A message from Committee Chair Jeff Stein to the university community on the work of the committee to prepare for the 2020-21 academic year.
Dear Faculty and Staff,
The Ready and Resilient Oversight Committee (R&R Committee) began meeting this Monday and completed our 3rd meeting yesterday. To keep the campus community as informed as possible, we want to provide quick updates below and will work to provide updates throughout the summer via emails and the Ready & Resilient website.
Our Approach
Per President Book’s charge, we have begun approaching the Task Force 2020 recommendations in three ways:
- Supporting the expertise and agency of specific departments, programs, and campus committees to complete some recommendations,
- Planning for and completing some recommendations which do not correlate with the work of any one department, and
- Pushing for decisions on some recommendations which require institutional decision-making.
New Information
- Staff holidays this fall: Although classes will not be in session on October 7 and November 3, the university will be open both days and these are work days for staff. The normal Fall Break staff holiday will be moved to Thursday, December 31.
- COVID-19 supply purchases should go through your budget manager/director/dean/VP and then will be funneled through our committee. The goal is to centralize purchases, reduce costs, and provide parity as appropriate across campus. As of this week, Physical Plant now has many new supplies in stock (wipes, masks, disinfectant, hand sanitizer, etc.) and the R&R Committee is looking at other campus-wide purchases. See Gerald Whittington’s forthcoming email on this topic.
- Increased time between classes: To decrease congestion and increase time for entering and exiting classrooms/buildings, the university is adopting the recommendation to add 5-minutes between classes per the chart at the bottom of this email.
- Planning Week: Schedules are still being developed for Planning Week events to occur on Wednesday, August 12, Thursday, August 13, and Monday, August 17.
Forthcoming Information
In the coming weeks, we expect to share updates on a range of topics, including:
- Health screening, tracing, and quarantine plans
- An Honor Code based commitment for our community
- Additional COVID-19 and campus operations training for students, faculty, and staff,
- Classroom assignments, setups, and cleaning protocols
- The schedule for Planning Week (or days), New Student Orientation, and New Student Move-In
- Plans for international students who must be quarantined for two weeks after entry into the country
- Plans for Family Weekend and Homecoming which will be virtualized but will still include involvement from faculty and staff, and much more
Our Requests of You
- Thank you for your good questions. We need your good ideas. Keep reaching out to us individually and through ready2020@elon.edu. We ask that you give us a bit of grace and patience as we work through the many recommendations and help prepare for this fall.
- As your programs and departments are developing processes and making plans for fall, please share those plans through deans and vice presidents, as well as through Jeff Stein at jstein@elon.edu or through ready2020@elon.edu so we can ensure alignment across campus in this rapidly changing environment.
Sincerely,
The Ready & Resilient Committee
- Jeff Stein, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and Assistant Professor of English (Chair)
- Dan Anderson, Vice President of University Communications
- Ginette Archinal, Medical Director of Student Health and University Physician
- MarQuita Barker, Director of Residence Life
- John Barnhill, Associate Vice President for University Advancement
- Tom Flood, Assistant Vice President of Physical Plant
- Jason Husser, Associate Professor of Political Science and Policy Studies, and
- Director of the Elon Poll (Academic Council Representative)
- Deandra Little, Assistant Provost, Director of the Center for the Advancement of
- Teaching and Learning and Professor of English
- Paul Miller, Assistant Provost for Academic Operations and Communications and Professor of Exercise Science
- Kelly Reimer, Director of Teaching and Learning Technologies (Staff Council Representative)
- Carrie Ryan, Director of Auxiliary Services
- Kelli Shuman, Associate Vice President for Human Resources & Chief Human Resources Officer
- Gabie Smith, Dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Psychology
- Mary Southern, Project Manager for Provost and Academic Affairs Operations (Project Manager)
- Mike Ward, Deputy Director of Athletics
- Randy Williams, Associate Vice President for Inclusive Excellence and Assistant Professor of Education
