Colleagues,

I hope the spring semester started smoothly for each of you.

I want to express my thanks for your great work in preparing us for an unusual start to this spring semester. We know there was a lot of uncertainty this time last week, and you and your faculty and staff’s efforts helped facilitate the first-week remote option and minimize student confusion. The flexibility for remote instruction during the first week helped us alleviate concerns, distribute medical-grade masks, provide opportunities for booster shots and implement additional safety measures. We appreciate everyone’s support for this week’s temporary switch in modality.

As you’ve probably noticed, Omicron appears to be subsiding and cases in Wisconsin and southeast Wisconsin have dropped. The City of Milwaukee reinstated its mask mandate through February, and UWM has extended its mask mandate and mandatory testing for unvaccinated individuals into Spring Break. In addition, COVID-19 testing over the past three weeks on our main campus shows a steady decline in positivity rates. This is all welcome news.

As we made clear in last week’s Spring 2022 First Week & Semester Guidance, UWM will return to its originally planned in-person instructional schedule starting Monday, January 31. Please inform your instructional and academic support staff to communicate to students plans for the second week of in-person classes. We recommend that all instructors post their return to their original PAWS schedule on their course’s Canvas site. We also recommend that instructors email students through Canvas about the return to originally scheduled in-person operations.

As always, we continue to monitor conditions on campus and in the community. If the current direction of the Omicron surge changes, we will adjust accordingly.

Again, thank you all for your hard work and support in providing flexibilities for this first week.

Take care,

Johannes

Johannes Britz
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

NOTE: This message was sent to Deans, Associate Deans, Department Chairs & Academic Affairs Division Heads on Thursday, January 27, 2022.