for the 14-day Spring Writing Challenge launching March 22. To sign up, go to this site and choose ‘The University of Vermont’ from the dropdown menu. The writing challenge offers community support, tools, and reminders to build a habit of daily writing.
  • We have begun the process of initiating the recruitment of the Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) to replace departing Vice President Wanda Heading-Grant. In addition to core DEI responsibilities, the Vice Provost will have new responsibilities that further integrate our efforts in DEI with our strategic vision for UVM and contribute to the achievement of our academic success goals. A twelve-member search committee, consisting of two students, two faculty members, five staff members, and three members of the administration will be co-chaired by Dean Leslie Parise and Vice Provost Jim Vigoreaux. We anticipate the new Vice Provost will join us by July 1, 2021.
  • I want to make sure you’ve seen these important recent communications:

A message from President Garimella celebrating the start of classes.
President Garimella’s announcement that non-represented employee salaries will be restored to their FY20 levels.

  • You can find detailed information on COVID-19 tests administered and results on the Weekly Testing Report. Last week’s student test results included 15 off-campus positives and 11 on-campus positives out of 7,933 tests. Last week’s faculty and staff test results included 4 positives out of 1,109 tests. As you know, new and more contagious strains of the virus have emerged. Please recommit to all COVID-19 safety precautions and practices and refrain from travel and gathering. Faculty and staff are strongly encouraged to participate in regular testing.

As we end the first week of classes, it’s a good time to reflect on how you might ensure that any ‘at home’ students you have are fully engaged in your class discussions and the exchange of knowledge you are fostering in your courses. Thank you for your flexibility in accommodating any student who is required to isolate or quarantine. COVID-19 has certainly created a different way of engaging with our students and I appreciate the creativity and innovation I continue to hear about in several classrooms. Keep up the good work and let’s commit to a productive semester for all.

Warmly,
Patty