Dear Engineering Faculty,
As you all know and as officially announced in the Provost message of 7 July, our plan for teaching in Fall 20 includes a mix of in-person and fully remote course offerings, as well as hybrid modes that combine in-person and remote elements. Our departments and programs have worked very hard to develop plans that best serve instructional goals and interests of students, subject to safety conditions and capacity constraints, and taking account of instructor concerns and preferences.
As the Provost also emphasizes, our in-person instruction provisions include careful structuring of spaces and policies to meet safety guidelines. The university implementation also includes procedures for ensuring that all units endeavor to accommodate instructor requests for remote teaching due to specified Covid concerns. In Engineering we have attempted to incorporate such concerns throughout our planning process. Nevertheless, to ensure uniformity of considerations for accommodation, we are offering all faculty and graduate student instructors the opportunity to submit requests, using this form.
Please note that if you are comfortable with the mode of teaching in your current instructional assignment, you do not need to submit this form or take any further action. If you have concerns with work arrangements for your current assignment (and cannot remedy that readily through dept channels), please explain the situation in your submission. Form submissions are due by 3 August, or within one week of a new or modified assignment (whichever is later).
Thank you all for your continued extraordinary efforts and cooperation with our planning for this extraordinary upcoming semester.Best,
—
Michael Wellman
Research: Strategic Reasoning Group
Lynn A. Conway Collegiate Professor of Computer Science & Engineering
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, College of Engineering