Dear CALS Students,

We know that there have been many transitions recently and with those transitions often comes challenges. Please know that we are here to support you and provide clarifications as needed.

You received an email from Chancellor Blank last week which outlined how campus will be returning to in-person courses for some courses, additional measures to help ensure a safe and healthy campus, housing updates, and other student services. By now, you should have heard from your instructors about which of your courses will include any in-person instruction or not moving forward. Please refer to the Smart Restart FAQ for additional information.

We want to thank those who completed the survey regarding how to best support you with the challenges presented by the current pandemic. What we heard was that while many of you feel confident or fairly confident that you can have a successful semester, online education is by far the biggest challenge – including technology issues, keeping up with synchronous and asynchronous activities, looking at screens for long periods of time, or missing the in-person interaction. We also heard that many of you are dealing with personal crises while trying to balance virtual education. This has added to stress and anxiety about maintaining progress. As we work to modify our support for you based on the information gathered from the survey, please know that Mental Health Services is providing resources and support virtually.

As always, please let us know if you have any questions or concerns by emailing academicaffairs@cals.wisc.edu.

Wishing you wellness and success,

CALS Academic Affairs

This article was posted in A Message from the Dean.