Announcement (2/28/20)

Dear Faculty & Staff:

By now, you have received President Shannon’s communication regarding CBU’s efforts to prepare for the potential spread of the coronavirus. I would, first of all, strongly reiterate the need for all of us to follow the recommended measures for prevention.

But I also have some requests that are specifically addressed to our faculty and staff members.

In lieu of the most important recommendation for everyone to stay home if you’re sick, I would ask that all faculty members implement a forgiving policy on student absences during this period. Please use your own discretion, but keep in mind the health and well-being of our community and provide some lenience to students whose absences may be due to following this preventative measure.

Part of our preparedness is also to be ready for any worst-case scenarios. In the event of a localized outbreak and situations involving excessive absences from classes or even potential campus quarantines, we need to make sure all of our courses are ready to be delivered online via Canvas or other CBU online systems.

The Center for Digital Instruction (Online Learning and Educational Technology) is ready to help you with this preparation. Even if your courses are not currently being delivered online, there is most likely an online shell/template already set up for use with them. If not, CDI can quickly set them up for you and train you to use them. They are ready to hear from you at olet@cbu.edu.

Aside from coursework, I would strongly encourage all faculty and staff members to consider the best methods that could allow you to work from home if it becomes absolutely necessary. If you need technical help setting up online resources such as VPN, Office 365, or Sharepoint/OneDrive, please contact ITS via the Help Desk at help@cbu.edu.

Again, these are worst-case scenarios and hopefully will never become necessary. But we need to be proactive and prepared in case they actually do.

Thank you for your cooperation in these matters, and — above all else — stay well!

Sincerely,

Paul A. Haught, PhD
Vice President for Academics & Student Life