A Message from the Provost and the Faculty Leadership Group

Dear Colleague,

Thank you for all the fantastic work that you have done to implement remote learning for the second half of the spring semester. This was a tremendous effort and we are immensely grateful! Through your hard work and with the ongoing support of the Provost’s Office, Educational Technology and the IT, Academic Records and Student Affairs Divisions of the University, remote learning has been accomplished successfully and relatively seamlessly.

We recognize that there is great uncertainty at the moment, generated by the impact of Covid-19 and a severe recession with multiple implications. While we are still in the throes of this pandemic and continue to face great uncertainty about the future, we must start contingency planning that can help us prepare us with some flexibility, agility and sensitivity for a variety of possible scenarios. We still do not definitively know what the situation will be for the Fall 2020 but we know for certain that context planning, preparedness and communication is key.

The university senior administrative leadership meets daily to discuss and work through immediate and longer terms issues, and we will keep you apprised. However, your input as a key stakeholder is vital for contingency planning and the success and sustainability of our collective future. Therefore, we are asking departments and schools in the University together with the University Senate to start discussions now, to develop contingency plans, and to share and send forward, suggestions both for your own immediate units, and for the university.

Your brainstorming and contingency plan development for the academic area (and any other suggestions you have) should consider at least the following scenarios:

Scenario 1: Hofstra starts and remains in providing remote learning for the Fall. What innovations and improvements can be made to the online course offerings over what we have done now in putting courses online?
Scenario 2: Hofstra starts in a remote learning mode but shifts to in person instruction during the semester. How do you envision making that transition?
Scenario 3: Hofstra opens for face to face learning. But some students cannot return to campus. (e.g., international students, or students who may be in other areas from which they are unable to travel). How do we serve them?
Scenario 4: Hofstra opens for face to face learning. But the risk remains that we may need to shift to remote learning during the semester. How do we prepare for that?
On any scenario, if Hofstra faces a significant decline in enrollment for the Fall, whether instruction is in person or by remote learning, what kind of reductions in course offerings and programs can be made while maintaining essential offerings?
We are asking for your best ideas to manage and implement instructional efforts, and to identify concrete actionable steps that will help with student retention, and with sustaining the University through this challenging time. You may be able to implement some ideas at the department level. We also need you to communicate ideas and suggestions forward to help senior administrative leadership, in collaboration with faculty, to develop plans and policies for the university as a whole. Departments should be in communication with their Deans as well as through their Chairs with the Chairs Caucus. Faculty should communicate with other members of the Faculty Leadership group or with your Senate Representatives and Leaders. The Provost meets regularly with Deans, the Chairs Caucus, the University Senate, and the Faculty Leadership Group, and your ideas will be heard and considered. To that end, and to help address the issues that arise, the University will be pleased to work closely with the AAUP.

We all know that it is going to be a very challenging few years and will require the ongoing collaborative efforts of all of us. Thank you for all that you have done and continue to do. We look forward to hearing from you and to working with you to assure Hofstra’s continuing prominence.

Sincerely,

Herman A . Berliner William Caniano

Provost Chair, Senate Executive Committee

University Senate

George Giuliani Elisabeth Ploran

Speaker of the Faculty President, Hofstra Chapter AAUP

University Senate

Kathleen Wallace

Chair of the Chairs’ Caucus

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