Daniella Tebib
News Editor
Provost Timothy Todd and Murray State deans ensured students should hear from their faculty and how their classes will be formatted this week.
Todd said he asked all faculty members to send students the syllabi for their courses and an interpersonal note explaining how the semester delivery will occur. Todd also said as accommodations and adjustments are known, student’s schedules will be technologically updated and displayed as one of the following:
“FACE-TO-FACE: A total face-to-face classroom experience for the student or a hybrid model with meeting times consisting of a face-to-face classroom portion and a scheduled day/time ZOOM portion.
TOTAL ZOOM: A specified Zoom meeting time and day(s). Campus will be shown as Zoom. Building will be shown as ZOOM.”
The News also contacted the deans of each college and school on campus to see if they are handling the return to campus differently. Each dean has or plans to send an email to the students in their college explaining the health and safety measures that will be taken in the buildings of those specific colleges.
However, the deans will not address how each individual class will be formatted or how course instruction will be delivered. Professors have been asked to contact their students this week to let them know whether their courses will be in person, hybrid or online.
Todd said he hopes everything will be finalized by Wednesday, Aug. 5.
Evan Thomas, junior from Avon Lake, Ohio, said most of his classes will be in person because they are on the farm and hands on with the horses.
Tony Brannon, dean of Hutson School of Agriculture, said classes and labs are currently under review, but he anticipates that most of the classes in his college will be in person.
“We fully expect most all Hutson School of Agriculture classes to be offered in person to the greatest extent possible,” Brannon said. “Some agricultural lab type classes simply do not lend themselves to virtual instruction.”
Merrick Johnson, junior from Carlisle, Kentucky, said he has heard from two of his professors who have told him his classes will be completely online. Johnson said he has some concerns about the timeliness of the University’s updates and notifications regarding COVID-19 guidelines and the return to campus.
“We just signed up for housing appointments this week and we’re moving in two weeks from now,” Johnson said. “That’s cutting it really close in my opinion and I know these are uncertain times, but if we could have some semblance of normalcy, that’d be great. I’m nervous to get back and I anticipate contracting it myself in some form or another, but hopefully I won’t infect others.”
Mallory Wooldridge, junior from Murray, said she has heard from four out of five of her professors. She has a mix of in-person, hybrid and completely online instructed courses. One of Wooldridge’s concerns is about her foreign language course.
“I don’t think my language classes will be nearly as effective, whether in person or online, because of our masks,” Wooldridge said. “Of course, I highly encourage mask wearing, but it will be difficult to learn pronunciations when you can’t hear the sounds or see the person’s mouth.”
Amy Krazl, junior from St. Louis, Missouri, is in the nursing program and said she has heard from one of her professors. Krazl said the professor she heard from is splitting the class in two different rooms. Krazl’s professor will physically be in one room and join the other virtually on alternating days.
Dina Byers, dean of the School of Nursing and Health Professions, said many of the degree programs in the school require in-person experiences including labs, clinicals, internships, practicums and fieldwork.
“Our goal is to offer these essential experiences while adhering to safety standards and recommendations,” Byers said. “We are taking many measures, including the purchase of PPE, to ensure that we are doing our best to protect the students and the faculty in the clinical and classroom settings.”
Krazl said she thinks the University is doing the best they can considering the circumstances.
“I think there’s a lot going on behind the scenes that we don’t hear about,” Krazl said. “I obviously wish things were more certain, but I bet they didn’t let us know about housing and other stuff until now because they couldn’t guarantee we’d actually be there.”
While Johnson, Wooldridge and Krazl have heard from some of their professors, Delaney Shroat, junior from Sterling Heights, Kentucky, said she has yet to hear from any.
“As far as I know my classes are all in person,” Shroat said. “I am nervous about being in person, but I think the University is doing their best to have a safe return to campus.”
Todd also said faculty are required to include new or expanded sections in all course syllabi including instructional hours makeup, student face covering/mask policy, counseling resources on campus, students with disabilities, class attendance and the Racer safe and healthy guidelines.
Stay tuned with The News as more information about the return to campus becomes available and subscribe to our weekly newsletter for our top weekly stories here.