COSAM News Articles 2020 December Message from the Dean: Important information regarding operations for January 11 – 24, 2021

Message from the Dean: Important information regarding operations for January 11 – 24, 2021

Published: 12/30/2020

By: Dean Giordano

To all COSAM Faculty, Staff, and Students,

On Tuesday, December 29, important information regarding the start of the Spring 2021 semester was announced. These plans affect how classes will be conducted and the way that staff will carry out their duties. In this message, I want to clarify what these plans will mean for faculty, staff, and students in COSAM.

For Faculty: Spring classes will begin on Monday, January 11. The original plans for Spring classes called for many courses and sections to be taught in a face-to-face modality. Because of the increase in COVID-19 cases in Alabama and elsewhere, all faculty have the option of teaching their courses in an online modality for the first two weeks of the semester, January 11-22. Projections indicate the COVID-19 situation will improve by mid-January to allow a return to face-to-face teaching for those courses/sections as originally planned. The bottom line is that the decision to pivot from face-to-face teaching to online course delivery is to be made by the faculty teaching each course/section. In order to avoid confusion on the part of students, all faculty should announce to their students how they plan to deliver their course for the period of January 11-22, and make sure students know if the course in question will be taught face-to-face or online. Faculty should also discuss their plans and any changes they plan to make with their Department Chair.

For Staff: All Auburn staff that can carry out their jobs remotely can continue to work remotely until January 24. This means that the way you have performed your work in December can continue through January 24. If you have questions, please contact your supervisor when our campus reopens on January 4. An announcement, released by HR on December 29, explained the COVID-19-related leave options. If you have questions about that announcement and what it means for you, please contact COSAM’s COVID-19 Liaison, Stephanie Woodley.

For Students: You should be receiving a message from your instructors about how your courses will be delivered at the start of the Spring semester. Any changes in your syllabi should be available soon on Canvas.

I sincerely appreciate how hard everyone worked to plan for the Spring semester with the hope that we could safely begin returning to normal operations. The decision to pivot to online course delivery for the start of the Spring semester was made out of concern for the health of everyone at Auburn.

I know this has been a very trying time, but we are anticipating positive developments as the new vaccines become widely available.

Thank you for all of your patience and dedication to our college. Without the support of faculty, staff, and students, COSAM would not be able to provide our high-quality instruction and continue conducting research.

Nick Giordano