Dear Graduate Students,
Yesterday, you heard from the University and the Washtenaw County Health Department about preventive COVID-19 measures that have been enacted, including a stay in place order issued for undergraduate U-M students and an adjustment to some undergraduate courses.
While graduate and professional students are not subject to the new order, we understand that there are many questions regarding how this will impact the remainder of your semester. We wanted to follow-up with some key points to help you better understand how these changes will affect you.
STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS
Graduate Student Organizations may continue to meet on campus and host in-person events, provided they are closely following appropriate safety plans and guidelines.
FACILITIES & STUDY SPACES
Libraries, recreational sports facilities, study spaces, and the Michigan Union will remain open for graduate and professional student use. This includes study spaces in the Chrysler Center, Pierpont, and the Duderstadt Center. Rackham study spaces will continue to be available for Rackham graduate and professional student use, as well.
COURSES
Per the President’s message, graduate and professional students are not subject to this order, and there are no required changes to graduate-level courses. However, instructors may elect to change the modality of graduate-level courses to go fully remote. If this is the case, your instructor should communicate the status of their course with you as soon as possible.
Resources for remote instruction are available through CoE, Nexus, the UM Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, and the UM Center for Academic Innovation’s Online Teaching site.
RESEARCH
Graduate student research will not be directly impacted by the stay in place order. According to the President’s message, undergraduate students will not be allowed to participate in in-person research and scholarship on the Ann Arbor campus, though there will be exceptions made for some senior undergraduates and those employed in research labs with the consent of their supervisor.
We appreciate that this new order has caused some uncertainty during an already challenging term. Please know that resources are available to you should you need assistance, such as the Michigan Engineering C.A.R.E. Center. Additionally, we highly recommend that you continue to monitor updates via the University and the College of Engineering’s COVID-19 Resource Page.
Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions.
Stay well,
Mary-Ann Mycek, Associate Dean for Graduate & Professional Education
Jeanne Pearl Murabito, Executive Director for Student Affairs