Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,

I hope you are well and staying healthy and safe. As the start of the spring semester approaches, I invite you to a virtual information session on Wednesday, Feb. 3, from 3 to 4 p.m. EST. A number of our colleagues will be on hand to answer questions you may have about the upcoming semester, with a focus on our ongoing COVID-19 mitigation efforts. 

If you plan to attend, please register here. You may submit your questions in advance until Friday, Jan. 29 at 5 p.m. You will also be able to ask questions using the chat feature during the session.

I suspect that many of you have questions about the College’s ability to obtain a vaccine and distribute it to the campus community. While some of our front-line employees who meet the Pennsylvania Department of Health’s Phase 1A criteria have received the vaccine, such as colleagues in Student Health and Wellness and Public Safety, we do not yet know when we’ll have the supply to distribute it broadly. We are in regular communication with local health officials about when and how much of a vaccine supply we might receive, and we hope to be able to administer it to the campus community sometime this spring. To help with our planning around the vaccine, we ask that you fill out this brief survey. Doing so will allow us to estimate the number of COVID-19 vaccines needed for our community. 

We will share additional details about the vaccine as they become available. In the meantime, based on recommendations from public health officials, we encourage anyone who has access to the vaccine through other avenues to pursue those options. You can find more information about the vaccine, including information from regional health departments, on our COVID-19 information site. 

I look forward to discussing this and any other questions you have during next week’s information session.

Sincerely, 


Val Smith
President