Welcome to the third week of the semester and the weather starting to shift toward fall with cooler temperatures, shorter days, and a bit more rain. I hope everyone is adjusting to our new normal and keeping well-being at the forefront as we remain mostly remote.
Safe Return to campus went very smoothly after months of preparation by many people, including Associate Deans David Tracer, Rich Allen, and Laura Argys, who worked countless hours on health and safety, teaching and learning, and research. Thank you also to all the chairs, directors, faculty, program assistants, and staff who assisted with the Unit Return Plans. As you can imagine, we submitted a significant number of them. With new protocols in place the Safe Return has evolved into Safe Campus. About 1,200 people are on campus Monday through Thursday and 500 on Friday. You can keep updated by bookmarking the websites for Safe Campus and the COVID-19 Dashboard now.
CLAS has nearly 140 sections on campus, either as fully face-to-face or hybrid (about 14% of our total section count). We have 12,000 online, 20,000 remote, and 3,200 on campus seats. Most of our offices are working virtually. CLAS Advising has had in-person hours during the first few weeks, but saw very little traffic. They will go remote after Labor Day. The Dean’s Office has a zoom consultancy available from 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday. CLAS IT has a help desk and website dedicated to working remotely.
This summer saw the Safe Return to campus of time-sensitive, critical research that needed to be conducted in our laboratories. After extensive application, development of safety plans and review, 26 CLAS labs (with nearly 60 faculty members, post-docs, professional research assistants, graduate and undergraduate students) resumed their research on campus on dates staggered throughout the summer. These labs represent the Behavioral Neuroscience research group in Psychology, Chemistry and Integrative Biology faculty, Physics instrumentation projects, and research in Geography and Environmental Science. Activities include dissertation and thesis work for students nearing graduation, faculty research funded by NIH and NSF among others, and the ramp up of research and grant-proposals for faculty and researchers just beginning their careers in CLAS.
Many thanks for the hard work of the CLAS Safety Monitors (who found a way to weave these important duties in with their regular roles as lab managers and instrumentation lab directors (Catherine Rathbun, James Salmen and Jeff Boon in the Science Building) and IT directors and technicians (Mike Hinke and Lary Speakman in the North Classroom). This has truly been a team effort.
CLAS rapidly deployed our expertise to address the emerging issues around the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 40 faculty from 13 departments incorporated components of COVID-19 into their research, creative activities, teaching, and community outreach. Projects range from the effect of immigration policy on the severity of the outbreak to the assessment of wireless emergency services during the COVID-19 crisis to the psychology of messaging and the rhetoric of viral apocalypse.
Finally, as many of you know, CLAS ran a free webinar, COVID-19 Colorado and Beyond, during the summer. The webinar, put together and moderated by Associate Dean Marjorie Levine-Clark and coordinated by Continuing and Professional Education Program Manager Kristen Salsbury, highlighted the interdisciplinary strength of our college and was extremely well received by students, staff, faculty, alumni, and community. Some sample comments are below.
“I didn’t have too many expectations…however, the panelists and content left me with something that I was bragging about not only to fellow students but friends.”
“This was a terrific series—comprehensive, informative, and a great way to showcase the wonderful UCD faculty.”
“I have used this information in teaching my friends and family.”
“The information in this series actually convinced me to change my major towards a more public/global health focus.”
Hats off to everyone for all we have accomplished. I am so honored and proud to be a part of CLAS
