Dear University of Vermont Faculty and Staff: The university is continuing an aggressive and comprehensive set of measures aimed at maintaining the safety and health of our campus and local communities this spring. Another way we can reduce the risk of Coronavirus is to avoid exposure to visitors who are not practicing our health and safety requirements or are not participating in our rigorous testing protocols. If your unit or department received approval for visitors in the Fall 2020 semester, you need to request a new approval as outlined in this guidance document. Approvals from the previous semester do not automatically apply to the Spring 2021 semester. The one exception is for research participants. If they were already approved in a laboratory’s approved resumption plan, they do not need re-approval. All others do require reapproval.
For this reason, the university will continue its temporary suspension of all visitors—in-state, domestic, and international—to campus for the spring 2021 semester. This includes all levels and categories of academic visitors such as undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty, and other professionals. If a visit is perceived as essential, it will require pre-approval.
Academic/Research Visitors and Participants/ Collaborators/Emeriti
To request an essential academic visitor exception, including for Emeriti faculty with an essential academic or research need to visit campus, please have your dean or vice president submit the exception request found here to Vice Provost Jim Vigoreaux at least 30 days before any proposed visit. Exceptions are limited to clearly defined activities that cannot be done via Teams and will be granted in only the rarest of circumstances.
If a visit is approved, the Dean/Vice President, Department Chair, and Host will be asked to sign a document outlining health and safety requirements, and identifying the UVM individuals who will be responsible for ensuring that quarantine, training, screening, and other COVID-19 requirements are met.
Research participants who must visit campus should already be included in the laboratory’s approved resumption plan. If research participants are not included in the resumption plan, then the plan needs to be updated and resubmitted for approval to Vice President for Research Kirk Dombrowski. Note that this update may require IRB approval as well.
For more information on laboratory operations please visit: https://www.uvm.edu/ovpr/covid-19-guidelines-research
Non-Academic/Non-Research Visitors
Non-academic/non-research visitors require advance permission before coming to campus, and will only be approved when the visit is:
- Essential to students’ education
- Essential to the delivery of other essential services to students
- Essential to contributing to Vermont’s COVID response preparedness
- Essential to the delivery of medical or other health services
If departments or units require visitors to work on campus as part of their on-campus operations, this must be included in the approved Spring Operations Plan. If non-academic or non-research visitors are not included in an approved plan and the visit is related to one of the reasons listed above, the senior leader of the unit (i.e., dean, vice president, chief officer) must submit a memo describing the nature of the visit to Vice President of Operations and Public Safety Gary Derr at least 30 days before the proposed visit.
Other Visitors
- Campus retail will only open to the public during move-in and move-out periods.
- Vendors will follow the vendor approval process.
- The campus is not currently open to visits from prospective students. For updated information, prospective students can check the Admissions website.
- Campus visits by current students who do not have permission to be on campus (i.e. at-home learners) will be approved only in cases where the visit is essential to the student’s education. Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Student Success J. Dickinson should be contacted to seek pre-approval for such a visit.
The process for summer and fall 21 academic visitors will be determined later in the spring semester. Thank you in advance for your understanding of these necessary precautions.