Fall 2020 Reopening: Letter from President Pavoncello to JCU Students
Dear Students,
We hope you are enjoying a happy and healthy summer, wherever you may be.
President Franco Pavoncello
As many of you may have heard, Italy is reopening the country’s schools and universities in September and JCU is excited to join them in welcoming back our students. Re-opening requires that all universities follow the Italian health and safety legislation and protocols to ensure the wellbeing of all members of our community. JCU has been consulting with local and international medical, immigration, and safety authorities to make sure that we are fully compliant with Italian legislation and expectations and ready to reopen in September. To keep you informed, we have provided detailed information on our website and have been answering emails from all our current and prospective students. Additionally, we have prepared a robust and updated orientation for new and returning students. We are ready to enter into this “new normal” together as we all have our responsibilities for community safety.
While we must prepare the facilities and classes to comply with these health and safety protocols, we must also prepare ourselves to adapt to any new directives we are given by the Italian authorities once the semester has begun. We need to align our expectations to be ready for the many different outcomes that may arise and face them with knowledge and steadfastness.
To prepare for any contingencies, we have set up classes to accommodate (i) anyone who has a period of required quarantine or does not feel well enough to attend in person on a given day; (ii) social distancing protocols; and (iii) sanitization periods. While we are trying to ensure that most of your classes will be held on campus following their regular schedule; about 30 percent will be hybrid – for example, students in larger classes will alternate between one day in class on campus and the other day remote so as to meet the social distancing requirement. There may be some classes that will be delivered completely on-line. JCU, as all Italian universities, is aware that the situation could shift during the semester. We might have to adjust to new guidelines and protocols that the Italian health and education authorities decide are needed. This “new reality” presents its obstacles, but with everyone’s collaboration, we will be able to confront this situation and face these new challenges together. For any academic-related questions, you can write to Dean Merva at [email protected] and for arrival, orientation, and health and wellbeing inquiries, you can write to the Dean of Students at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Franco Pavoncello
President, John Cabot University
