A year of change, uncertainty and resilience continues to unfold at UW-Madison. Here in the College of Letters & Science, we are monitoring a global pandemic, racial unrest and a rocky economy, and are doing our best to support the academic goals of our students in the midst of historic upheaval.
Here is a recap and an update on where we are now, for our many alumni and friends.
On Friday, March 13, the university responded to the global coronavirus pandemic by closing campus for the first time in its 172-year history. In the spring, faculty and staff in Letters & Science moved more than 4,500 courses to a remote format. As campus emptied, rabbits and squirrels took over the green spaces. It was an eerie time.
To celebrate graduating seniors in May, L&S released its first-ever online commencement celebration on Saturday, May 9. It was not the graduation ceremony we wanted for our students, but we did our best to let the Class of 2020 know they'd always have a special place in our hearts.
SuccessWorks, the L&S career prep center, rolled out programs designed to help our students, especially graduating seniors (many of whom faced rescinded job offers), pivot and explore new avenues of employment or virtual internships. Career advising went virtual, and a new series of “Fall Career Focus Weeks” was created and launched in September, encouraging students to explore and consider a wide variety of fields.
On June 3, as peaceful protestors filled the streets of downtown Madison, and thousands drew together in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, L&S dean Eric Wilcots sent a message to L&S students, encouraging all to “speak out and act against racism and injustice.” He followed this with a Juneteenth message that reminded students about the history of a day that sees Black communities celebrating themselves as free and equal citizens.
Other steps to address racial inequities on campus have been shared by Chancellor Rebecca Blank, and Dean Wilcots has pledged to make equity and inclusion one of his top priorities as dean.
Throughout the summer, the L&S Continuity of Instruction Planning team worked with L&S faculty to plan for the Smart Restart: to welcome students back to campus for a mix of in-person and remote instruction, within strict parameters for testing, gathering and mask-wearing. The L&S Remote Teaching Toolkit was developed and launched by L&S’s Learning Support Services (LSS) in consultation and help from L&S faculty and staff.
On August 14, LSS launched TA Training for Remote Teaching. More than 1,000 graduate students participated in the five-day course.
Fall semester courses began on September 2 under the hybrid instruction model. On September 9, UW-Madison paused in-person classes for two weeks and quarantined two dorms (Sellery and Witte) as well as a number of fraternity and sorority houses. The positive coronavirus test rate among students had risen far too rapidly (20 percent or greater for two consecutive days) and significant action was needed to protect the health of our community. In consultation with UW System Administration, Public Health Madison & Dane County and Governor Evers, university leaders are working to bring daily case totals down and plan for next steps.
Chancellor Blank’s September 15 blog post offers the latest details about campus plans.
In a recent email to faculty and staff, Dean Wilcots expressed gratitude for all that faculty, staff and students are doing in this time of crisis.
“Collectively, we’ve all worked very hard as a college and campus to make this semester a success," he said. "Success is a subjective metric; in the context of an institution of higher education operating during a global pandemic, success under any definition is a challenge. Remaining committed to the health and safety of our students and each other must be our top priority."
A series of supportive messages from faculty is being shared during these two weeks on the Instagram platform, where many of our students are active, as well as on the L&S YouTube channel (UWMadisonLS). Our professors love what they do, and they are missing their students just as much as students are missing their in-person classes and all the activities and fun that make UW-Madison such an incredible place to be in (a normal) September.
The team behind Sift & Winnow wishes all of our readers good health and resilient spirits in the weeks and months ahead. Drop us an email at siftandwinnow@ls.wisc.edu. We’d love to hear from you.