COO Letter to EHE Re: Safe Return Forum

Dear faculty and staff,

Yesterday in The EHE Insider, we announced our EHE Safe Return website as well as a college-wide forum that will be held on Wednesday. I invite all of you to attend this forum and learn more about EHE's limited return to campus for the AU20 semester. For those of you who are unable to attend, the forum will be recorded and made available on the EHE Safe Return website.

Many of our faculty have already returned to campus as part of the Research Recovery Program. More recently, our Schoenbaum Family Center resumed limited operations. Now, it is time for us to begin EHE's general return to campus in preparation for our students in August.

The return of students this fall brings with it a variety of emotions for many of us. The fall is my favorite time of year as it brings to the forefront all the things that make our college and university great. Many students are beginning their new future with us and others are continuing a journey that they started in years past. This year however, we must balance the excitement of another academic year with the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff.

Our plans thus far do not include a full return for all faculty and staff in our college. Working remotely, when job duties allow for it, will continue to be the norm. We also recognize that each of us is faced with our own unique situation in planning for a return to campus or continuing to work remotely. We encourage everyone to take this into account when adjusting our work for the fall semester.

When we left campus in March, Dean Pope-Davis stressed to all of us that we must learn to be comfortable with certain levels of ambiguity. Over the past few months, our plans have been continually revised, sometimes daily. While some ambiguity for our return remains and our plans will continue to evolve, we now have a framework in place that will guide our decision making and allow us to resume on-campus operations. Again, I encourage all of you to visit the Safe Return website often so that you may stay up on the latest developments.

While the website has a great deal of information, it will not address every question and concern. My hope is that you will join me in a conversation 3-4 p.m., tomorrow, July 22, so that we can continue to provide up-to date information for everyone as we prepare for our students’ return.

Sincerely,

Joe Roush
Chief Operations Officer