Cuyahoga Community CollegeWeek of May 4, 2020
May 7, 2020 - Virtual Town Hall
May 5, 2020 - A Message from the Provost - Town Hall, Pass/No Pass, Summer Semester, Help is Here
May 4, 2020 - A Message from the Provost - Town Hall, Besse Awards
May 8, 2020 - A Message from the Provost - Ohio Stay at Home Order, clinical courses, fall semester and natural science labs
As we come to the close of the semester and see the end in sight, thank you seems insufficient for all you’ve done to date for your students, for the College, for each other and for me, but thank you seems to be the reoccurring theme of my emails. I can’t say it enough.
- As Dr. Johnson explained in yesterday’s Town Hall, the College modified its original plan to increase access to campuses on May 19th due to Ohio’s extension of its Stay at Home order. Currently, the College plans to begin a phased in approach to providing access to facilities beginning on June 2nd. At that time, our campuses will be open to students to use limited services on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm. We will be taking all recommended precautions for both students and the limited staff that will be onsite, with restricted access to buildings and certain areas as well as instituting social distancing guidelines. Services that will be available on this limited basis include enrollment services, the registrar’s offices, The Learning Centers, and financial aid services.
- Additionally, on a limited basis, skills courses and clinical courses that had been suspended spring semester because of the transition to remote learning will be allowed to complete their hands-on coursework this summer. All such in person courses will follow all federal and state guidelines for maintaining proper distancing and PPE protocols. In each case, these will be coordinated through the campus President’s office, the academic offices, and with plant operations and campus police.
- The College continues to plan for fall semester, which will start phase II our re-opening plan. More information will be shared as those plans develop, as we are working behind the scene with both administrative and faculty leadership on course delivery and modalities, limited on ground delivery of courses, safety protocols as well as technology support for faculty and students.
- Additionally, Dr. English was able to announce at the Town Hall that The Ohio Department of Higher Education has extended its approval of online natural science labs through fall 2020. While significant to all higher education institutions in the state, it is particularly important to our students and faculty as we remain primarily with online delivery through the summer and fall.
- Faculty who need access to their offices to retrieve materials or technology for summer can do so by contacting their campus President’s office to schedule a time to have access to their offices.
May 7, 2020 - Virtual Town Hall
The recording of the May 7 President's Virtual Town Hall is below:
Watch the employee town hall here
May 5, 2020 - A Message from the Provost - Town Hall, Pass/No Pass, Summer Semester, Help is Here
I hope many of you will be able to join your colleagues to watch live and hear Dr. Johnson’s updates on how Tri-C’s reopening plan has changed to align with Gov. DeWine’s Stay Safe Ohio order. We will also be answering additional questions submitted to the Town Hall that we weren’t able to address last week. If you can take time away your finals week activities, we would love to have you participate.
- As was announced earlier, spring semester students have the option of translating final letter grades to Pass/No Pass after grades are submitted. The form to request a change will be available to students after May 11th. Faculty do not need to modify their processes and should submit letter grades for students as earned. If a student asks for information about the Pass/No Pass options for this semester, faculty can direct students to the Student FAQ section of the College’s COVID-19 information: Student FAQs .
- As we begin to slowly provide more access to the campuses and prepare for summer semester, we will also be looking ahead and planning for fall semester. While we currently anticipate that most classes will remain online, we also hope there will be opportunities for some classes to meet on-ground, perhaps through blended options. Priorities for onsite courses will be given to classes that require hands-on or skill lab work. In all cases, and regardless of whether we are delivering classes or services on our campuses, the College will follow all social distancing requirements and guidelines for PPE use. Our team will continue to meet over the next few weeks with deans and faculty leadership to work out these details and will continue to communicate College-wide as any decisions concerning fall semester are made.
- Looking back, it is hard to believe we all have been working remotely since the middle of March. While we all continue to make great progress adjusting to remote environment, both our faculty and our students can become overwhelmed or depressed or need some support to get through these tough times. As one of your peers eloquently reminded me yesterday, “heavy loads and burdens are in abundance.” Fortunately, we have peers here at the College through our Help is Here team that continue to stand ready to offer support to all with access to a wide variety of mental wellness and suicide prevention resources created by Tri-C’s counseling faculty. These resources include: 24/7 crisis hotline information, text and online chat assistance, free apps, resource guides, self-assessments, meditation, breathing, and other relaxation techniques. Please check out the resources offered by our Help is Here team by clicking here: Help is Here
May 4, 2020 - A Message from the Provost - Town Hall, Besse Awards
- Dr. Johnson will be holding an additional virtual Town Hall for faculty and staff this Thursday, May 7th at 3:30 p.m. to provide you with more information about our way forward and to answer many of the questions our team was not able to address in last week’s Town Hall. You will be receiving an email with information about how to submit questions and view the Town Hall later this week.
- Congratulations to the outstanding faculty who have been nominated by at least one of their students for the Excellence in Teaching Award in Honor of Ralph M. Besse. Our Besse Awards are presented during fall Convocation to up to four full-time faculty members and up to four adjunct faculty or lecturers selected for exceptional professional competence and commitment to helping students succeed. The next step in this process for our nominees is to receive an additional nomination/recommendation from at least one faculty or staff member by Wednesday, May 27th. Those nominees receiving a second recommendation will then provide evidence of teaching excellence that will be reviewed by a selection committee comprised of his or her teaching colleagues who determine the final candidates. You can review the list of nominees here Click here to view the full list of nominees and you can submit an additional nomination for a colleague by logging in using your S number and password here: Click here to submit a faculty/staff nomination. Congratulations to all of those nominated to date. What a wonderful way to honor and recognize the outstanding teaching demonstrated in the classroom by students and peers alike.