Dear UMPI community,
After many weeks of work by many individuals on our campus, I am pleased to be able to share with you our UMPI Safe Return plans. As we’re covering every aspect of our day-to-day campus operations, we understand that this may be a lot of information for you to take in all at once, but as I shared with you last week, all of these efforts are being undertaken to best protect our campus community and ensure everyone’s health and safety. I’d like to share a few key details about our plan, our “All Owls In” Pledge, and our new Safe Return website, and then encourage you to read the full plan and attend one of the Town Hall meetings that we have scheduled for July 2.
Safe Return Plan
We’re planning for a phased return of our residence hall students in August, the start of classes on Aug. 31, and an end to in-person instruction on the Friday before Thanksgiving, with the rest of the semester taking place remotely. Classes will be hybrid in format (simultaneously in-person and virtual) whenever possible, and a wide range of health safety practices will be in place. The plan is available on our Safe Return website; we ask you to keep in mind that, due to the nature of this pandemic, all plans are subject to change.
Safe Return website
Please think of our new Safe Return website, https://www.umpi.edu/emergency/covid-19-health-and-safety-guidance/, as your most up-to-date resource for our Safe Return plans. From this website, you can view the plan, check out and suggest additions to our FAQ, link to resources, and read up on information specific to you, whether you’re a current student, employee, future UMPI Owl, or campus visitor.
UMPI All Owls In Pledge
In our efforts to keep each other safe, we’ve established the All Owls In Pledge, which is our commitment to each other to ensure a safe and healthy campus environment. We ask each member of our campus community to take this pledge and do everything possible to protect each other from COVID-19.
Town hall meetings
These meetings will provide members of our campus community with the opportunity to learn more from campus leadership about our Safe Return plans and to ask questions. See below for the schedule of meetings. If you haven’t already received an invitation to one of these Zoom meetings, please email lisa.m.smith@maine.edu.
As I mentioned last week, our promise to you as we go through this planning process is to communicate clearly and often, to share updates as we refine our plans, and to seek your feedback on ways we can strengthen these plans. We appreciate the hard work of our Safe Return planning groups in developing these plans and protocols and know how important they will be in ensuring the safest Fall 2020 semester possible for all of us.
Ray
Town Hall Meetings on UMPI’s Safe Return Plan
Thursday, July 2, 2020
10-10:45 a.m.
UMPI Faculty and Staff
11-11:45 a.m.
UMPI Board of Visitors, UMPI Foundation Board, UMPI Alumni Board, and other campus constituencies
2-2:45 p.m.
Current UMPI Students
5:30-6:30 p.m.
7-8 p.m.
Two time options for Enrolled, Confirmed, and Admitted Students