Dear EMS Students,

I hope that you are doing well and staying healthy.  For those of you in summer classes, I hope they are going well!

I’m writing to share some important updates about the fall 2020 semester. The planning continues to evolve, as the University works on all of the many considerations necessary to have a safe and productive fall.

First, the University is working hard to finalize plans for your return to classes! In the fall, classes will be offered through a mix of instructional modes: in-person, mixed (some in-person components and some remote), remote synchronous, and remote asynchronous. You may have noticed that some of your courses have begun to change modes in LionPATH. Please wait until after the schedule of courses is finalized in the next several days to make any changes to your course schedule.

It is important to understand that some circumstances will require classes with fewer than 250 students to be delivered partially or entirely through remote and online instruction. These circumstances include classroom capacity, which has been lowered to accommodate social distancing guidelines, and the health and/or needs of our faculty members. Our faculty are working closely with the University to determine the best options for students while meeting all course objectives.

It is important that you also consider your own needs and preferences when considering these instructional modes. Please review more information about these modes at the keep learning website. Many of the in-person or mixed-mode courses will be adding remote-synchronous companion sections to enable participation for students who want or need to participate completely remotely for the entire semester.  Not all courses with an in-person component (e.g., the in-person or mixed-mode courses) can accommodate full-semester remote participation, but professors are doing their best to facilitate this if they can.  Watch for these companion sections in the coming days.

Please see this Penn State Newswire article for information about changing campuses for the Fall 2020 semester, which may be appealing if you are starting or continuing from home for the fall: https://news.psu.edu/story/625235/2020/07/07/academics/coronavirus-faq-what-options-and-tuition-rates-are-available-fall.  To stay up-to-date on the latest Penn State News, please go here (https://news.psu.edu/stay-connected) to subscribe.

Please continue to monitor the keep learning website for up-to-date information. If you have questions about your specific schedule or plans, please reach out to an academic adviser. You can contact your assigned academic adviser in your department, or you can contact an academic adviser in the Ryan Family Student Center by calling 814-863-2751.

Your Ryan Family Student Center team is continuing to support your needs.  Advising is ongoing and will continue remotely through the fall, with remote tutoring in math, physics, and writing also available.  Our director of student engagement is ready to help you plan your beyond-the-classroom experiences as well!  We are excited to let you know that the Ryan Family Student Center is expanding to provide more space and services for you.  To facilitate this, we will be closed for construction during the rest of the summer and some portion of the fall semester.  We can’t wait to welcome you back when we reopen!

We look forward to seeing you in the fall, and we wish you all the best until then!  I will continue to send you updates as the full picture of the fall semester evolves.

— Dr. Richardson