How We’re Preparing

To plan for a return to in-person instruction, the university created a Fall Semester Planning Team, led by a steering committee that includes the Provost and the Vice President for Student Life, the Associate Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students, the Dean of Faculty, the Associate Vice President for Enrollment Services, and the Chief of the Furman Police Department.

Subcommittees are focusing on such topics as:

• Academic Program and Classroom Instruction
• Accessibility and Accommodations
• Athletics and Sporting Events
• Building/Space Adjustments and Disinfecting/Cleaning
• Engaged Learning
• Health and Safety
• Housing, Dining, and Campus Recreation
• Physical Distancing and Safety Measures
• Student Involvement, Programs and Activities

The Fall Semester Planning Team is being guided by these core principles:

1. Safely teaching students in an in-person setting will be our top institutional priority. Any program, event, or service that has the potential to interfere with the student experience may need to be deprioritized.
2. Students thrive when they have safe places to sleep, eat, exercise, and socialize. These remain essential, even though they may look different than before the pandemic.
3. The university will develop protocols aimed at preventing and stopping the spread of the virus, such as cleaning and disinfecting, screening, testing, contact tracing, isolation, quarantine, and social distancing and the use of masks.
4. The university will ensure faculty, staff, and students have access to the same basic information, formal education and training regarding COVID-19.
5. In all planning (including for contingencies), concern for vulnerable populations and accessibility for people with disabilities will be taken into consideration.
6. The university will closely monitor the evolving circumstances related to COVID-19, along with rapidly developing scientific knowledge and medical resources, to determine the appropriateness for adjustments and contingencies.

Public Health and Safety Advisory Group

• John Wheeler, chair, associate provost for Integrative Science
• Elaine Baker, director of Sports Medicine, director of the St. Francis Therapy Center at Furman
• Anna Cass, epidemiologist, assistant professor of Health Sciences
• Carmela Epright, medical ethicist, professor of Philosophy
• Ann Knowles, M.D., medical director of the Earle Student Health Center
• Natalie The, epidemiologist, associate professor of Health Sciences

The university will closely monitor the evolving circumstances related to COVID-19, along with rapidly developing scientific knowledge and medical resources, to determine the appropriateness for adjustments and contingencies. For general questions about the fall semester, please email furman.focused@furman.edu.