Expectations for autumn quarter instruction

This message was sent to faculty on University of Washington's Tacoma campus.

It is a pleasure to welcome you back to campus for the 2022-23 academic year. Thank you for the warm welcome you have shared with me.  Thank you, as well, to former Interim EVCAA Ali Modarres, who has been so gracious and helpful in this transition.

I want to share some important points for the 2022-23 academic year. While I was not here to witness it directly, I know that you all did monumental work over the past several years of the pandemic under trying circumstances. I thank you for it, and I and my team are here to assist you in building and sustaining a campus community that supports our students and each other.

UW COVID-19 regulations

Dr. Geoffrey Gottlieb, co-chair of UW’s Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases (ACCD) recently sent to the entire UW community an update on our response to COVID-19 and monkeypox. I urge you to read it.

A few highlights from his message:

1. Pierce County is now in the “low” level for community spread of COVID-19. With the return of greater numbers of students, personnel and visitors to campus, we expect a temporary uptick in cases, just as we have seen at the beginning of previous quarters.
2. Governor Inslee announced the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency orders. University leadership is now in the process of developing university policies to continue some of the requirements based on these orders. More information about that will be forthcoming during this quarter.
3. You are encouraged to get boosted with the updated fall vaccines. A pop-up clinic will be on campus October 4, and a flu vaccine clinic will be on campus October 18.

Masking

Masks are strongly recommended the first two weeks of the quarter and will be recommended after that, so long as we stay in the CDC’s “low” community level. They remain required immediately after you’ve had COVID-19 and if you’ve been in close contact with someone who tested positive. They continue to be available for free at the UW Tacoma Library, the University Y Help Desk and the West Coast Grocery convenience store.

Instructional Modality

Chancellor Lange has previously communicated, and I am affirming, that we must return to a primarily in-person learning and working environment to best serve our students. It is campus and university policy that we expect all courses to be taught in person, unless they are indicated otherwise in the autumn quarter course time schedule. I am pleased to see so many of our courses in person this fall. We look forward to rejoining our staff, many of whom have been working on campus for at least the past year.

Telework

To best serve students, Chancellor Lange asks that all campus offices be open normal office hours and staffed in person Monday-Friday, starting Monday, Sept. 26, and that most staff employees work in person at least 4 days per week.

Instructional support

If you are conducting remote or hybrid instruction, the Office of Digital Learning has many resources to help you design and build your course, and promote student success. That office has have also developed a helpful resource on “Becoming a More Successful Online Learner.”

Stay Home if You Are Sick

We are shifting from an emergency response to COVID-19 to one focused on reducing risk over the long term. But the virus is still with us, and we still expect you to stay home from class or work if you are sick. Use the COVID-19 Public Health Flowchart to understand what to do if you test positive, have been exposed to COVID-19 or have symptoms. I encourage instructors to accommodate students who are sick with COVID-19 or other illness, and to build flexibility into your syllabi so that you can support students during what may be a dynamic quarter of pandemic adaptation.

I am really looking forward to the start of the quarter and welcoming you back to campus. Convocation is on Sept. 28, and the student involvement staff have dozens of events and activities planned as part of Welcome Days 2022.

Once again, thank you for your dedication to our students’ success, and I give you my best wishes for a successful fall quarter. We have complicated and meaningful work ahead — on the next Academic Plan, on stabilizing institutional finances, on engaging the Campus Climate survey and the Diversity Blueprint, on improving student success, and on positioning the university for its next era of growth.

I have heard some of your stories and felt their inspiration, and I look forward to working with you and supporting your own success and the vibrancy of this community.