March 11, 2020

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff,

In light of the continuing COVID-19 challenge facing New York City, after today in-person classes are canceled for the rest of this week and Pratt will make temporary changes to our teaching and learning formats following Spring Break. These changes are meant to support student completion of the spring semester while protecting our community further in the current situation.

This Week

Effective Thursday, March 12, Pratt classes are canceled for the remainder of this week, on both the Brooklyn and Manhattan campuses.

Spring Break Week

We will observe Spring Break as scheduled in the Spring 2020 Academic Calendar, from March 16 through Sunday, March 22.

Residence halls will remain open for students who cannot make alternative arrangements and will remain open through the completion of the semester for those students. Students who go home for the break should take necessary personal belongings, project materials, and educational equipment with them in case the situation changes while they are away.

As previously communicated, Pratt community members are strongly urged to reconsider any travel plans over Spring Break.

Week of March 23

All classes are canceled for the week of Monday, March 23, immediately following Spring Break. (The sole exception concerns the Rome Architecture program students, whose program resumes at the Pfizer Building on Monday, March 23.) Instead of scheduled classes, we will observe a study week during which academic departments and faculty will explore and prepare for alternate (principally online) methods of continuing courses without in-person meetings. Faculty should consider how they can accelerate achievement of student learning outcomes in the remainder of the semester.

Faculty are welcome and encouraged to begin this planning over Spring Break where possible, and seek out support from Information Technology for their planning. All community members should begin to familiarize themselves with Pratt’s Telepresence Cloud Kit at www.pratt.edu/telepresence.

When they are ready to, faculty should communicate with their students during the week of March 23 regarding how they will convene class sessions online, and distribute to students any changes to course syllabi designed to facilitate completion of courses this spring. Faculty should assign readings, writing projects, or other work for students to complete during this study week, in lieu of in-person class sessions.

Additional information will be provided to faculty by their departments, Information Technology, and the Office of the Provost, regarding resources to support alternate methods of continuing courses.

Week of March 30

Classes will resume on a regular schedule as of Monday, March 30. Classes will not meet in person.

Going Forward

The Institute will monitor the evolving situation to determine for how long classes will not be held in person. At least one week’s notice will be provided should the decision be made to resume in-person class meetings.

The campus will remain open throughout and operations will continue with appropriate measures to protect the health of the community.

Sincerely,



Kirk E. Pillow

Provost

Next...