September 9, 2020
Dear Pitt Faculty,
In my August 19 message, I indicated that additional guidance about teaching in person in Elevated Risk would be forthcoming. I write now to provide that guidance.
When we are in Elevated Risk posture – the posture we anticipate for the Pittsburgh campus on September 14 – our revised instructional standards and guidelines state that, in addition to continuing to provide remote options for students and faculty through Flex@Pitt:
“An in-person engagement option can also be provided when there is a definable benefit to in-person instruction and the dean or regional campus president or their designee grants permission via teaching implementation plans.”
The words “definable benefit” may be broadly construed to include providing an opportunity for students to see one another and study together in the same classroom or allowing the students to see the room and their instructors in person, among others. Teaching implementation plans that have already been approved may be updated, if necessary, by sending an email to your dean requesting permission to begin teaching your classes in your assigned classroom, either in person or through the technology that has been installed to permit instructors to remotely appear in the classroom.
We have taken a prudent, gradual approach to beginning in-person instruction. Our classrooms have been carefully prepared and are equipped and safe for use. Students, faculty, and staff are complying with masking guidelines on campus, which have recently been clarified to include all shared spaces on campus, and we have in place building access controls, temperature scanners, and health attestation requirements.
A minority of classes, approximately 8%, are already meeting in person, having received permission previously from their schools to begin teaching in that mode. You may want to consider this option and to reach out to the University Center for Teaching and Learning to access helpful resources.
When we are able to move to Guarded Risk posture, most classes will be expected to provide an in-person classroom experience. While we remain in the Elevated Risk Posture, you may wish to move toward this mode in a more gradual way, say with only one class per week meeting in person. Please be sure to communicate to your students the options you will provide for attending class in person.
Thank you for all you do to provide our students with the outstanding educational experience they expect from the University of Pittsburgh.
H2P!
Ann E. Cudd
Provost and Senior Vice Chancellor