Dear Romance Studies Faculty, Graduate Students and Staff,

I hope you are all well, as we try to settle into a ‘new normal’ whatever that means. I have lots of information to share today as we wrap up the week.

Instructional Readiness Survey Due Today

The College has put together a quick survey to assess the preparedness of faculty and other instructors to deliver courses remotely in the coming weeks:

https://cornell.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_a5DygV5VkOpv6Jf

If you have not already done so, please complete the survey as soon as possible. The survey will close at 5:00 PM TODAY. Your responses will help us support your needs as well as possible. Thank you.

 

Changes to Academic Calendar

Important changes have been made to the academic calendar.

  • New drop deadline has been extended to 4/21
  • New last day of classes  has been extended one week to 5/12
  • New final exam period is 5/16-5/23
  • The pre-enrollment dates for Fall 2020 are expected to be moved later in the term. Those will be forthcoming in the near future.

Update to the A&S College academic calendar:

  • New withdrawal deadline will be the last day of classes on 5/12

The University Registrar is expecting that the ability to elect changes to the S/U grade for students in all courses will be available by the first day of online instruction (4/6) through StudentCenter.

Student Petitions

  • Most petitions are online via the A&S petition system and you will be emailed to give your support (or not) where you serve as a faculty advisor or instructor
  • Some petitions are paper (out of college courses).  While in the remote instruction period we will ask students to email these to as-studentservices@cornell.edu cc’ing faculty advisors/instructors as appropriate so they can also email their support/not support.

Student Services remains open, but operating remotely. Information on this is available at https://as.cornell.edu/registrar.

 

Still not fully comfortable with Zoom?

Please, please, please don’t hesitate to schedule time with me for a one on one Zoom meeting. I’ll be happy to walk you through things that may be helpful in your online teaching – scheduling recurring meetings to accommodate your courses, using the whiteboard, sharing your screen, how students can raise their hand virtually, setting up questions via polling for responses from the class.

 

VP Opperman’s Meeting for Employees

The Cornell Chronicle offers a nice write up of the virtual meeting with VP Opperman that was held earlier this week. You will also find a video of the meeting at the bottom of this article.

 

Many Previously Locked Down Resources Now Free

Many online databases and repositories that have been traditionally locked down are relaxing their restrictions as a response to Coronavirus. Publishers Weekly announced Tuesday that international publishing giant Macmillan has abandon a controversial eBook embargo for libraries. Long time academic resource JSTOR has just made its material largely accessible to the public. I  highly recommend the use of Passkey to access databases and journals that would otherwise be restricted or hidden behind paywalls from off campus.

 

TCAT Fare Free

Thanks to their new coronavirus prevention program, TCAT is going to limit the number of riders per bus and will not charge bus far starting today and at least running through April 9.

 

Virtual Things to do This Weekend

The Cornell Chronicle’s weekly suggestions of local things to do has now turned into a recommendation list for virtual activities.

 

Stay well, stay strong and stay in touch,

Mary Beth