COVID-19 Response from Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

2021 

• June 21: Trinity Faculty and Staff to Return to Campus in August
• June 1: Faculty Access to Duke Library Stacks Effective June 1
• April 23: Update on Research Operations and COVID-19
• March 19: Update on stay-in-place for Duke undergraduate students
• February 3: Important Undergrad COVID-19 Update
• January 4: Events Guidance for Spring Semester

2020

• September 23: Clarifying Guidelines for Group Gatherings
• September 16: Update on Tenure Clock Extension
• September 1: Update: Daily Symptom Monitoring and Building Access
• August 18: COVID Updates and Duke Compact Compliance
• July 27: Guidance on Public Events for Fall 2020
• July 8: Library Town Hall for Faculty on July 10
• June 22: Fall 2020 Course Designations
• April 17: Letter Grade Deadline Extended for Undergraduates
• April 13: Deadline Extended: Summer Session II Course Submissions
• April 6: Message to Master’s Students from The Graduate School
• April 4: Message from the Provost to Doctoral Students
• April 2: Expanded Mental Telehealth Support for Students
• April 1: Remote Delivery of Courses for Summer Session I & II
• March 25: Intellectual Property & Privacy, Final Exams, Course Evals, & More
• March 19: Emergency Grading Policy for Graduate Classes
• March 16: Transitioning Undergraduate Education to Remote Delivery
• March 13: COVID-19 Response from Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

 

Trinity Faculty and Staff to Return to Campus in August

June 21, 2021

To: Faculty and Staff
From: Office of the Dean of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Dear Trinity Faculty and Staff,

I hope this summer is giving you the opportunity to exercise self-care, to initiate or catch up on meaningful projects and to reflect on all we have learned and endured over the past year and a half. Through adaptation born out of necessity, you were able to continue delivering a world-class liberal-arts education in new and innovative ways. I am grateful for that!

I also appreciate your patience as we worked through a return-to-campus plan for the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, and I am excited for what is to come. Our students will be back on campus this August – a return worth celebrating, as our residential campus was built to engage and encourage exploration. As faculty and staff, we should also be fully present and available, ready to deliver a transformational student experience.

For Trinity Faculty: As Provost Kornbluth shared in her April 16 message, we will resume in-person teaching this fall. Faculty with a disabling health condition who wish to request a medical accommodation from in-person instruction for the fall semester should submit a request through Duke’s ADA reasonable accommodation process: https://access.duke.edu/employees.

For Trinity Staff: We will welcome our staff back to campus on Monday, August 9. Please begin any planning necessary to return to the spaces and schedule you worked prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our college is an incredibly complex academic unit and, as such, will require an intentional and robust assessment of our roles and practices before we can commit to new work arrangements. That assessment will begin in the fall semester and continue throughout the academic year. We look forward to engaging with you and getting your feedback throughout that process.

Again, thank you for everything you have done to continue moving Trinity forward during this incredibly challenging period in our history and our lives. We cannot wait to welcome our next class of eager and exceptional students alongside you this August.

Sincerely,

Valerie S. Ashby
Dean, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Faculty Access to Duke Libraries Stacks Effective June 1

June 1, 2021

To:       Trinity Faculty
From:  Deborah Jakubs, Vice Provost for Library Affairs
Re:       Faculty access to Duke Libraries stacks effective June 1

I know that faculty are very interested in having access to the Duke Libraries stacks again after a long period of closure. I am happy to let you know that as of Tuesday, June 1, we will be opening up the stacks through a reservation system. Please bear with us as we work carefully through the steps and process, according to Duke’s protocols, to arrive at full and open access in the coming months. Depending on the response of faculty, we hope to be able to extend stacks access by appointment to graduate students by the second summer session.

The URL for faculty to make reservations is: https://duke.libcal.com/reserve/stacksaccess

• Reservations are available in ½ hour increments M-F from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. 
• The maximum length of a reservation is 2 ½ hours.
• Each person may make only 1 reservation per day.
• Faculty must use a Duke email account to sign up for their reservation.
• All Duke safety protocols (SymMon, Masking, building swipe, etc.) will be enforced.
• Stacks access is being enabled to allow browsing the stacks. Patrons are not yet permitted to read or work in the building.
• Patrons are expected to leave at the end of their reservation and to bring any materials they would like to check out to the Bostock Desk by 4 p.m.

The hours are set up to match our takeout hours, so that faculty will be able to check out the materials that they find. If we are able to move takeout over to Perkins for Summer Session 2 and there is enough demand, we should be able to extend both takeout and faculty stacks access hours.

Lilly will not be offering faculty stacks access this summer. The compact shelving there is broken (it is old and beyond repair – another reason why the Lilly Renovation and Expansion is needed) and the staff will be shifting books out of those units.

Music will be adopting a version of this reservation system that will be available to music faculty and the 2 music Ph.D. candidates currently studying for exams. Laura Williams, head of the Music Library, will be sending out notification.

Thank you for your patience. I welcome your questions and concerns. It is good to know how much we are missed!

Update on Research Operations and COVID-19

April 23, 2021

To:        Duke University Research Community
From:   R. Sanders Williams, MD, Vice President for Research & Innovation
Re:       Research operations and COVID-19

Thanks to all for your patience and resolve through a year of extraordinary challenges to our research effort at Duke. Although we look forward to the prospect later this year of relaxing restrictions and increasing the level of activity in our research facilities, at present the ongoing pandemic threat requires us to continue to limit the density of individuals in Duke facilities and to maintain our public health measures and monitoring practices.

Therefore, until further notice, research facilities must continue to operate at a density that allows for six feet of physical distancing between personnel. Masks continue to be mandatory in indoor shared spaces and outdoor settings where social distancing cannot be maintained. Daily symptom monitoring using the SymMon app remains a requirement to participate in activities in Duke facilities, and surveillance testing will continue through April 30th and resume May 10th for students, postdocs, faculty, and staff. Safety within our research spaces remains our highest priority, and these precautions are in agreement with restrictions in effect at many of our peer institutions.

We will navigate through this challenge as a strong and vibrant research community, and for now you can best advance that cause by remaining diligent in your safety practices, even if you’ve been vaccinated. If you have not yet received a COVID-19 vaccination, I strongly encourage you to schedule an appointment soon.

Update on stay-in-place for Duke undergraduate students

March 19, 2021

Trinity Faculty and Staff: The message below about the ongoing stay-in-place order was sent to all undergraduate students last night. You can view all related conduct and COVID testing updates at the Duke Coronavirus Response website.

 

 

This message is being sent to all Duke undergraduate students.
 

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Dear students, 

It’s been quite a week. As we have travelled across campus in the past few days, we continue to be impressed by how you’ve rallied to take care—of yourselves and others—as we navigate the stay-in-place order. 

We’re now 4 days in and we are seeing the improvement we had hoped from the undergraduate community. For testing conducted through Wednesday, we had 54 cases of COVID, down from 107 cases in the same period last week.

However, we’re not there yet so the stay-in-place order will remain unchanged through 9 a.m. Sunday, March 21. 

During the next few days, continue to follow all guidance: wear your mask when you are around others, avoid gatherings of more than three people, complete your surveillance testing, report your symptoms and respond quickly and honestly to contract tracers.  

As a reminder: students are expected to stay in Durham throughout the semester. Any students who must travel right now must also carefully adhere to return guidance as outlined on the Keep Learning page. Adherence to these return guidelines is crucial to our collective success. Thanks to those of you who registered their travel.

We remain cautiously optimistic that this pause will help us get through this uptick in COVID cases but we need you to stay vigilant. Let’s maintain the health of our fellow students and neighbors, and support our seniors on the way to graduation. Thanks again for all you’re doing and we’ll update you again on Saturday afternoon with more detail.  

Go Duke,

Gary Bennett
Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education

Mary Pat McMahon
Vice Provost of Student Affairs

John Blackshear
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students

Important Undergrad COVID-19 Update

February 3, 2021

Trinity Faculty and Staff: The following message was sent to all undergraduate students last night. You can find the most recent testing results at the Coronavirus Response site every Tuesday.

The message below is being sent to all Duke undergraduate students.

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Dear students,

We are writing today to let you know what your Duke community and your peers need from you to ensure we can go through the semester as planned.

We are at a critical point in our efforts to contain COVID transmission among Duke students both on and off campus in Durham. The actions you take each day have a direct impact on the health and safety of those around you.

Please watch and pay close attention to the information included in the video below.  

• Residential students: Watch for additional follow-up opportunities and floor meetings to review this information later this week.
• Off-campus students: Let us know if you have questions. The actions you take each day have a direct impact on how we go through the semester, too, and we want to make sure you have the information you need right now.

 

 

Please let us know if you have questions, and thanks for being part of this team. 

Go Duke,

Mary Pat McMahon
Vice Provost of Student Affairs

Gary Bennett
Vice Provost of Undergraduate Education

Events Guidance for Spring Semester

January 4, 2021

Trinity Faculty and Staff – The following message was sent to senior administrators and deans on Dec. 31, 2020.

TO:        Senior Leadership Group and Deans
FROM:   Sally Kornbluth, Provost
RE:         Public Event Restrictions for Spring Semester

We know that limiting the size of gatherings, wearing masks, being outdoors, and maintaining social distancing are proven means of reducing risk and virus transmission. Combined with our robust testing and tracing program, and the commitment of our students, faculty and staff, these measures have been successful so far in protecting the safety of the Duke community.

While the deployment of the vaccine provides much-needed hope for a return to normalcy, it will take some time for broad distribution of the vaccine and therefore it is unlikely to have a significant impact on our plans for the Spring.  Local, state and national public health conditions will be acute for the next several months. Thus, Duke University will continue to observe the following restrictions through at least February 28, 2021:

• No in-person public events will be permitted on the Duke campus. This includes performances, concerts, lectures, reunions, alumni and development programs, conferences, symposia, tours, board meetings and any other event to which individuals who are not Duke students, faculty or staff would be invited or expected to attend. 
• In-person gatherings other than scheduled classes and approved student activities are limited to 10 persons, 6’ social distanced, masked, and neither food nor beverages consumed. 
• No in-person events hosted, sponsored or paid for by Duke will be permitted to take place off-campus, both in Durham and elsewhere in or outside the U.S.
• We will continue to monitor public health conditions and provide further guidance for the remainder of the spring semester, including commencement, as soon as we can reasonably do so in 2021. 

This fall, many events were held virtually to much success and attracted large audiences, including town halls, conferences, and even a socially distanced performance of the Messiah. Please continue to submit your virtual events to the University Event Calendar via http://admin.calendar.duke.edu. 

We also recognize that, even with these restrictions, you may still want to propose public events and activities. To that end, there is an appeal and review process that Mike Schoenfeld will continue to oversee in consultation with the appropriate university leaders. For more information see: http://events.duke.edu/2021request.

We will continue to monitor conditions closely and look forward to returning to our regular schedule of broad public engagement as soon as it is safe to do so.

Clarifying Guidelines for Group Gatherings

September 23, 2020

TO: All Trinity Faculty
FROM: Office of the Provost

Dear Colleagues,

As local and state health guidelines around COVID-19 continue to evolve, we are writing to clarify and reiterate the guidance for in-person gatherings other than scheduled classes, which are exempt from these limitations.

Please continue to limit gatherings outside of classes to no more than 10 people, until further notice. While the State of North Carolina and the City and County of Durham have changed their ordinances for group gatherings, everyone should continue to follow Duke policies and instructions, which may be more restrictive than state or local policies.

Like you, we miss the regular interactions with our colleagues and friends, passing on Abele Quad or in the hallways after meetings or classes, or attending research talks or performances. And we know how important it is for you to have opportunities to build personal relationships with students, and how important those faculty connections are to students’ success. We also know for a fact that limiting the size of gatherings, wearing masks, being outdoors, and maintaining a distance of 6 feet between all participants are well-known means of reducing risk and virus transmission, and have been successful so far in protecting the safety of the Duke community.

As a reminder, as noted in the August 7 Faculty expectations and recommendations document sent to all faculty, all in-person classes and related educational activities must be held on campus (or previously authorized Duke space) and observe spacing and safety guidelines. Holding classes or required activities off campus, such as at faculty homes, is not permitted during the pandemic, as it would be impossible for the university to ensure that such spaces adhere to the recommended health and safety standards.

If you are considering an educational or student-related social event outside of classes (limited to no more than 10 people, socially distanced, masked), we ask that you request approval from the travel committee that examines specific situations and evaluates the safety of planned transportation. If you are considering an on-campus event (outside of required class time) you must request approval from the university events oversight group.

In addition, all Duke-related events, to include performances, gatherings, talks, etc., must also follow the current health and safety guidelines with regard to size limitations, masking and distancing.

As with other phases of our university and campus reopening, any changes that are made to guidance around group gatherings will be communicated to you and posted on Duke United.  

Please continue to take care of yourselves and others, and reach out to the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty Advancement with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Sally Kornbluth, Provost and Jo Rae Wright University Professor
Jennifer Francis, Executive Vice Provost and Professor of Business Administration

Update on Tenure Clock Extension

September 16, 2020

To: Tenure Track Assistant Professors
From: Provost Sally Kornbluth
Date: September 14, 2020

This memo serves as an update to the memo I sent in March 2020, which granted a blanket 6-month tenure clock extension for all junior faculty (whose dossiers were not already under review).

The impacts of COVID-19 continue to pose challenges to maintaining our research and educational missions, especially for you – our pre-tenure, junior faculty – who may be worried about your progress to tenure while juggling unprecedented personal and professional obligations.

To try to help alleviate some of the additional stress and burden on you in this prolonged pandemic, I am revising the blanket tenure clock extension to a full year (12 months). Some of you may have already been granted this additional extension through request to your dean, which we have noted for your file. The full-year extension is now available to all junior faculty who want it. I will also consider further extension by individual request through your dean, in cases of severe work disruption.

You will not be forced to delay consideration for tenure should you decide to proceed on your original timetable, and the tenure clock extension may be taken any time up to dossier submission. Please notify your chair and/or dean should you elect to take the extension.

Update: Daily Symptom Monitoring and Building Access

September 1, 2020

Guidance on Public Events for Fall 2020

July 27, 2020

TO: Department Chairs and Business Managers
FROM: Kyle Cavanaugh, Vice President for Administration, and Jennifer Francis, Executive Vice Provost
RE: Public Events for Fall 2020

After careful consideration of local and national conditions, the university has made some difficult decisions regarding events and activities for the fall 2020 semester:

• No in-person public events will be permitted on the Duke campus until further notice. This includes performances, concerts, lectures, reunions, alumni and development programs, conferences, symposia, tours, board meetings and any other event to which individuals who are not Duke students, faculty or staff would be invited or expected to attend. Schools, units and administrative departments will receive separate guidance about protocols that must be observed for internal events, such as departmental meetings and workshops, as part of the return to the workplace process.
• No in-person events hosted, sponsored or paid for by Duke will be permitted to take place off-campus, both in Durham and elsewhere in or outside the U.S.
• Student Affairs will be providing guidance to students for events and activities that will be permitted.
• Further guidance will be forthcoming on religious services.

The reason for this decision is simple: we need to remain focused on safely fulfilling Duke’s core missions of education and research. While public events and engagement are knitted into the fabric of the university, we need to limit public access to the campus and cannot accommodate the added demand on space, resources, and health care services that would be required to run even a severely limited schedule of public events.

We also recognize that, even with these restrictions, you may still want to propose public events and activities. To that end, there is an appeal and review process that Mike Schoenfeld will oversee in consultation with the appropriate university leaders. For more information see: http://events.duke.edu/2021request.

Thank you in advance for conveying this information to your faculty, staff and departments. As much as we would like to think of the fall semester as “normal,” our need to safeguard the health and safety of our university community, and in turn the wider Durham community, means that we will need to forsake many activities that would otherwise be routine. We will continue to monitor conditions closely and look forward to returning to our regular schedule of broad public engagement as soon as it is safe to do so.

Kyle Cavanaugh
Vice President for Administration

Jennifer Francis
Executive Vice Provost

Library Town Hall for Faculty on July 10

July 8, 2020

Fall 2020 Course Designations

June 22, 2020

TO: All Trinity Faculty
FROM: Office of the Provost
RE: Fall 2020 Course Designations

Fall 2020 will involve an unprecedented transition of the Duke undergraduate curriculum due to COVID-19. As faculty prepare courses the primary goals are to: 1) ensure high-quality course delivery, 2) be able to responsibly accommodate students on campus within socially-distanced classroom constraints, 3) provide instruction to students who must access course content remotely, and 4) maximize our ability to shift away from campus-based delivery, if the need arises.

We appreciate that a transition of this magnitude involves significant complexity and that there is a need for additional clarity about the different course variants that will meet these important goals. Below is a description of the four course types Duke will offer in Fall 2020. After these descriptions, we comment (in Notes section) on how classes: a) should strive for a mode or pathway whereby remote students (i.e., who cannot be physically local) are able to learn the same functional content (Note 1); b) can accommodate combinations of these course types (Note 2); and c) can be synchronous or asynchronous (Note 3). All modes of delivery should be responsive to student disability accommodations (Note 4).

Please discuss these designations and notes with your department chair and/or DUS if further clarification is needed.

Face-to-face (P: In Person)

• “Traditional” course type.
• Has a time slot and an assigned classroom.
• Primarily involves synchronous delivery of course material.
• Generally involves local students.
• We encourage remote students to choose other course types (i.e. hybrid and online), however see Note 1 regarding in-person classes taken by remote students.
• Requires in-person student attendance for local students, except where the student is ill or has an approved disability accommodation.
• Students will only be excused from in-person attendance with approval by an academic dean, (i.e., cannot be due to simple inconvenience or a preference for taking the class at a different time).
• Faculty should have a plan for converting the course to online delivery if COVID-19 forces Duke to cancel face-to-face delivery.
• Because some students may not be able to take the class in person due to personal circumstances (e.g., temporary quarantine or disability accommodations), faculty should have a plan for offering course content to enrolled students to the course remotely (e.g., distributing video recordings of course content, tutorial sessions) and should also be prepared to accommodate students who are forced quarantine, or who have an approved disability accommodation.

If no remote students enroll in the course, faculty do not need to include remote components that facilitate their involvement. However faculty should have a plan for converting the course to online delivery if COVID-19 forces Duke to cancel face-to-face delivery.

Hybrid (OO: On Campus and Online)

• Includes both in-person and online components.
• Has a time slot and an assigned classroom.
• May include both local and remote students.
• May involve both synchronous and asynchronous delivery of course material.
• If the course includes synchronous components, it can require in-person attendance for local students, but it should also provide remote students the means to access the material remotely. For example, if there are students in a different time zone who cannot attend the designated time (e.g., if it is in the middle of the night), these students could be offered an alternative discussion section that accords with their time zone, or recorded material that they can access asynchronously.
• In larger hybrid courses (generally > 60 students), faculty might formally register in-person and online discussion class sections, the latter to accommodate non-local students.
• Supports a range of course designs; for example: (see Note 2)
  • Live lectures for local students, with recordings provided to remote students
  • Flipped classroom with recorded lectures provided to all students, with synchronous discussion groups (in-person locally, and Zoom-based discussions/tutorials for remote students)
  • Directed readings, with Zoom-based discussion groups organized by time zone
• Because some students may not be able to take the class in person due to personal circumstances (e.g., temporary quarantine or disability accommodations), faculty should have a plan for offering course content to enrolled students to the course remotely (e.g., distributing video recordings of course content, tutorial sessions) and should also be prepared to accommodate students who are forced quarantine or who have an approved disability accommodation.

If no remote students enroll in the course, faculty do not need to include remote components that facilitate their involvement. However faculty should have a plan for converting the course to online delivery if COVID-19 forces Duke to cancel face-to-face delivery.

Online (O)

• Course is taught entirely remotely; has no in-person component.
• Can involve a combination of synchronous and asynchronous components (see Note 3).
• May include both local and remote students.
• Has a time slot because the course may include synchronous components (if not, should be coded as AO, below).
• Students cannot sign up for two courses that have been scheduled for the same time slot.
• No classroom needs to be assigned.
• Does not require in-person attendance.

Asynchronous Online (AO)

• Course is taught entirely remotely; has no in-person component.
• This will likely include primarily remote students.
• All material is delivered asynchronously; a student can participate fully regardless of time zone or location.
• Is not assigned a time slot.
• No classroom needs to be assigned.
• Does not require in-person attendance.

Notes:

Note 1: There has been some confusion about the distinction between in person and hybrid classes given that all classes will need to have a remote component for students who cannot be on campus. To clarify: A course should be designated as in person if the course is designed to be delivered primarily in person for the majority of students - with accommodations for any who cannot attend the class in-person. Therefore, a student who signs up for such a class either intends to be on campus and to attend classes in-person or accepts that they will not have an experience identical to the majority of students in a class. If two or more students are taking an in-person class remotely, we recommend creating a separate online section. This section need not be identical to the in-person class in design (e.g., examinations, pacing, use of lecture and discussion) but the overall content should be the same. A separate section also enables greater homogeneity of grading/evaluation within the section. For individual students, it would be ideal to configure the class as an independent study (note this is a separate section). Hybrid classes are meant to offer course material both in person and online for the majority of the class -- with the exception of remote students, who may need to participate asynchronously (see Note 3). Students who select hybrid courses will expect to have some component of their coursework online, regardless of their location.

Note 2: Some faculty may wish to construct combinations of these three course types. For example, a hybrid class that meets face-to-face and synchronously once a week on campus, and meets once a week online. Such a combination is possible if the synchronous portion can be accommodated for remote students (e.g., by providing a video recording). We ask that such information be provided, both to students and to the Registrar, in the notes section of the spreadsheets provided to you.

Note 3: As described here, online classes can be either asynchronous or synchronous. It is important to be clear about expectations to students who sign up for synchronous classes. Students who cannot attend any synchronous sessions for online classes will need to have approval by an academic dean (e.g., they live in different time zones, are ill, or have an approved disability accommodation).

Note 4: The Student Disability Access Office assists qualified students with disabilities in exploring and implementing reasonable accommodations. Students with medical conditions who wish to pursue Temporary COVID-19 academic accommodations or explore additional accommodations outside of COVID-19 should reach out to the SDAO at http://access.duke.edu for more information.

Letter Grade Deadline Extended for Undergraduates

April 17, 2020

TO: All Trinity Faculty
FROM: Dean of Academic Affairs for Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
RE: Letter Grade Deadline Extended for Undergraduates

Dear colleagues,

As you know, we have been working diligently to assist our students as they navigate the tumult created by the COVID-19 crisis. Now, as we near the end of the semester, we appreciate that many students are wrestling with a host of pressing challenges, including preparing for final exams, arranging summer plans, and, for some, deciding whether to retain or convert the default S/U grade.

In collaboration with Duke Student Government leadership, we have identified several ways to support students as they weigh their grading options. Accordingly, we will be updating our Spring 2020 grading guidance (https://coronavirus.duke.edu/2020/03/announcement-about-grading/), as follows:

• To provide students with additional time to consider their options, we will extend the deadline for declaring a letter grade to Monday, April 27 at 12 PM EST. The extension will also apply to 500- and 600-level graduate courses. This will allow students more time to evaluate their options during the reading period, and before receiving their final grades.
• We will enhance our support resources to assist students with their deliberations. Academic deans in both Trinity and Pratt, as well as college advisors, will be available during the reading period to meet with students and discuss their options. Students can also seek assistance by emailing keeplearning@duke.edu.
• We encourage colleagues to refer to our previous guidance, which explains the rationale for grading policy and addresses the most common student concern: the impact of Spring 2020 grades on their future graduate/professional/employment plans. In short, colleges and universities across the country – including Duke's graduate and professional schools -- have indicated that their admissions processes are holistic, and will not be biased against students who take the S/U grade.

We encourage faculty colleagues to share grading information with students. Indeed, as a matter of routine practice, we expect faculty to be transparent about course grading policies and individual assignment grades. It will be particularly helpful this semester if colleagues provide grading information and maintain a posture of maximal flexibility.

Many thanks for your ongoing partnership and dedication to our students.

Sincerely,

Gary G. Bennett, Ph.D., Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

John Blackshear, Ph.D., Dean for Academic Affairs, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Martin Doyle, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean for Academic Initiatives, Nicholas School of the Environment

Linda Franzoni, Ph.D., Associate Dean of Undergraduate Education, Pratt School of Engineering

Christina Gibson-Davis, Ph.D., Director, Undergraduate Studies, Sanford School of Public Policy

Deadline Extended: Summer Session II Course Submissions

April 13, 2020

TO: Trinity Department Chairs
FROM: Jennifer Francis, Executive Vice Provost, and Valerie S. Ashby, Dean of Trinity College
RE: Deadline Extended: Summer Session II Course Submissions

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for the time you and your departments have already committed to considering how Duke can best deliver a range of academically rigorous courses this summer. We are inspired by your ongoing efforts to uphold our teaching mission and your dedication to serving our students.

We continue to accept proposals for courses to be taught by faculty and teaching-eligible graduate students during Summer Session II. All additional course proposals should be delivered to Kim Price (kprice@duke.edu) by Monday, April 20. Please share this information with your faculty and graduate students at your earliest convenience.

We anticipate heightened demand for Summer Session this year as the other opportunities students normally pursue may not be available. Our goal is to announce a full list of courses by April 30, and we plan to notify faculty regarding the status of their proposals on a rolling basis, as submissions are reviewed and accepted.

Although a decision has not yet been made regarding access to campus during Summer Session II (June 29-August 9), we ask that you focus on submitting courses intended for remote delivery. Syllabi should reflect how coursework can best be delivered in our current environment. Learning Innovation is currently developing a set of FAQs and best practices for remote course delivery that we hope to share via the Keep Teaching website and newsletters later this week.

Again, our sincere thanks for the innovative thinking you are bringing to this challenging time.

Jennifer Francis
Executive Vice Provost

Valerie S. Ashby
Dean, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Message to Master’s Students from The Graduate School

April 6, 2020

TO: Master's Students
FROM: Sally Kornbluth, Provost, and Paula D. McClain, Dean of The Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education
DATE: April 6, 2020

Dear master’s students,

We recognize this is a time of unprecedented stress for all of our students. In addition to concern about your own health and safety, and that of your loved ones, the COVID-19 pandemic has severely disrupted your lives and has changed the ways in which you engage with your coursework, your mentors, and your peers. Please know that we share your worries and are here to help.

Our highest priority is ensuring that your fundamental needs, such as food and shelter, are addressed. To that end, we would like to remind you that Duke has established a Student Assistance Fund to provide resources to help students in immediate financial distress. This fund is now open for applications with a goal of providing relief to those who need it as quickly as possible.

We are equally concerned about your emotional health and well-being. A new service, bluedevilscare.duke.edu, provides mental telehealth support for all students regardless of your location. You can access the service by using the key DUKE2020.

Finally, we encourage you to stay in close contact with your faculty and programs directors for the latest information as well as academic and career support. We are all in very unsettling times and promise to work with you on successfully fulfilling your educational goals. 

We wish you the very best and hope that you, your friends, and family stay safe and well.

Sally Kornbluth
Provost

Paula D. McClain
Dean of The Graduate School and Vice Provost for Graduate Education

Message from the Provost to Doctoral Students

April 4, 2020

Dear Duke Doctoral Students,

We recognize this is a time of unprecedented stress for all of our doctoral students. In addition to concern about your own health and safety, and that of your loved ones, the pandemic has severely disrupted your lives, your studies, your research and your careers. Please know that we share your concerns and are here to support you.

Many of you have shared specific concerns about the uncertainties of the upcoming summer, particularly for those of you who had expected to pursue internships, external work opportunities, or compensated research or teaching opportunities within Duke. In addition to our university-wide announcement on summer arrangements, we want to provide you with specific information on issues of direct interest to graduate students:

• Duke is committed to providing employment this summer for any enrolled and continuing Ph.D. student who needs it and does not currently have 12-month funding. If you are awarded a fellowship (either external or from The Graduate School) that does not cover the full summer, these opportunities will also be available to you.
  
  We are identifying virtual opportunities (e.g., RA and TA-ships and work for various Duke units) to provide summer funding for those who do not otherwise have it, and to help replace lost career development opportunities. As part of that effort, we are working with internal and external partners to transition on-site programs to virtual or some other alternative form. We expect to have more information for you about these opportunities in 2-3 weeks.
• For example, we expect there to be many new instructional opportunities this summer. We are converting Summer Session 1 and 2 classes into online formats and have asked department chairs to involve graduate students in this transition as much as possible – as instructors, as discussion leaders, as technology advisors, as TAs, as graders. Even if we are in the position to have some on-campus activities in Session 2, we plan to have a full slate of remote delivery courses available. We believe these will provide excellent opportunities to both support students and provide important avenues for educational and career development. If you are interested, please contact your department chair, DGS or DUS to get more information.
• As announced earlier this week, Duke has established a student assistance fund to provide resources to help students in need. Early next week, a portal will be available to accept student requests/applications for funds. These relief funds are intended to cover immediate needs arising before summer funding opportunities begin.

In addition, we have asked directors of graduate studies and deans to actively communicate with you in the following ways:

• Advisors should conduct regular check-ins with each doctoral student.
• Advisors and students should discuss and agree upon explicit goals for near term (rest of semester) and intermediate-term (summer), tailored to the circumstances of each student; advisors and their students should use check-ins as a means to see how people are doing in general, to identify progress towards short-term goals, discuss unanticipated challenges, and chart next steps.
• Departments/programs must provide clear expectations to faculty and students around timeliness of formal and informal feedback, and how that feedback will be provided (oral, written).

We will be back in touch soon with further information and hope that you, your friends, and family stay safe and well.

Sally Kornbluth, Provost

Jennifer Francis, Executive Vice Provost

Expanded Mental Telehealth Support for Students

April 2, 2020

TO: Undergraduate, Graduate, and Professional Students
FROM: Mary Pat McMahon, Vice Provost/Vice President of Student Affairs
DATE: April 1, 2020
RE: Expanded Mental Telehealth Support for Students

Dear students,

The leadership team in Student Affairs is pleased to offer a new, additional service to all undergraduate, graduate and professional students at Duke in order to enhance the resources available to students, particularly at this time when so many students are away from the Durham campus. 

Blue Devils Care builds upon current remote offerings from CAPS and Student Health and offers expanded, 24/7 mental telehealth support to all students at no cost. Beginning today, April 1, all Duke degree-seeking students now have access to Blue Devils Care.

To get started, visit BlueDevilsCare.duke.edu. Register once using your @duke.edu email address and Service Key DUKE2020—then you’ll be ready to use the service whenever you need it.

I am grateful to the Student Affairs leadership team for working throughout the past year to make this additional resource available to the student body. Find more info on this new service, and reminders on how to access current CAPS and Student Health services, below.

Take care, and be well.

Sincerely,

Mary Pat McMahon
Vice Provost/Vice President of Student Affairs

Remote Delivery of Courses for Summer Session I & II

April 1, 2020

TO: Department Chairs and Directors of Undergraduate Studies
RE: Remote Delivery of Courses for Summer Session I & II

Dear Colleagues,

As you are aware, Duke announced Monday that all in-person instruction is canceled for Summer Session I (May 13-June 25) courses. We are now actively working to develop an expanded suite of online offerings for both summer sessions – and we need your help.

Some additional details:

• All advertised summer courses with fewer than five (5) students enrolled as of April 1 will be canceled definitively and not considered for alternate delivery, as our goal is to offer a range of courses online that will elicit significant demand from students.
• All other courses previously planned for on-campus instruction will be canceled in their present form, and we invite and encourage faculty to propose courses for Summer Session I based on new syllabi specifically designed for remote delivery by April 10.
• New proposed courses may have exactly the same title as the originally scheduled course but the syllabus should describe the specifics of execution in the remote-delivery format. Departments can adapt existing survey courses, core courses, and other popular courses to a summer online format.
• We aim to create opportunities for qualified graduate students to play a key role, including but not limited to teaching as instructors of record, working as discussion leaders for sections of larger classes and helping instructors to think creatively about how to move from face-to-face to online formats.

Please submit any questions and all proposals for Summer Session I and/or Summer Session II to Kim Price (kprice@duke.edu) by April 10. The ideal proposal will include a short syllabus describing the course, course materials, an outline of synchronous and asynchronous sessions, and plans for assessment and testing. Please indicate which summer session you are able to teach the course, and if you have no preference (or are willing to teach in both sessions), please let us know that as well.

A decision about in-person instruction for Summer Session II (June 29-August 9) will be made towards the end of April.

If you are interested in offering a course but are not sure how it might be taught online, please propose it anyway, as we are creating a team of people with savvy education technology skills to help you think through these issues. An additional resource for some disciplines can be found in the portfolio of courses housed on Duke’s Coursera website. These may prove useful for thinking about already-developed asynchronous online modules that could augment other materials that you might use in your course.

Jennifer Francis
Executive Vice Provost

Valerie S. Ashby
Dean, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

Intellectual Property & Privacy, Final Exams, Course Evals, & More

March 25, 2020

Emergency Grading Policy for Graduate Classes

March 19, 2020

Transitioning Undergraduate Education to Remote Delivery

March 16, 2020

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

The Trinity College of Arts & Sciences has held two remote meetings for Directors of Undergraduate Studies to discuss undergraduate instruction in light of the university’s response to COVID-19. Our collective goal is to provide the best academic experience possible, given that we are in a public health crisis. We urge you to be creative and flexible, but also realistic in your expectations of our students and ourselves.

Please remember that Spring Break was officially extended until March 23. Classes are suspended this week as students are encouraged to get to safety, settle in, and prepare for the resumption of classes. Coursework originally due this week should be rescheduled to a later due date. All faculty with coursework due this week must communicate to their students that assignments will be rescheduled for a time when classes are back in session.

Transitioning to Remote Course Delivery

Your focus this week should be planning how you intend to deliver the remainder of your course material for the spring semester. Faculty are required to submit updated syllabi that reflect their plans to their DUS and/or Assistant to the DUS by Friday, March 20. They should also be uploaded and disseminated via your usual departmental methods. We understand that these syllabi will reflect your intentions, but may change as you learn how best to conduct remote learning for your particular courses.

Duke is allowing maximum flexibility to instructors to find the most appropriate ways to deliver course content and fulfill student contact-time requirements. There are many suggestions about how to do this on the keepteaching.duke.edu website. However, if you plan to hold synchronous remote learning, you must record those sessions to accommodate students in varying time zones. We cannot penalize students who require an asynchronous experience. As you think through your approach, we encourage you to consider all possible contingencies – including how you would teach from home, if necessary.

Conducting Assessments

We recognize that another key challenge faced by instructors is how to conduct assessments like tests, as well as class participation ratings. Instructors are free to conduct student assessments, but we encourage you to think about whether you might conduct open-resource assessments. More guidance on upholding academic integrity during this time is coming, and technical support for creating online assessments is available through keepteaching.duke.edu.

Academic Advising for Fall 2020

Bookbagging and registration for fall 2020 will begin on March 23 and April 1, respectively. Those dates remain unchanged for now. We are encouraging, but not requiring, that students have virtual academic advisor meetings before registration. Departments should, however, ensure that all majors are made automatically eligible for registration to avoid any disruption when fall enrollment opens.

Reminders and Resources

For the remainder of the spring 2020 semester:

• Students are not allowed to return to campus for classes or meetings, or to work in labs or at other jobs – no exceptions. In addition, students may not return to Duke labs or other facilities that are off campus.
• The length of the semester will not be extended.
• Graduation plans have not yet been announced.

You may be receiving questions from students, parents, and colleagues. If those questions go beyond the scope of your own courses or into matters of departmental, Trinity or Duke policies, please direct people to the following websites, as well as up the ladder to DUSs, department chairs, and leadership in Trinity:

• The official Duke response website – coronavirus.duke.edu – has extensive information and links to many other resources, including guidance on events, travel, graduate education, research operations, and more.
• Resources for remote teaching: keepteaching.duke.edu
• Resources for students, including access to learning materials while they are away from campus: keeplearning.duke.edu
• Resources for staff members: keepworking.duke.edu

The university response is evolving, and we expect to receive more guidance over time. We appreciate your patience as we seek to continuously provide the most up-to-date and accurate information.

John Blackshear
Dean of Academic Affairs

Directors of Undergraduate Studies

COVID-19 Response from Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

March 13, 2020

Dear Trinity Colleagues,

As President Price shared earlier this week, our university is taking necessary and unprecedented measures in response to COVID-19. This is an uneasy time, and new questions arise on an hourly basis that we are all working hard to address. The university remains open for business, but we recognize that our activities will not feel like business as usual – particularly given recent updates to schedules, campus and building access.

I want to assure you that my leadership team is meeting remotely every day, and we stand ready to answer your questions and assist you with any issues in the coming days, weeks, and months. We have met remotely with department and program chairs, directors of undergraduate studies, and business managers. Our hope is that each day will bring more clarity.

Please continue to visit coronavirus.duke.edu for the most up-to-date information and carefully read all messages sent by our President and Provost, Student Affairs, and others in leadership roles within Trinity and across Duke. Additional detailed information can be obtained through the following methods and websites:

For Our Students: Student Affairs and the Office of Undergraduate Education are working diligently to respond to students’ questions regarding not returning to campus after Spring Break and many other topics. Please be assured that Student Affairs has a team of people ready to support every student, whatever their specific situation.

Undergraduate students can email any questions to keeplearning@duke.edu and the answers to the most frequently asked questions are available at https://keeplearning.duke.edu/.

Meanwhile, The Graduate School has launched a webpage where it is gathering and sharing FAQs for this vital segment of our population. As a point of clarification around thesis examinations and dissertation defenses, Trinity College strongly encourages that these events occur remotely.

For Our Faculty: We will all be deeply engaged in the coming weeks with the transition to remote delivery of courses and distance learning that will allow all students to continue their studies and finish the spring semester. Support and resources to aid in this effort can be found at https://keepteaching.duke.edu/. Your local IT support staff will also be available to you throughout this period and are planning sessions to train faculty and staff on Zoom and other essential tools.

Additionally, Duke’s Vice President for Research has released guidance for the research community, which includes recommendations for graduate and postdoctoral researchers.

For Our Staff: All staff who are able to work remotely have been encouraged to do so, but not without first having a conversation with their manager and/or department chair. We are aware that not every job can be done remotely, but encourage flexibility where possible to prioritize the safety and health of our staff, their families, and the community. You can direct questions about unusual circumstances to Vice Dean for Finance and Administration Sandy Connolly at sandy.connolly@duke.edu.

Your local IT support staff will also be available to help with transitioning to working remotely. Sessions will be held to train faculty and staff on Zoom and other essential tools.

Events: Please note that restrictions on university-sponsored events have been extended from April 20 to May 7. More information is available at https://coronavirus.duke.edu/events/.

Travel: At this time, Duke has suspended all non-essential university-funded travel, both domestic and international. This of course does not include personal activity, but we urge you to seriously reconsider any plans for long-distance travel and visits to areas that have been significantly impacted by COVID-19.

Thank you for your commitment to Trinity College and Duke University during this challenging time. Together, we can minimize health and safety risks to our students, faculty, staff, and the larger community.