Academic Senate discusses Fall 2021 semester
Provost Mary Schutten announced that Central Michigan University is planning on maintaining HyFlex modality for the Fall 2021 semester during the Jan. 19 Academic Senate meeting.
Schutten is meeting with students to discuss their opinions on planning for the upcoming fall semester on Jan. 20. These opinions will be used as talking points during the Fall 2021 Advisory Committee at the end of Janurary.
The Fall 2021 Advisory Committee, comprised of administrators, faculty and staff, was created to ensure program needs and HyFlex course adaptation are m
The committee will make plans under the expectation that the country will continue with its use of masks and social distancing rules as well as work with the health of students in mind.
"Fall 2021 is looking to be similar as far as COVID goes to what we're experiencing now," Schutten said. "We're working with what we know now given timelines for vaccines."
CMU faculty and staff have been asked to attend a virtual panel discussion on Jan. 29 to learn about and discuss information gained from student surveys on the Fall 2020 semester experience to better prepare for the future of modality concerns.
The Academic Senate also discussed on-going learning for the current Spring 2021 semester.
In light of the new COVID-19 variant being confirmed in Michigan, President Bob Davies affirmed that Central Michigan University is staying informed on when in-person classes may no longer be possible.
"We do know of the one case in Michigan, we've been alerted and put a great deal of planning around that," Davies said. "If we need to go remote, we will go remote."
Other Business
- The provost announced an upcoming virtual lecture event on the perception of race in the workplace presented by Kechi Iheduru-Anderson. Students and staff are asked to register for the presentation.
- The chief diversity officer search is being assisted by DHR International search firm to bring candidates to campus at the end of February to begin interviews.
- David Ford will start as the next dean of the College of Science and Engineering on June 15.
- The senate approved the introduction of a new academic program, Early Childhood Education.
- The committee on committees appointed Hayam Alnakhli to the Off-Campus Academic Council and Xiaoming Zheng to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, bnoth were voted in by the senate.
Academic Senate meetings are held over live-stream and recorded, available for free on the CMU website.
