Message to Faculty and Staff, April 17, 2020

Greetings!

I hope this message finds you well and healthy. I know many of you are anticipating the nice weather this weekend, and I hope you are able to enjoy some much deserved rest and relaxation.

Tonight, I want to provide you with three important updates:

What does the Governor’s extended stay-at-home order mean for Minnesota State University, Mankato?
What plans have been made for Summer instruction and orientation?
What plans have been made for Spring 2020 commencement?

As many of you are aware, Governor Walz extended the Stay at Home order through May 3, 2020, and the Peacetime Emergency Order until May 13, 2020. This does not change current operations at Minnesota State Mankato. As part of the Minnesota State system, the University is an ‘essential service’ that remains open, while following social distancing guidelines and teleworking as much as possible. Therefore, please continue to work from home or report to work at the University as directed by your supervisor. We will continue to communicate with you as new information develops.

As communicated on Monday by Provost Cecil, summer session instruction will be conducted online only. I echo his sentiments and thank our faculty, staff and deans for their continued hard work to transition and offer courses to meet our students’ needs during this time.

Due to the uncertainty of social distancing recommendations or additional stay at home orders, the new student and transfer student orientation programs scheduled for this summer will also move to an online format. You can learn more here: https://mankato.mnsu.edu/orientation. This change provides certainty for new incoming students as they plan their summers and allows us to pivot our orientation and registration approaches while utilizing technology to provide a personalized onboarding experience. The Office of New Student and Family Programs, Division of Student Success, Analytics and Integrated Planning, and IT Solutions will work together to provide a seamless experience for our new students.

Finally, you may recall from my March 13 update that we made the difficult decision to cancel our spring commencement ceremonies. This does not mean we are going to let May 9 go by without recognizing our graduates! We have a group of talented and creative people working hard to provide an alternative commencement experience and special recognition for these graduates. In addition, graduates will all be invited to participate in the in-person commencement ceremonies scheduled for December 2020. While we don’t want to give-away the big surprise, know that a special communication plan has been put in place to share the news with the students over the next few weeks. We encourage you to engage with our graduates on May 9 on our new www.mnsu.edu/MavGrad2020 webpage..

These initiatives are further examples of the heavy lifts that are only made possible by the tremendous quality of our staff, faculty and leaders. Thank you all for everything you are doing to support our students during this difficult time. Please take care of yourselves and continue to stay safe and healthy.

Sincerely,

Richard Davenport
President