Colleagues,

I hope you and your family and communities are staying safe and well. As we prepare to resume our classes remotely after the spring break, I am emailing to bring everyone up-to-date on where we are and our plans moving forward. First, though we – similar to many other colleges – were initially unsure how long remote learning would replace the classroom experience, it is clear now that we will be utilizing remote learning through the spring semester. Given all the guidelines and social distancing regulations in place, there is no alternative. Therefore, through the final exam period, we will be “remote” in our teaching. We will also need to utilize the (snow/study/reading) days as class time to replace classes not held last week.

I know that you understand the challenges in moving to remote learning, but I also appreciate all the ongoing work to ensure the best that we can all do under these circumstances. To help prepare for remote delivery, the university has done the following:

Invested in a University wide Zoom license (in addition to Blackboard and all our other online resources);

Prepared online and in-person tutorials for faculty;

Extended the help desk hours until 8 pm to provide extra support through ITS/Edtech;
Extended the pass/fail option to all spring semester undergraduate courses;

Collaborated with the AAUP and faculty leadership to clarify any issues that have arisen;

Established the Provostonline@Hofstra.edu email to answer queries from faculty as well as students and parents;

Worked with Student Access Services so that remote learning support is available.

We are also still working on how to ensure the integrity of exams administered online; how to preserve clinical experiences to the extent possible, and how to allow students and faculty to take advantage remotely of some on-campus library resources. We are also meeting and strategizing with the Deans as well as governance leaders to facilitate continued progress and the sharing of best practices and expertise with all faculty.

In addition, the Research and Sponsored Programs in the Provost’s office is monitoring externally funded research and working to minimize disruptions to research. And the Budget and Planning area of the Provost’s office continues to perform contract and payroll related services as well as facilitate purchase orders, or reimbursement requests, especially for any goods or services necessary to bring all classes on-line starting next Monday.

Beginning with our students, this is tremendous change for all of us. However, I am confident that you, our faculty, will as always, strive to do the best as key stakeholders in the wellbeing of the Hofstra community. We are all committed to maintaining the continuity and quality of the education we provide, and supporting each other in this effort. Only in this way can the University continue to be successful. President Rabinowitz and I thank you for all you do and how well you do it.

Herman