Colleagues

Attached is the Chancellor Perman's update to the Special Board of Regents meeting on Monday, March 16, 2020  about the unified USM response to the COVID-19 emergency.

Thanks Lisa Akchin for sharing this with the University Steering Committee.

Gunes

Dear Senators,

It has been observed that somewhat large gatherings still take place in our area. Perhaps, in our conversations with the students and colleagues, it is worth to start bringing up the need for social distancing outside of the campus as well.

Probably, we all can remember or acknowledge how hard it can be to stay home on any given weekend night as a young person. However, in these times of emergency and crisis, we should continue to emphasize how it is also important to care about the health and well-being of the vulnerable ones in our society.

Best regards,

Gunes

Dear Faculty Senate Members,

I wanted to send a quick note to ask you to encourage further adoption of online instruction and learning tools in your respective departments and units.

In this time of public health emergency, it is important for us to get prepared to ensure that there will be academic continuity. We are fortunate to have excellent networking and computing capabilities compared to the past decades. On our campus, Jack Suess and John Fritz as well as their colleagues in DoIT have worked tirelessly for many years to put these tools in place. Thanks to those efforts, now we are able to be prepared to ensure academic continuity.

Please continue to encourage your colleagues and students to use the IT tools that are made available to them for academic continuity. A flyer distributed earlier is attached to this email. The website is:

Thanks for everything you do to support our students and ensure their success during these challenging times.

Best wishes,

Gunes