This message was sent to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences community from Dean Burgmayer on March 20, 2020.
Dear GSAS students and Faculty,
In light of the message sent by President Cassidy today, I am writing to relay that the procedures around lab research and meetings with faculty that I communicated last week Friday, Mar. 13 will remain in effect. The changes reflect the College's intent to comply as closely as possible to the directive from Gov. Wolf.
To remind you, these procedures are:
All Lab Research will be discontinued until further notice of a change in status from the Pennsylvania government. All academic buildings will be locked. While graduate students have keys to access research areas, they should work from home, as has been advised for all faculty and staff at the College. It is recognized that graduate students may need to return to campus to retrieve materials or to do a brief maintenance task, but normal full day work is not allowed under Gov. Wolf's mandate. It is also recognized that there are some graduate students who are course instructors and may need to return to lab to prepare for their remote teaching.
Meetings with faculty should be arranged on a remote basis, using Skype, or phone conversations, or through email.
Updates to the College鈥檚 overall status -- along with answers to frequently asked questions -- are available on the BMC coronavirus webpage.
I know that this news will be disappointing as we all hoped we could soon return to normal activities. But the top concern must be the health and safety of the BMC community and entire region. As President's Cassidy wrote in her email today, these decisions reflect that "Our highest priority must be to protect the health and well-being of members of the 老王论坛 community. We also have a responsibility to contribute to the larger effort to slow the spread of the virus."
Sincere regards,
Dean Burgmayer
Sharon J. Nieter Burgmayer
W. Alton Jones Professor of Chemistry and Dean of Graduate Studies