From the Provost and COO - Spring 2022 Update: Minimal operational changes planned

Nov. 19, 2021

Dear students, faculty and staff,

We are writing to update you on the university’s plans for the spring 2022 semester, which will look quite similar operationally to the current fall semester. Completing the fall semester without interruption to our in-person instruction and events has been no small feat, and we truly appreciate everyone’s innovation, resilience and cooperation. Additionally, your collective commitment to completing the university’s vaccination requirement and wearing masks has been crucial to our success. We should all be proud of how our campus community has persevered through the challenges of COVID-19.

While changes in the spring will be minimal, we know many of you have questions about work modalities and potential updates to public health requirements. So we’re providing some brief updates below to set the foundation for the spring. 

We recognize that Boulder County, and Colorado as a whole, remain in a state of high transmission of COVID-19. We will continue to monitor conditions to make decisions that first and foremost protect the health and safety of our campus community. However, based on the advice of our Pandemic Response Leadership Implementation Team, our Scientific Steering Committee and our campus public health experts, we remain confident in our path forward thanks to our high vaccination rates both on campus and in the surrounding community, as well as our mask requirement and other mitigation measures.

Academic instruction

  • We will offer 93% of all classes in person, including nearly 95% of undergraduate instruction.
  • While major changes for spring will be minimal, we have updated our academic instruction guidance for instructors.
  • We are standardizing the passing period for classes to 15 minutes for all class days, Monday through Friday. This will continue into future semesters. 

Future of Work

  • We will continue to provide flexibility for our employees as work duties allow. 
  • Our Future of Work Committee and Human Resources office have published a wealth of information and resources to help guide employees and supervisors with regard to work modalities and schedules. This includes the adopted Guiding Principles and updated definitions and parameters for hybrid, on-campus and remote work modalities.
  • The Office of Information Technology has published recommendations for hybrid work. 

Public health/COVID-19 mitigation

Events and activities

  • Campus recently updated the Events and Activities Policy.
  • The university does not currently have plans to require proof of vaccination to attend events held on the CU Boulder campus due to the high vaccination rates both on campus and in the surrounding community, as well as our mask requirement and other mitigation measures.

Thank you for the personal commitment each of you has made to keep our campus safe this semester. We hope you all make time to refresh and recharge with loved ones over fall break, and we look forward to seeing you back on campus on Nov. 29. 

Sincerely,

Russell Moore
Provost 

Patrick O’Rourke

Chief Operating Officer