Town hall about fall 2020

Email from Will Simpkins, Ed.D., Vice President for Student Affairs

May 14, 2020

Dear Roadrunners,

As we announced with our Auraria Campus partners on Tuesday, Metropolitan State University of Denver is planning to deploy a robust array of on-campus and online classes for the fall 2020 semester. This mixed approach will allow us to offer some face-to-face learning for the classes that need it most while remaining flexible in our operations amidst the unpredictable COVID-19 crisis.

The health and well-being of our students and employees remains our top priority, and our limited on-campus offerings this fall will reflect that. Classes will adhere to required social-distancing guidelines with fewer students per classroom, while additional cleaning and safety procedures will be implemented across campus.

We’re extremely proud of the way faculty, staff and students adapted this spring to remote teaching and learning, but we’re even more excited about the quality online experience MSU Denver will offer in the fall with more time for everyone to prepare for the many courses that will need to be delivered online.

Our faculty and staff are working diligently with the Department of Facilities to determine which classes will be delivered in which format, and we expect that to be sorted out by early June. Regardless of whether you enroll in online or in-person classes for the fall, class registration – which is already underway for the fall term, as well as summer – will look the same for everyone. If you’ve already registered, you will be notified in early June through your University email address of how your fall classes will be delivered.

As the University continues to adapt and do everything we can to provide an affordable, high-quality education, we know you have many more questions. I’m going to address those at a virtual town hall next week with Braeden Weart, president of the Student Government Assembly. We’ll take your questions and share any new developments on Tuesday, May 19, from noon-1 p.m. You can submit questions in advance online or during the town hall, which will be accessible Tuesday at this link.

MSU Denver is committed to being strategic and realistic about how we deliver the best-value education in the state this fall. I am grateful to you for the flexibility and determination you’ve demonstrated this spring, and I hope to see you next week to talk more about the fall.

Sincerely,

Will Simpkins, Ed.D.
Vice President for Student Affairs