Recent Program Features

Good afternoon,

I wanted to follow-up yesterday’s messages from Chancellor Malhotra and President Davenport with a few additional points of interest and reminders.

As President Davenport noted, we have extended Spring Break for students until March 23. Campus remains open and faculty and staff should report to work. The extra week gives faculty an opportunity to plan for online and alternative delivery of all courses for the remainder of the semester beginning March 23.

The goal of this move to online and alternative delivery is to allow students to stay away from campus. We have encouraged students to stay away if they can, though residence halls remain open for those students who have nowhere else to go or who need to be here because they have jobs in the community. We know that with this shift many of our students will choose not return to Mankato this semester.

Thus, with the exception of unique, off-campus instructional situations like clinical experiences, student teaching, and aviation flight training, we expect that faculty will not hold on-campus classes for the remainder of the semester.

We recognize that this creates enormous challenges in areas like laboratory sciences, art studios, and performance classes and we are ready to help faculty address those challenges.

This is a public health crisis and a worldwide pandemic. It is going to require creativity and innovation in order to help our students succeed. The timing is difficult and planning for those alternative experiences needs to happen quickly. Our goal must be to create learning opportunities that, while not ideal by any measure, address our students’ needs and keep them on schedule for graduation.

As a reminder, we have created a Web site to help anyone with questions about moving classes online quickly: http://mankato.mnsu.edu/keepteaching.

We also have a support site for students who are inexperienced with online learning: http://mankato.mnsu.edu/keeplearning.

In addition, the faculty and staff of Memorial Library offer a wide variety of services that can help with the transition. Contact a librarian for more information.

If you have questions about specific kinds of learning experiences, please contact us at the Office of the Provost, provost@mnsu.edu. We will try to answer your questions or connect you with experts who can help.

Many faculty members have come forward offering their online teaching expertise to assist faculty colleagues with this shift to online and alternative delivery. I am grateful to them for their willingness to help. If you have special skills you would like to offer to help colleagues with this transition, please contact Associate Vice President Jennifer Veltsos: Jennifer.veltsos@mnsu.edu.

It has been a turbulent few weeks. I hope everyone has a restful weekend in preparation for what will be a busy time next week preparing for this shift to online and alternative delivery.

Thank you for everything you do to help our students succeed.

Kind regards,
Matt

Good afternoon,

I wanted to follow-up yesterday’s messages from Chancellor Malhotra and President Davenport with a few additional points of interest and reminders.

As President Davenport noted, we have extended Spring Break for students until March 23. Campus remains open and faculty and staff should report to work. The extra week gives faculty an opportunity to plan for online and alternative delivery of all courses for the remainder of the semester beginning March 23.

With the exception of unique, off-campus instructional situations like clinical experiences, student teaching, and aviation flight training, we will not hold on-campus classes for the remainder of the semester. Students in those unique instructional situations will be contacted by their professors with more information.

Campus is open and while classes are moving to online and alternative delivery you are welcome to be here. Residence halls remain open for those residential students who need to be here for any reason. Food service is available. Memorial Library and most other campus buildings will be open next week.

We have created a support site for students who are inexperienced with online learning: http://mankato.mnsu.edu/keeplearning.

If you have questions about academics, please contact us at provost@mnsu.edu. We will try to answer your questions or connect you with experts who can help.

I want to thank you ahead of time for your patience as we adapt our classes and campus services for online and alternative delivery. Please know that your continued progress toward graduation is our top priority during this crisis.

We want you to succeed and we promise to do everything we can to help. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions you may have.

Kind regards,
Matt

Dear Minnesota State Mankato Students,

Effective immediately:

All travelers that are returning from a Level 3 country must stay home for 14 days after returning from travel, monitor their health, and practice social distancing.  The full guidance from the CDC is located at https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/warning/coronavirus-europe

Travelers returning from other countries or from domestic travel need to monitor their health and limit interactions with others for 14 days after returning from travel.  Travelers that are sick with fever, cough, or have trouble breathing should stay home and call ahead before seeking medical care.  The full guidance from the CDC is located at

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/alert/coronavirus-global

If you are a faculty or staff member who needs to self-quarantined or stay home to monitor your health after traveling, please notify the Office of the Provost, provost@mnsu.edu.

If you are a student who needs to self-quarantine, stay home to monitor your health, or needs accommodations to self-quarantine, please notify Student Affairs, student-affairs@mnsu.edu.

If you have questions regarding exposure as a result of travel, Minnesota Department of Health asks you to call 651-201-5414 or 877-676-5414 for guidance.

Please visit the campus Coronavirus web site at http://www.mnsu.edu/coronavirus for the latest updates or to post your questions.

Respectfully,

David P. Jones, Ph.D.

March 16 - Resumption of classes pushed back to March 30

March 15 - Travelers returning from other countries

Message to Faculty

March 16, 2020
8:08 a.m.

Good morning,

I am following up on Chancellor Malhotra’s email of last night to amplify a couple of key points.

1. Resumption of classes via online and alternative delivery has been pushed back to March 30. Faculty and staff should use this week and next to prepare for online and alternative delivery of coursework and support services. There are a wide variety of support services available for those who need help with that transition. They include the http://www.mnsu.edu/keepteaching site as well as the following library services:

• A guide to using Memorial Library to transition your classes to online learning: https://libguides.mnsu.edu/covid19
• A form to contact a librarian (similar to ITS e-ticket): https://libguides.mnsu.edu/c.php?g=947587
• 24/7 Reference Service (librarian help desk): https://libguides.mnsu.edu/ask

2. Staffing/Continuity of Operations: I have asked Deans to identify staff in each college/unit office who could potentially telecommute and assure that they are prepared to do so with appropriate technology, broadband Internet access, knowledge of the university VPN, etc. If you have an underlying health concern, are caring for someone with an underlying health concern, or have any other reason to believe you are a candidate to telecommute, please contact your supervisor.

Once again, I want to thank everyone for their dedication to helping our students through this unprecedented situation. Everyone understands these alternative delivery methods and work arrangements are not ideal. Our goal must be to do the best we can for our students despite these obstacles.

Kind regards,
Matt

Message to Faculty and Staff

March 15, 2020
12:34 p.m.

Dear Minnesota State Mankato faculty and staff,

Effective immediately:

All travelers that are returning from a Level 3 country must stay home for 14 days after returning from travel, monitor their health, and practice social distancing.  The full guidance from the CDC is located at https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/warning/coronavirus-europe

Travelers returning from other countries or from domestic travel need to monitor their health and limit interactions with others for 14 days after returning from travel.  Travelers that are sick with fever, cough, or have trouble breathing should stay home and call ahead before seeking medical care.  The full guidance from the CDC is located at

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/alert/coronavirus-global

If you are a faculty or staff member who needs to self-quarantined or stay home to monitor your health after traveling, please notify the Office of the Provost, provost@mnsu.edu.

If you are a student who needs to self-quarantine, stay home to monitor your health, or needs accommodations to self-quarantine, please notify Student Affairs, student-affairs@mnsu.edu.

If you have questions regarding exposure as a result of travel, Minnesota Department of Health asks you to call 651-201-5414 or 877-676-5414 for guidance.

Please visit the campus Coronavirus web site at http://www.mnsu.edu/coronavirus for the latest updates or to post your questions.

Respectfully,

Matt