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Dear Campus Community,

Following new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance last week, Governor Tim Walz ended Minnesota’s statewide face covering requirement starting last Friday, May 14.

Minnesota State University, Mankato will follow the guidance of Governor Walz and state and federal public health officials. We have lifted the University’s face covering mandate for vaccinated individuals starting today. If you voluntarily wish to wear a mask, you may do so. 

Here is what you can expect on our campus and other University worksites (Hubbard Building, Edina and Iron Range):

• If you are fully vaccinated, no masks are required in University buildings, venues, events or outdoor spaces (except where posted, such as in health clinics and in the dining facilities as described below). The definition of fully vaccinated is two weeks following the second Pfizer or Moderna dose or two weeks after the single Johnson and Johnson dose.
• If you are not fully vaccinated, we expect you to wear a mask indoors. I also ask all community members to support anyone who chooses to wear a mask, noting that there could be many reasons one might do so.  
• If you are working in leased facilities, local mask ordinances may apply.
• Building capacity limits and physical distancing requirements will remain in place until May 28, based on the Governor’s announcement from earlier this month. We will provide an update on capacity and physical distancing requirements once the Governor relaxes these measures.   
• Minnesota Department of Health guidance for dining services in higher education outlines the following requirements until noon on May 27.
• Face coverings are required for employees and customers at all times unless they are seated and eating
• Indoor seating has been changed from 4 to 10 people per table
• 6 feet between tables is still a key requirement
• Indoor occupancy has been set at no more than 75%

Please continue to take important public health precautions and stay home if you are sick. Despite increases in vaccination rates and the slowing pace of COVID-19 infections in Minnesota, the pandemic continues. We continue to encourage our staff and students to be vaccinated. There are vaccination sites all over Minnesota, and many are allowing walk-ins without appointments.

The lifting of the face covering mandate brings us one step closer to returning to our pre-pandemic ways of living, working and learning. An additional communication is forthcoming regarding what you can expect to experience on campus when everyone returns for fall semester. Until then, continue to be safe and well.

Sincerely,

Richard Davenport
President

Dear Faculty and Staff,

The 2021-2022 academic year is just a few months away and we are ready and excited to welcome you back to campus! Since March 2020 we’ve been working on Return to Learn planning to keep students learning, and university operations running during the pandemic. Now, we conclude the Return to Learn structures and launch Return to Campus.

As we look at the fall new student enrollment predictions, we are roughly 500 new and transfer students behind our normal numbers. Students across the nation have taken a wait and see approach. If the university experience is going to be largely remote-learning, they are opting out. This has significant implications for the university, and our employees.

So we are sharing a simple message with our students, as well as faculty and staff. We’re back. While we will still have some on-line only courses as we typically do in every academic year, we are looking forward to the majority of our courses in the fall being taught face-to-face. We are excited to have students and faculty back together in the classroom again!

In order to prepare our campus for a more typical fall semester, we need to begin the process of returning all university employees who have not yet transitioned back to campus or other university-designated workspaces. During the time period of Tuesday, July 6 to Monday, August 2, employees are expected to fully transition back to your on campus, or other university-designated workspace. Your supervisor will communicate transition timelines with you over the next few weeks. Please discuss with them any questions or concerns you have so they can be addressed. Please note, this timeline does not include teaching faculty who resume duty days on Monday, August 16.

To make our Return to Campus happen we’re encouraging all employees and students to get vaccinated and continue to practice good public health behaviors (e.g. wash your hands, stay home when sick, mask if not fully vaccinated). Individuals may still choose to wear a mask if desired; however, individual offices, departments or classrooms cannot require mask-wearing or vaccines of employees or students.

We will continue to follow Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) guidelines about social distancing. We are encouraged about the trends and believe we can prepare for classroom, residence hall and venue occupancy to being close to normal. As always, we can adjust as needed.

Thank you for your commitment to our University and students. We are excited to have everyone returning to campus soon!

Sincerely,

Richard Davenport
President 

Tyler graduated in 2021 with a BS in Physics and minors in Astronomy and Mathematics. He immediately continued to graduate school, where he is pursuing his PhD in Physics with emphasis in Astrophysics at the University of Utah. Beginning in Fall 2021, his experience will be comprised of three major duties- classwork, working as a teaching assistant, and research. His later years in the program will focus much more heavily on his research. Although he hasn’t yet decided on a research topic, he is interested in those related to his undergraduate work in galaxy evolution, where he used data from ground and space-based telescopes to study the observed growth of distant galaxies as a function of redshift.

One valuable lesson that Tyler learned from his time at Minnesota State University was that communication is an essential part of science. Whether chatting with a classmate, working with a collaborator, or presenting at a conference, you must be able to explain your work at the necessary level of the listener. Science is a group effort, so effective communication will create a productive, successful, and ultimately more enjoyable environment.