Regis Moving to Two, Eight-Week Terms for Fall 2020 Semester with Earlier Start Date

Amidst the pain and sorrow of this spring, Regis proudly will confer degrees ranging from associate to doctorate to more than 1,000 graduates of the Class of 2020. Nearly half of those graduates are in our Young School of Nursing, and they are prepared with the knowledge and compassion to respond to the challenges of this global pandemic. Many of our public health graduates will continue their work on contact tracing, an effort they began as volunteers prior to completing their degrees. All of our graduates’ commitment to serving others is a testament to the mission of Regis alive in its students.

And now many of you wonder—what’s next? It’s a fair question and one that remains clouded with uncertainty. We tried to explain what we know so far in our recent town meetings, which I want to recap for those unable to join us.

A team of faculty and staff members is working tirelessly to plan for fall 2020 under the guidance of our medical experts Drs. Laura Burke and Dianna Jones, as well as our academic and operations leaders: Drs. Mary Erina Driscoll, Kara Kolomitz, and so many more. There are five task forces working on plans for academics, course development, course delivery, health and safety, operations and student life, and equity and inclusion. This work is informed by the state’s Higher Ed Working Group to the Governor’s Reopening Advisory Board, which recently issued this set of recommendations.

After much consideration and planning, we are pleased to announce some initial decisions that will inform our plan for fall 2020, which is subject to change based on federal, state, and local health guidelines. The goal is to provide flexibility to ensure our two main priorities—the safety of our community and academic continuity for our students. We want to ensure that faculty and students can switch between remote and on-campus learning should circumstances shift. Highlights include the following:

• The fall semester will be split into two, eight-week terms. Most full-time students will take three courses in the first term, and two courses in the second.
• The first term will begin August 17 and run through October 11. The second term will be from October 13 to December 6.
• This 8/8 format applies to all undergraduate programs and a small number of graduate programs. Fully online graduate programs and most campus-based programs will remain on the standard schedule. To confirm the start date of your graduate on-campus/hybrid program, visit our dates and deadline page.
• Regis North students will tentatively follow the same two-term model as undergraduate programs this fall.
• We anticipate starting the first term with remote instruction and shift to hybrid or in-person instruction once Phase Four of the governor’s plan is fully implemented. Accommodations will be made due to health concerns of faculty or students.
• There will be a new interdisciplinary seminar focused on the pandemic and social disparities.

As we continue our planning process, the following issues must be addressed:

• The move-in date for our residential students, tentatively planned to be spaced out over the Labor Day weekend.
• The process of re-advising and re-registering undergraduate students.
• Coordinating start dates for clinical sites, which may start before August 17.
• Some clinical sites are re-opening now and the goal is to have students start these to stay ahead of a possible second surge.

There are still unknowns, including where testing will occur and the status of the GNAC fall athletic season. While this has been an unprecedented situation, we have successfully navigated challenging circumstances before in Regis College’s 93-year history.

We’ve succeeded before because we believe in our mission of providing access to an exceptional education through innovative learning opportunities for our amazing students.

For updated information and a link to our most recent town hall, please visit our virtual campus. If you still have questions, email us at covid19@regiscollege.edu.

In gratitude and optimism,

Antoinette M. Hays, PhD, RN
President

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