Dear Faculty and Graduate Student Instructors:

As the impact of damage from Tropical Storm Isaias has become more clear, we are sharing guidance on how to proceed with your summer courses for those of you who are teaching during this current session.

Gov. Lamont has declared a state of emergency as power outages are widespread across the state. We understand that many of our instructors and currently enrolled summer students may not have power and/or internet access because of storm damage. Please proceed with your courses with flexibility. If you do not have power/internet or have heard from several of your students that they are without power/internet, you are encouraged to adjust course deadlines and assignments as needed. Please be in contact with your students to share any adjustments and to encourage them to reach out if they need extensions or other accommodations over the next week.

Thank you,
Carl

 

Carl Lejuez
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dear Colleagues,

We are writing today with guidance about undergraduate research and creative activity for the fall semester, including associated undergraduate research and independent study courses. As in all of our reopening plans, we seek to prioritize the safety of our campus community, limit gatherings and density on campus wherever possible, and support the agency of our faculty, staff, and students in making choices about the degree to which they will be engaged in on-campus activities.

Guidance for fall undergraduate research and creative activity:

• Training. All undergraduates who will be involved in research and/or enrolled in experiential learning credit (e.g., internship, undergraduate research, thesis, independent study) must complete the online COVID-19 safety training.  There are two options for completing the online training and either training is acceptable: “Returning to Research Training Course ” OR “Returning to Campus Training Course.” Students only need to complete one of the trainings even if they are engaged in multiple research or experiential learning opportunities. Students must provide email confirmation that they have completed the training to their research mentor/supervisor/faculty advisor.  As always, research mentors/supervisors are responsible for ensuring their undergraduate researchers have completed the EHS, human subjects, and/or animal use training relevant to the research in which they are involved.
• Safety Plans. Undergraduates involved in laboratory and/or human subjects research should review, sign, and follow their mentor’s OVPR-approved COVID-19 Safety Plan. The responsible faculty member/principal investigator is responsible for ensuring undergraduates’ compliance with all facets of the approved Safety Plan.
• Remote as Default. Wherever possible, research (including research with associated course credit or student employment) and related activities should be completed remotely in furtherance of the goal of limiting gatherings and density. This includes activities such as lab/research group meetings and 1:1 meetings. Consider remote activity the default and reserve in-person/in-lab/in-studio time for activities that can only be accomplished with the equipment and materials in those spaces.
• Course Modality. If a student is enrolled in course credits based on their involvement in research, independent study, or creative activity this fall, ensure that the course’s modality accurately reflects the modality of the student’s planned involvement. Modality changes to these courses should be made promptly so students’ enrollment reflects how all their fall courses will be delivered.

For the remainder of the summer (through Friday, August 28^th), the current undergraduate research approval process will continue via the submission of student and faculty request forms. This additional approval is for the summer period only; it is not required  for the fall campus reopening. Residential students with a summer undergraduate research approval may be involved in research on their campus of residence during the 2-week quarantine period (if they remain on campus and limit their physical contact with others), but may not be involved in off-campus or inter-campus research during that time.

Faculty are encouraged to contact the Office of the Vice President for Research (ovpr@uconn.edu) or the Office of Undergraduate Research (our@uconn.edu) with any questions. Our undergraduate students value the opportunity to engage in research, independent study, and creative activity at UConn. Thank you for your efforts to involve students safely this fall semester.

 

Sincerely,

Jeffrey Shoulson

Vice Provost for Academic Operations

Dear UConn Community:

This week, the Trump administration announced new restrictions that limitaccess to educational opportunities in the United States for international students. In short, international students on F-1 visas may not stay in the country to pursue their studies if their coursework is entirely online.

This is a serious challenge to our core values as a comprehensive and multi-cultural global research institution. Currently, UConn has 2,055 international undergraduate and graduate students in Connecticut who would be in jeopardy along with the 1,558 international students who are currently abroad and unable to return to campus. The majority of our normally enrolled 1,600 international graduate students serve as teaching and research assistants and provide essential services in support of our fall re-opening efforts. Without them, University teaching and research capacity will be restricted.

We are frustrated by this decision and the way it targets international students, who have already endured so many challenges related to the pandemic. This new ICE directive will cause severe disruption to the lives of our international students, a core part of the UConn family. Many of these students have stayed in Connecticut during the pandemic, have leases, spend considerable time away from their families and loved ones abroad, and at this moment, are simply unable to depart the United States given limited flights and travel restrictions. They made decisions to come to Connecticut for their education, decisions that lead to sacrificing time with loved ones in order for UConn to provide access to an exceptional education. It is our responsibility to ensure that they are treated fairly and their aspirations can be fulfilled.

Further, this creates additional complications for course planning for the fall, as we will have to be mindful of international student course availability that allows them to take at least one course in-person.

Our Global Affairs team and The Graduate School are working swiftly with other University partners to study these new restrictions and develop guidance and strategies to do all we can to allow our international students to continue their studies as smoothly as possible. We are also seeking congressional and legal assistance to have this directive reversed and be consistent with previous directives for online learning for international students during the pandemic. We will be in touch as we know more but please know now that we are distressed by these developments and we are exploring additional avenues that we may be able to use to assist affected students.

Thank you, Carl

Carl Lejuez
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs