Dear College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Graduate Student:

I know that the coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak may be causing considerable stress and uncertainty for you, with the University of Iowa moving temporarily to online instruction of courses. Thank you so much for working with your departments as we all figure out the best way to keep you on the path to graduation, as well as safe. We realize you will have questions as the UI moves to virtual instruction, so I am writing to provide some information.

At the bottom of this email, please see the announcement that was sent by the UI on Wednesday, March 11^th regarding suspension of face-to-face instruction beginning March 23, 2020, and continuing through at least April 3, 2020. 

Suspending face-to-face instruction in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

By the end of spring break, your instructors will be in contact with you to provide information related to the transition to a virtual format. The situation is very fluid, so I encourage you to stay up to date on the UI’s, CLAS’s, Graduate College’s, and your department’s responses to COVID-19.

You should:

• Check your university email daily for messages
• Check the ICON course site for information

Further information about doctoral comprehensive exams, master’s final exams, thesis defenses, thesis submission, and professional development activities is forthcoming from the Graduate College.

Teaching and Research Assistants should contact their supervisors immediately for instructions about how they can most effectively meet their teaching and research responsibilities without exceeding the workload for which they were contracted. Teaching and Research Assistants are further requested to recognize that temporary changes in assigned duties may be necessary to the functioning of CLAS programs.

What help is available?

Questions? If you have questions, please work first with your departmental Director of Graduate Studies or your faculty advisor. I am also available at christine-getz@uiowa.edu.

The UI has developed this website to help you manage the transition to learning in an online format: https://teach.uiowa.edu/keep-learning-iowa. The site has lots of helpful information on how to prepare for online learning, access your course content online, and complete activities and assignments online.

In addition, this site has been developed to provide support for teaching in an online format: https://teach.uiowa.edu/keep-teaching-iowa.

Campus will stay open: Please note that the campus—including computer labs, libraries, student health, student counseling, and financial aid—will remain open.

The University Counseling Service is also always ready to help you if you are troubled in any way and need to talk: https://counseling.uiowa.edu.

This is a challenging and unprecedented situation, and we appreciate your patience and flexibility. We are committed to ensuring as smooth a transition as possible for you as we weather the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sincerely,

Christine Getz
Associate Dean for Graduate Education and Outreach and Engagement
Professor of Music
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences