University of New England announces plans to open Maine campuses for fall semester
The University of New England will welcome students back to its Biddeford and Portland, 2020年秋季学期的缅因州校区.
4月, UNE President James Herbert announced the creation of a Committee on Contingency Planning for Academic Year 2021. 这支球队, 由教员组成, 专业人员, 和管理员, including physicians and public health experts, 一直在努力探索它吗, 如何, and when the University can safely welcome students back to its campuses.
“Although there continues to be much that we do not know about the novel coronavirus, 我们每天都在学习更多, and we have now reached a point at which I feel confident in our ability to resume on-campus operations by the fall semester,赫伯特总统说.
“Under the leadership of Governor Janet Mills and Maine CDC Director Dr. Nirav沙, Maine has successfully enacted initiatives to flatten the epidemiological curve of the coronavirus outbreak. 这些措施, in combination with Maine’s relatively low population density, have helped the state to weather this storm far better than many others across the country.”
The decision is also grounded in UNE’s mission to prepare students to thrive in a rapidly changing world and to use their education to improve the health of people, 社区, 这个星球. For students enrolled in the University’s on-campus programs, face-to-face interaction is a critical part of that mission. UNE’s emphasis on hands-on learning is a distinguishing feature of its on-campus programs and is essential to students’ educations and their career preparation. Hands-on learning is also paramount to the education of UNE students studying the health professions.
“As Maine’s top provider of health care workers, UNE has a responsibility to bring our health professions students back to campus to continue their training, enabling them to complete their programs on time and join a workforce that desperately needs them,赫伯特说。.
重新开放, 然而, will not come without modifications and accommodations, 以及对风险的承认. The University is committed to making decisions and plans based on guidance from leading health experts at the national and state levels, and from UNE’s own highly regarded scientists and public health professionals. Every reasonable and appropriate effort will be made to mitigate risk to the fullest extent possible in campus settings.
The University is currently developing a robust plan of risk mitigation that introduces several modifications to the campus experience. The committee is exploring the role that social distancing may play in both academics and student life, with the goal of taking all reasonable precautions and adhering to CDC guidelines. It is also looking carefully at protocols around cleaning and sanitation and 如何 those efforts may be enhanced when students return.
除了, UNE is making detailed preparations for any and all circumstances that may arise should students test positive for the virus. 拥有丰富的卫生专业知识, UNE will develop a plan that includes testing as it is available, 适当的接触者追踪, designating a residential space to isolate students who may test positive and who need to remain on campus, and providing health care services to any student who becomes ill with COVID-19.
For those students who cannot immediately return to campus due to underlying health conditions, 正规澳门赌场网络将提供平行的在线课程, enabling them to complete their coursework remotely until such time that they can safely return to campus. These same online alternatives will be available should there be students who are temporarily unable to attend in-person classes due to the virus.
Because some of UNE’s health professions programs begin classes over the summer, the University is developing a process to bring those students back to campus prior to the fall so that they may receive the necessary hands-on training needed to proceed in their programs.
“If the past several weeks have taught me anything, 那就是正规澳门赌场网络以创新为基础, 适应性, 关心他人,赫伯特说。. “通过拥抱技术, welcoming the challenges of teaching and learning in an ever-changing world, and keeping our eye towards the betterment of all through the education we provide, 我们不辜负联合国的使命. 对此，我感到非常自豪.”
Read about it in the Portland Press Herald, MaineBiz, 路透, 学生宿舍业务等等 NBC 10波士顿, WGME, WCSH, WMTW, 缅因州的公共
