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Dear faculty and staff,

As we close out the Fall 2020 semester, all of us are very familiar with the words and phrases that have been used and overused to describe the current environment — “challenging,” “unprecedented,” “unknown.” While we may be numb to these words at this point, that does not make them any less fitting. In our institution’s history, we have rarely faced an external threat like COVID-19 that reshaped our community and the world around us so rapidly.

Reaching every one of our students to provide life-changing educational and growth opportunities is ingrained in our mission and in our culture. In fulfilling that mission, our faculty, staff and administrators faced this semester with tenacity, resolve and skill. Mere words cannot adequately express my thanks and gratitude for your tremendous work and service to our university and our students.

As we commemorate the end of the semester, I hope everyone has a deep appreciation for the way we kept our students on track toward earning their degrees, redesigned how we deliver courses to comply with public health protocols, continued pushing our research enterprise, and implemented necessary training and technology upgrades. We completed the semester without the disruptions that so many of our peer institutions across the nation experienced.

All of this was accomplished in the face of every member of the university family being impacted, professionally and personally. And before the fall was over, you were looking ahead to the Spring 2021 semester and all the ways that we can improve and enhance our academic offerings and campus life opportunities for our students. All of this gets at the core of who we are as a university community that we are all working tirelessly to offer the best on-campus living, learning and working environment possible. I commend you, and I’m thankful for your adaptability, creativity, and commitment to keeping our campus community thriving.

I know we all look forward to the holidays, spending time with loved ones, and celebrating all for which we are thankful. I continue to be tremendously grateful for our caring and dynamic campus community. Over the next several weeks, we will recognize faculty and staff with various activities through the “Red & Blue Because of You!” celebration. Thank you again to the entire university family for your commitment. You are truly an inspiration.

Wishing you and yours a happy and restful Thanksgiving!

Glenn F. Boyce
Chancellor

 

 

Greetings Ole Miss parents and families,

As we wrap up the Fall 2020 semester, I know your family is eager to welcome your student home for the holidays. As I recently shared in a message to all students, we know they have navigated a semester that is anything but typical, and we are extremely proud of them. I visited with hundreds of them throughout the course of the semester and their input has been invaluable as we make planning adjustments moving into the spring semester.

Completing the semester while adhering to our plan

While we faced countless challenges and difficult decisions as we rethought how we do virtually everything on campus, I’m proud that we completed the semester without the disruptions that so many universities across the nation experienced. We managed to do this because we adhered to the guiding principles outlined in our Campus Ready plan:

• Prevent the spread of the virus to safeguard our community by following guidance of public health officials and agencies,
• Resume an on-campus learning, living and working environment that prioritizes the safety and well-being of the campus population,
• Fulfill our core mission of education, research, and service, and
• Enable our students to maintain progress toward earning their degrees.

Commitment to expanding in-person offerings

In my Oct. 27 letter to parents and families, we committed to holding as many in-person courses (face-to-face or hybrid formats) in Spring 2021 as we possibly can. In committing to more in-person courses, we pledged to expand the number of places where we host classes, and have explored or utilized non-traditional spaces on campus as well as off-campus locations in order to maximize opportunities for face-to-face instruction in the spring while also practicing the required social distancing in the classroom. Some of these include the Tad Smith Coliseum, Student Union and Johnson Commons East Ballrooms, Ford Center Studio A, Jackson Avenue Center and Vaught Hemingway South End Zone Upper Club, among others.

Spring 2021 registration

Spring 2021 registration is underway, and all students now have access to the registration website. We encourage you to visit this resource for an explanation of course delivery formats. Please note that course formats will not change unless under extraordinary circumstances related to the pandemic.

As of November 25, we have been able to increase classes with an in-person component from 2,185 in fall 2020 to 3,329 in spring 2021. While we are excited to offer more face-to-face courses, our registration data indicates that students are signing up for remote/online courses at nearly the same percentage as in the fall. I would encourage you to visit with your student to ensure they take full advantage of the increases in face-to-face offerings.

Please note that we expect the registration numbers to continue to shift as the registration window remains open through the start of the spring semester for students who are still registering for classes or those who want to revise their initial selections.

Commitment to our students and gratitude for our families

Thank you for all you do in partnering with us as we seek to provide our students the best possible college experience during these extraordinary times. We hope this update gives you a sense of how we are working creatively and diligently to respond to valuable input from students and parents to make an even better living and learning environment for our students in Spring 2021. We appreciate how encouraging and caring Ole Miss parents are as we all seek to support our students in pursuing their goals while living through a time that has upended the world. We are tremendously proud of our stellar student body.

Stay safe, stay well and enjoy the holiday season.

Glenn F. Boyce
Chancellor