To our U of T Engineering community
In the spirit of taking care of ourselves and each other I wanted to share the following guidelines. Again, I know there is a lot of information going around right now — our Faculty’s updates are all collected here: uofteng.ca/covid19
Currently, Toronto Public Health and our Occupational Health & Safety Team indicate that there is an overall low risk level for COVID-19 infection; however, we will all remain vigilant. To that end:
- All employees and students should monitor themselves for COVID-19 symptoms listed in the University’s COVID-19 FAQs
- If experiencing symptoms, please have employees and students follow the directives detailed on the Toronto Public Health website including self-isolating, taking the available Self-Assessment and following the recommendations for seeking additional care from their primary care provider, Telehealth or nearest hospital based of their symptoms
- If an employee or student is contacted by a Public Health authority with regards to COVID-19, please have them contact the University’s Occupational Health Nurse at: ehs.occhealth@utoronto.ca
- If advised by Public Health that they are to self-isolate, any employee or student must confirm with Public Health that they are clear to resume normal activities prior to returning to work or study.
Students
- If any student is sick or self-isolating, they should advise their supervisor, undergraduate coordinator, or graduate coordinator as applicable of their status.
Staff & faculty
- If any employee is sick or self-isolating, they should contact their Manager, Chair, or Division Head per normal practice and complete the Employee Absence Self-Declaration form, available in the HR Service Centre and linked below:
I know we’re all doing our best to take care of our communities, both on campus and off.
Chris
Christopher Yip
Dean
Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
University of Toronto
To our U of T Engineering community
Reaching out to update you with the latest and share what this means for us here in U of T Engineering. Based on the current information from public health officials and our governments, U of T continues to adjust to safeguard the health of our students, staff and faculty. The latest changes outlined by the Provost include:
- All University buildings will be closed as of 11:59 pm, March 17, 2020 to the general public. Members of the University community will need key or fob access to enter them.
- Libraries at the University of Toronto will be closed as of 11:59 pm, March 17, 2020. Robarts will be open to members of the U of T community with limited staff.
- U of T will continue to provide residences for those students who cannot return home at this point.
- Any employee who can work from home should do so.
- Student support operations should move online and many have already made this transition — the Registrar’s and First Year Offices have gone virtual to continue to continue to serve students.
- If you have IT or equipment needs that would enable staff to work remotely, please contact your departmental IT teams who have been working extremely hard on this.
- All lab-based research operations must be shut down no later than 5 pm, Friday March 20, 2020.
- I’m asking researchers to be flexible and creative in how you support your research-stream graduate students and what can be moved online.
- Sharing this COVID-19 Lab Preparedness Checklist you may find useful.
- If you have specific questions about adapting your research or incorporating social distancing in your labs, please start by contacting your respective Associate Chairs – Research, and they will confer with Ramin Farnood as Vice-Dean, Research, as needed.
- We’ve also established a Research Continuity page on the Faculty & Staff Hub and will keep this updated with the latest.
I know many of you are wondering about final assessments and options for exams — I have heard may of your ideas and concerns. We will also be sharing info on plans for assessments later this week — we are working on solutions that best serve our students and allow our professors and instructors to deliver their courses in a meaningful way.
I realise that this is a very complex, challenging and uncertain moment for all of us and I thank everyone for everything that they are doing and will continue to do. We will make this work.
Chris
Christopher Yip
Dean
Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
University of Toronto
March 15, 2020 | 2:00pm
To our U of T Engineering community
We’re continuing to make adjustments to our plans to find creative ways to keep the semester going as best we can. We’re also listening to your concerns and feedback, and we know that many of our students are faced with difficult decisions about whether and when to return home given the increasing challenges with international travel.
We have decided that all U of T Engineering undergraduate and course-based Master’s of Engineering (MEng) students will not be required to return to the St. George campus in person for the Winter 2020 session. This includes UTIAS.
Course work will continue with online alternatives. Students, please keep checking Quercus for info from each of your course instructors on how these adjustments will affect your courses, labs and exams. Students registered with Accessibility Services should continue to contact Accessibility Services to receive accommodations and supports.
I’ll be following up directly with faculty members with more details on completion of term work and final exams as I get that info.
My thanks to our entire community for your strength and flexibility during this unpredictable time.
Chris
Christopher Yip
Dean
Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
University of Toronto