March 31, 2020
Dear Carnegie Mellon Faculty, Students and Staff:
In light of the continued uncertainty and to ensure the health and safety of our campus community amid the COVID-19 outbreak over the next several months, university leadership has made the difficult decision that in-person, on-campus courses and formal summer programming can only be offered in remote or online formats at all U.S.-based domestic locations through August 1, 2020. Note that this decision does not apply to on-campus research activity. Decisions about when these research activities can resume will be made separately.
We will continue to closely monitor the situation so we can decide and communicate any changes to plans and operations after August 1 as soon as we are able.
Technology-enhanced learning has always been a core strength of Carnegie Mellon. After our experience transitioning to remote delivery this spring, we are confident our summer courses will continue to deliver on the excellent standards and high-quality educational experiences that our students expect, and for which our faculty are known. We understand that some offerings will simply not be possible as a result of this decision, but we do expect that many of the planned courses will be able to be offered in the remote, online format, and that additional courses may now be able to be available in this mode.
To support this transition and to encourage the development of new course-based offerings, we have assembled a working group that has established a set of principles and guidance for the development and delivery of new curricular and co-curricular programs for Carnegie Mellon undergraduate and graduate students this summer.
Detailed information will follow directly to those most impacted by this decision regarding established CMU summer programs and activities, including Pre-College programs as well as already planned summer courses, work and research activities for CMU degree-seeking students. Similarly, additional communications will follow about the resumption of traditional on-campus research activities, which are currently being conducted remotely or have been halted until at least the end of April.
We acknowledge the burden this may cause the students who may need to alter their summer plans as well as the faculty and staff involved in the planning, teaching and execution of our regular on-campus summer programming. This is a necessary decision in order to protect the health and well-being of our university community. I am confident we will continue to see creativity and innovation in transitioning existing offerings and developing new opportunities for remote, online delivery this summer.
Sincerely,
Jim Garrett, Provost