Dear Students and Colleagues – 

Summer keeps moving along, as do we all – even in the face of challenging (and changing) circumstances. We’re all looking forward to as “normal” a semester as we can effectively execute, keeping the safety of students, faculty, staff, and visitors at the forefront of our decision making. All that said, there are questions that students and families have about living on campus, living off-campus, what will classrooms be like, etc. We’ve had excellent response to a series of webinars for our newest students, and we will do more of these sessions – for ALL students.

Heather Harbach, V.P. for Student Development/Dean of Students, will invite you (in a separate email) to those, slated for 6:00 -7:00 pm, Monday, July 27, 2020, Noon-1:00 pm, Tuesday, July 28, 2020, and 4:00 – 5:00 pm, Tuesday, July 28, 2020. All students and their families will be invited to attend – even if you’ve already participated as a new, incoming student. Stay tuned.

In Dane County we received some clarification about wearing masks inside buildings, and how the rule applies for individual offices, and in other specific settings. Faculty and Staff received an email yesterday clearing up some questions. The short version: when you’re alone in an individual office or conference room, and the door is closed, you may remove your mask while alone. Otherwise we wear masks “whenever we could come in contact with others,” regardless of the distance between us. We’ve been doing this since late May on our campus, and we’ll continue to take these and other steps to reduce chance for spreading the virus. We do it for each other, and to demonstrate our commitment to our community.

Earlier today I participated in a video conference that included the presidents from more than 20 independent Wisconsin colleges and universities about plans for the fall. With the uptick in positive testing, everyone recognizes that our plans are subject to change. The plans range from everyone being mandated to return to campus for face-to-face classes to various versions of hybrid learning, like we are planning to do. At this point, no institution among today’s participants is planning to be fully online. Listening to other institutions made me even more appreciative of the work that our Task Force Fall 2020 doing. We are ahead of many others in terms of developed protocols and plans for welcoming students back to campus.

Remember - what we all do today and tomorrow will have an impact on our entire community in a very few short weeks. Show your family, friends, and fellow students you care about them by wearing a mask where it’s called for, and by following the recommendations of our public health professionals. 

Cor ad cor loquitur.

-Andrew P. Manion, Ph.D.
President