Important Fall Break and Spring 2021 guidance
October 20, 2020 9:52 AM

Dear faculty and staff,  

Yesterday, after consultation with groups on campus and other universities, the Academic Senate approved the following changes to the Spring 2021 semester due to the impact of COVID-19:

Spring 2021 academic calendar changes

• The first day of classes will now be Monday, Jan. 25.
• There will be no Spring Break.
• Three additional non-instruction days are being added: Feb. 17, March 24 and April 13.

We will be sending this message to all students announcing this change, along with additional guidance regarding our expectations for COVID-19 responsible etiquette and mandatory testing compliance in the time periods before and after Fall Break. While we would prefer to follow our regular academic calendar, including having Spring Break, the health and safety of our campus community will remain our number one priority, so we have made the adaptations listed above. The additional no-classes week at the beginning of the semester will allow the university to return our students as carefully as possible to help ensure they are in-compliance with mandatory COVID-19 testing before the semester begins.

Faculty and staff who work on-campus are encouraged to continue their regular COVID-19 testing schedule. We will continue to offer on-campus COVID-19 testing sites, even during breaks.

We are also encouraging all faculty and staff who plan to travel over the holidays to take the following precautions if they are able to do so:

Holiday travel guidance

• When planning to travel, please limit yourself to essential activities like attending work and buying groceries for two weeks before you travel. This is to help protect you and your loved ones from possible virus spread. 
• When you return, please test immediately upon return and limit your activities to essential activities such as attending work, testing, visiting the pharmacy and buying groceries until you receive two negative on-campus test results if you are able to do so. 

Thank you for continuing to do your part to help keep our community safe.

Sincerely,
Robert J. Jones
Chancellor