To: OSU Faculty and Staff
From: Edward Feser, Provost and Executive Vice President
April 10, 2020
Dear OSU Faculty and Staff,
I am writing to make you aware of two key changes for summer term 2020:
- Registration for summer term 2020 will open on Friday, April 24.
- Summer sessions 1, 2, 3 and 6 (all with start dates in June) will be offered entirely remotely.
DETAILS
Summer term registration. We are delaying the start of summer term registration to April 24 to give faculty time to prepare for remote delivery of summer sessions 1, 2, 3 and 6.
Remote delivery. The four summer sessions that begin in June — sessions 1, 2, 3 and 6 —will be delivered remotely. For now, we are hopeful that the remaining two summer sessions — sessions 4 and 5 — may be offered face to face later in the summer, with a July and August start, respectively. Of course, our decision about sessions 4 and 5 will ultimately be based on health guidance from the state of Oregon and county health officials. We will make a final decision on the delivery of these two sessions by June 1, 2020.
We hope that if we can return to classroom delivery for sessions 4 and 5, some courses that involve lab work, site visits, internships, etc. can be held during the latter part of the summer. Faculty scheduled to teach during summer term should work with their academic leaders to determine the best possible options for course offerings – via remote delivery or Ecampus – that align with this shift to distance teaching.
Return to faculty offices and labs. Our shift to remote delivery for the first part of summer does not influence the date at which OSU personnel may begin returning to their offices and labs. That decision will be guided by consultations with health authorities and state officials. At present, we remain under Governor Brown’s executive order to Stay Home, Save Lives.
I know that our shift to remotely delivered instruction has involved a tremendous amount of work in a short period of time. Certainly it is challenging to teach and work from home. However, we are seeing hopeful signs that the pandemic is slowly coming under control and fewer people are falling seriously ill. At OSU, in many different ways, we are doing our part to help that happen while also delivering our mission. Thank you for your patience and your continued dedication to our undergraduate and graduate students.
Edward Feser
Provost and Executive Vice President