Message to the University of Maine System community from Chancellor Dannel Malloy regarding the return to University of Maine System campuses for the 2020 Fall Semester

Malloy, Dannel P.

English

University of Maine

The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Chancellor University of Maine System Communications 7-1-2020 Chancellor Messages_Returning to Campus for Fall Semester 2020 Dannel P. Malloy Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/c19_chancellor  Part of the Higher Education Commons, History Commons, and the Medicine and Health Sciences Commons This Email is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Chancellor by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine. For more information, please contact um.library.technical.services@maine.edu. Matthew Revitt <matthew.revitt@maine.edu>Returning to Campus for Fall Semester 20201 messageChancellor Dannel Malloy <chancellorsoffice@maine.edu> Wed, Jul 1, 2020 at 8:46 AMReply-To: chancellorsoffice@maine.eduTo: matthew.revitt@maine.eduJuly 1, 2020UMS Colleagues,As I start my second year today as Chancellor, we'reannouncing Together for Maine principles that will guide ouruniversities and their communities to safely resume in-personteaching, learning, and work on our campuses this fall. To doso safely, we will all need to work together.You know what we've been through together. We startedwatching the pandemic together in late January. We madeplans together through February for how we could continue teaching, learning, and workshould it disrupt our operations. And when that came pass in mid-March -- as we sentstudents, faculty, and staff home to avoid the serious risk of bringing the Coronavirus backto our communities following Spring Break -- together we did the hard work to move morethan 210,000 credit hours from more than 7,000 course sections from face-to-face toonline and other remote modalities in barely more than two weeks. You engaged with ourstudents in more than 26 million Blackboard interactions and just over 250,000 Kalturavideo sessions. And together with our students, we logged more than 400,000 Zoomsessions too, carrying on our coursework and our universities' business operationsthrough the pandemic.Together we granted nearly 4,600 degrees as we brought the semester to a successfulclose, keeping our students engaged with us with higher retention numbers than in pre-pandemic times.We started looking ahead when we launched our Fall 2020 Safe Return PlanningCommittee on April 20. Since then, you and hundreds of your colleagues at everyuniversity and the Law School have been hard at work together with the same guidingprinciples we've used from the start -- helping our students continue on their paths to life-changing degrees while protecting the health of our university communities and those wholive, work, and learn in them.The Together for Maine principles we're announcing today achieve that balance.With the virus testing capacity we announced yesterday with The Jackson Laboratory andUniversity of Maine System Mail - Returning to Campus for Fall Semest... https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=483c7a7ff8&view=pt&search=all&...1 of 3 7/24/2020, 5:14 PMConvenientMD, as well as other innovative strategies like wastewater testing that we canemploy to monitor against virus spread, our universities can meet our commitments tostudent, faculty, staff, and community health this fall by isolating asymptomaticoccurrences of the virus and preventing its unknowing spread across our campuses. Andwith a communal commitment and discipline to personal hygiene, social distancing, groupsize limits, and mask-wearing in social situations, all of which our Scientific AdvisoryBoard tells us are critical to maintaining the health and safety of our universities, togetherwe can safely resume the in-person teaching and learning that our students want andneed to be successful.We've been fortunate in Maine, as our state and public health leaders have so far kept thevirus from spreading unchecked. Going forward we will continue to monitor the publichealth situation, following civil guidance and adjusting our plans if necessary. I want to be very clear as I close: The health and safety of our faculty, staff, students, anduniversity communities is paramount. We all have a role to play in protecting each other'shealth when we come back together this fall. And we'll do whatever is necessary to protectthe health of at-risk faculty, staff, and students too, with testing, contact and symptomtracking, isolation and other supports where necessary, and adjustments to our academicand business operations that allow meaningful opportunities for participation even if wecan't all be together at the same time.    We're working together today like never before. Indeed, unified accreditation beginstoday as well, giving us new opportunities to work together across our System and state. Ilook forward to working together with all of you in the months ahead to make unifiedaccreditation successful as well.We all want to be together in Maine this fall on our university campuses. If we aredisciplined, and if we respect the science-based fact that our health choices affect thehealth of those around us, we can do this safely together.Thank you for doing your part to bring us all safely back Together for Maine. Sincerely,Dannel P. MalloyChancellorOffice of the ChancellorUniversity of Maine System15 Estabrooke Dr.Orono, ME 04469-5703rowenac@maine.eduCopyright © 2020 Maine's Public UniversitiesMaine's Public Universities, 5703 Alumni Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5703University of Maine System Mail - Returning to Campus for Fall Semest... https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=483c7a7ff8&view=pt&search=all&...2 of 3 7/24/2020, 5:14 PMSafeUnsubscribe™ matthew.revitt@maine.eduForward this email | Update Profile | About our service providerSent by chancellorsoffice@maine.edu in collaboration withTry email marketing for free today!University of Maine System Mail - Returning to Campus for Fall Semest... https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0?ik=483c7a7ff8&view=pt&search=all&...3 of 3 7/24/2020, 5:14 PM

Chancellor Messages_Returning to Campus for Fall Semester 2020

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1015&context=c19_chancellor

Chancellor Messages_Returning to Campus for Fall Semester 2020

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