Dear CSD community,
I hope you are all doing well.
These are extraordinary times and we are all pulling together to keep sane, safe and healthy.
We are currently on spring break. Our leadership at UW has been communicating with faculty, staff and students. They have done a terrific job under the circumstances to support our community as best as possible.
When students return from spring break, we will be moving all instruction to online formats. Our professors and instructors are working diligently to ensure a smooth transition and continuation of our instruction. We aim to keep the online teaching going until further notice. We will be able to assess students and enter final semester grades.
Students are strongly encouraged not to treat this time period as a ‘vacation’ from learning, but rather to find ways to engage with their professors and classmates and to make this time period a valuable and meaningful learning period. Any students who are too ill to study should connect with their instructors to make arrangements.
Undergraduate students will continue to have access to our advisors via e-meetings. They are being contacted by our advisors to provide information on how to maintain their connection with us for the purpose of advising. Campus advising networks are working on student facing information, and their goal is to have information on advising.wisc.edu website for students, with broad and general advice about how to connect with advisors and career services staff
Our clinic is also gearing up for limited provisions, and possible closure. In that event, our students will be provided with guidance about their clinical hours. Our clinic director and staff are doing everything possible to make decisions using best practices for safety and educational continuity.
Our research programs are also entering a phase in which human subject testing is pretty much coming to a halt. Some critical care of animals in our animal facilities will continue, and we are following guidance from central campus regarding these issues. Students who are employed in labs are invited to connect with their lab directors to figure out ways in which they might be able to continue working remotely. All graduate students will continue to be funded.
I want to let you all know that we are doing everything possible to continue offering education and maintain a sense of community.
We will be sending out emails about staying connected.
I encourage everyone to take care of themselves and the people around them.
Do something for yourself, go for a walk or run, call your family and friends, eat some good food, practice yoga, be silly, be kind. If you are able, donate to organizations that are taking care of those in need.
Warmest wishes for a healthy spring.
Please email me if you have any questions or concerns,
Ruth Litovsky
Chair and Professor, Communication Sciences and Disorders