Dear IU East Faculty, Staff and Students,

I hope you have all had a chance to read IU President Michael McRobbie’s message regarding the academic calendar for 2020-21 at Indiana University (fall2020.iu.edu). The message explains the general outline of the year, with the key message being that we “plan to welcome students back to all our campuses and instruction will be a blend of in-person and online.”

Fall semester will start on the planned date of August 24th, and all instruction after Thanksgiving week will be fully online. The president’s message also describes a time frame for a “Winter Session” which would be entirely online, as well as the spring semester, which can start in January, but will not be in-person until February 8th. There will be no spring break during the spring semester, which will end as scheduled on May 9th, 2021.

The revised IU 2020-21 calendar was endorsed by the University Faculty Council. Our own IU East Senate is firming up the details of how our specific campus calendar will look, respecting the general outlines described in the president’s message. They are working hard to accomplish this quickly, so we can give you further information.

The revised calendar was devised with health and safety considerations as paramount. IU health and safety procedures are “designed to provide a safe working and educational environment when we resume on campus.” Exact guidelines for the fall semester will be finalized closer to the time, as the pandemic situation is constantly changing.

As stated in the President’s message, all information will continue to be updated at fall2020.iu.edu. IU East campus-specific information will be available on that site as well as on our website iue.edu/fall2020 – which will be available beginning Friday, May 29th.  Many questions will arise, and we will do our best to answer as quickly as possible, communicate that with you, and update the website accordingly.

I want to reassure students that no matter what mode of instruction you receive this fall – online, in-person or hybrid – we are ready for you. And, we will do our very best to make this semester an excellent experience for you.

As always, I hope you are all staying safe, and please continue to watch for further messages as plans firm up.

Sincerely,

Kathy Girten
IU East Chancellor