Message from Provost Cyril Clarke: Welcome to the Spring 2021 Semester

Dear colleagues:

Welcome to the spring 2021 semester! As we continue to move forward amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, I wish to express my appreciation and admiration for your efforts and partnership in advancing our academic enterprise. The perspectives and contributions of academic leadership, faculty, and staff have been and continue to be critical to accomplishing Virginia Tech’s mission.

During the past year, we have learned a great deal about how to engage students remotely and the importance of ongoing communication between faculty and students, irrespective of instructional modality. This communication is vital to helping students clearly understand the expectations you have of them for course attendance, assignments, and assessment. We have also confirmed the importance of creating opportunities to interact and engage directly with students during class sessions, one-on-one advising, and during office hours.

I recognize and appreciate that many faculty would prefer to deliver instruction face-to-face during the spring semester rather than online. Although I support this option and the desire of faculty to return to more in-person instruction and interaction with their students, this should only take place in physical spaces and situations where public health protocols can be implemented and health safety risks minimized. Considering the current status of the pandemic, it is imperative that we continue to prioritize the wellbeing of our community and encourage that all health safety protocols are followed. With these mitigation efforts in place and the expected availability of vaccinations later in the semester, I anticipate that we will be able to cautiously transition back the instructional, research, and outreach models and modalities that best fit the strengths and design of our university.

Until such time, I encourage you to maximize synchronous delivery of all online instruction.  Feedback received from students and their parents during the last couple of months has underscored the educational benefits of a synchronous approach relative to asynchronous delivery. However, please know that I understand that there may be compelling reasons why asynchronous delivery may be more effective or necessary due to circumstances resulting from the pandemic. I trust you to make good decisions in the best interests of your students and in consideration of compelling personal circumstances.

Along with the physical wellbeing of our faculty and students, we also need to continue to focus on and support their mental health and wellbeing this semester, and ensure our campus community is afforded opportunities to set aside academic responsibilities and safely enjoy social and recreational activities. The five individual spring break holidays this semester (February 5, February 25, March 17, April 6, and April 26) are designed to allow for this down time while limiting extended student travel that could result in a resurgence of COVID-19 in our community. These spring break days are important to the mental health and wellness of our students and should be preserved as non-instructional/assessment days. Please avoid holding class meetings, having assignments due, or administering exams and make every effort to avoid assignment due dates and scheduling of exams on instructional days immediately following one of these spring break holidays.

The timely progress of our students toward earning their degree and academic credentials that will allow them to pursue career opportunities and/or admission to graduate school is very important to our entire university community. I appreciate the continued commitment of academic advisors and supportive faculty to always be available to assist students experiencing course performance or completion challenges. Normal undergraduate and graduate student grading systems are in place for the spring semester and there are currently no plans to modify course drop deadlines. A comparison between average academic performance in the fall relative to the previous year indicated that use of the normal grading system did not hinder academic progress. Faculty should encourage their students to stay engaged and in contact with academic advisors throughout the semester to ensure that they are on track and in a position to be successful in their studies.

I am optimistic that ongoing prevalence testing, the continued wearing of masks and physical distancing, the increasing availability of vaccinations, and the warmer weather of spring will allow us to enjoy more in-person curricular and co-curricular activities, and a return to the campus life and experiences later in 2021. As we begin the spring semester, preliminary results indicate that prevalence of COVID among returning residential students is very low, and we have expanded testing capacity and a well-tuned system for managing the pandemic in partnership with the Virginia Department of Health. Rest assured that the university leadership is monitoring the public health situation and is ready to take action as appropriate.

Thank you again for your commitment and efforts. I look forward to working together to move our university forward and to serve our students in the spirit of Ut Prosim.

Cyril