Safer Return at Cal Poly Pomona

Update on COVID-19 Response

Date: 3/10/2020
From: Provost - Vice President for Academic Affairs
Subject: Update on COVID-19 Response

Dear Faculty Colleagues:

The challenges posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) are evolving rapidly. At Cal Poly Pomona, we continue to monitor the situation closely in partnership with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Currently, there are no known cases on the Cal Poly Pomona campus. However, we continue to plan in case this assessment changes.

Flexibility on Student Absences

The well-being of our campus community is our highest priority. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised individuals to stay home and not to come to class or work if they feel sick, experience flu-like symptoms, or believe they have been exposed to a communicable disease. This step is the single most effective method for protecting others, and we ask that you be flexible in this situation and encourage our students to take appropriate precautions.

If any of your students inform you that they are sick and wish to stay home or have family obligations which may require them to self-isolate, please allow them to do so without requiring a medical note, and without any penalties. This situation may call for deviations from your syllabus regarding attendance, missing assignments, and make-up work. We are also asking that you be proactive about informing students that they should stay home if they feel ill.

Please work with your students to accommodate them to ensure continuity of their learning experience, and do not encourage students to withdraw from the course when other options can be explored. These options include extending deadlines, alternative assignments, and other accommodations, as appropriate.

For questions regarding this matter, please contact Dr. Terri Gomez, Associate Vice President for Student Success (stgomez@cpp.edu, 909-869-2895).

Preparing for Online Instruction

Following the message we sent on Friday, we now ask that all instructors activate their courses in Blackboard to ensure instructional continuity. In addition, we suggest that instructors use the grading features available in Blackboard. These simple steps will allow instructors to readily communicate with their students and will enable students to monitor their progress.

In partnership with the Faculty Center for Professional Development, your college/department will organize efforts to provide support to faculty to achieve the above-mentioned goals.

The message sent on Friday is enclosed below, which includes links to a number of helpful resources.

We appreciate all that you do for our students and thank you in advance for your understanding and flexibility. For the latest information related to COVID-19, we invite you to visit Cal Poly Pomona’s Health Alert page.

Sylvia Alva
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

Phyllis Nelson
Chair, Academic Senate
Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering