MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU President Gordon Gee has announced significant changes in the fall return for students at the Morgantown campus.
In a letter released Monday afternoon, Gee said,”In Morgantown, the University will open with a revised schedule of course delivery beginning a week later than originally scheduled – on Wednesday, Aug. 26. Some professional programs may have alternative start dates. The revised schedule will further reduce density, while preserving the on-campus experience for freshmen, graduate and professional students as much as possible.”
Because of the change Gee stated most of the upper-division undergraduate courses will transitioned to online or hybrid delivery. Each academic program will determine if hands-on courses, laboratory classes, clinical and studio classes will still be offered face-to-face.
A final academic schedule is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, August 5.
Students planning to live in Morgantown residence halls are recommended to delay move in. The new move in dates are from August 15 through August 22. Students moving into Apartments at Vandalia, University Place, University Park and College Park will be able to move-in on Saturday, Aug. 1.
Classes are scheduled to end at noon on Wednesday, November 25 and will not resume until the spring semester.
Here is the entire letter:
Dear West Virginia University Family,
As we near the end of July, we are over halfway through the year. I am certain no one envisioned this is what our world would be like as we rang in 2020. The hope and promise we felt in January has turned into anxiety and stress as we continue to navigate a pandemic that forges onward, wreaking havoc across our country and within our communities.
This is not the year any of us had imagined.
We have been closely monitoring the local health conditions, as well as those across the nation. Monongalia County and Morgantown saw a significant increase in positive cases beginning in early July. Our State leadership took swift action to mitigate the spread, including mandatory masks indoors and closing bars in Morgantown. Those responses have worked, as our community continues to see a decline in cases. We have been testing our West Virginia University employees for the past week and out of 1,531 tests results received thus far, only 3 have returned positive. That is less than a 0.2% positivity rate. We are taking the necessary steps as a community to be safe.
However, there is concern among local and state public health officials, as well as University leadership, that a full return to campus in Morgantown would place both the campus and local communities at a greater risk for an increase in positive cases and transmission rates. If this were to occur, the probability of an all online semester would escalate.
Therefore, West Virginia University will implement a phased return this fall on the Morgantown campus.
In Morgantown, the University will open with a revised schedule of course delivery beginning a week later than originally scheduled – on Wednesday, Aug. 26. Some professional programs may have alternative start dates. The revised schedule will further reduce density, while preserving the on-campus experience for freshmen, graduate and professional students as much as possible.
As a result, the majority of upper-division undergraduate courses will be transitioned to online or hybrid delivery. Hands-on courses, such as laboratory classes, clinical and studio classes, may still be offered face-to-face, as determined by each academic program. We are particularly focused on ensuring that our graduating seniors have the courses they need to successfully complete their degree programs. A final academic schedule will be released on or around Wednesday, Aug. 5, and we appreciate your patience as our colleges and schools make these decisions.
We will also delay moving into the residence halls by one week. Move-in will now occur from Saturday, Aug. 15 to Saturday, Aug. 22. You will receive an email from University Housing that will outline the next steps to select a new date. However, if you cannot change your original move-in date, we will work with you to accommodate your schedule.
Please note that our campuses in Beckley (WVU Tech) and Keyser (WVU Potomac State College) will return to campus as originally planned on Aug. 19. Our local and state public health officials have advised it is safe to do so. Our Charleston and Eastern Health Sciences campuses will follow the WVU Health Sciences schedule and will receive additional guidance from their vice deans and/or program directors.
Below you will find more details on what this decision means moving forward. However, I want to make one thing abundantly clear: West Virginia University is committed to providing each of you with a safe environment to teach and to learn. This is an interim measure to allow us to do that. We are hopeful that we can return more students to in-person instruction as the semester continues.
While we are taking the necessary health and safety precautions with this changed approach, it is important to understand that some members of our West Virginia University community who are returning to campus will contract SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.
Therefore, we will base all future decisions on what is best for the health and safety of our community.
I also know this decision will be met with both relief and disappointment. Each of you has a vision of what university life should be, as do I. As much as I want everyone back on campus, I know this is the right decision. And it was made based on what is needed for our campus at this moment in time. Other universities are facing similar decisions and will do what is right for them. There is no one correct answer or perfect reopening plan. We must each do what is in the best interest of our community.
Though COVID-19 has created much chaos in our lives, there is one thing I know for certain: We are family at West Virginia University. We take care of each other. We support each other. And we will do the right thing when it is asked of us. Remember that you chose to work or study at West Virginia University because we are a unique institution. Along with embodying the Mountaineer values that define us, there is a spirit at our University that calls us to these hills. It is time for us to remember that calling and why we are here.
I ask each of you to view this not as an inconvenience or a detriment. I ask that you reflect for a moment as to why you are a Mountaineer. Think about those things that make you proud to be a part of West Virginia University and a part of the Morgantown community. The values and traditions we hold dear that propel us to take these measures to better work toward a future where everyone is healthy and safe. If we take these precautions now, we can work toward having everyone back on campus as quickly as possible.
Nothing would bring me more joy than to see our classrooms full, the PRT zipping by with students on their way to class and our green spaces bursting at the seams with friends catching up over afternoon snacks. We will do all of those things again – and more – if we do the right things now.
Please read through the information below, and if you have any questions, you can send them to [email protected]. We also will be holding two Return to Campus Conversations on Thursday, July 30 at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. to further discuss changes and provide more information. University leadership will share information on academics, housing and operations. Please check the Return to Campus website for details.
Again, I know we can get through this if we hold ourselves accountable and are respectful of each other. These are extraordinary – but temporary – times. Let us work collectively so we can look back on these days as a time when our community – our family – came together as one for the benefit of all.
Let’s Go.
E. Gordon Gee
President