Dear NSC Community,
Thank you for all your work during this difficult time. The Chancellor has issued a memo providing some important directives for all institutions in the State. While many details of Nevada State College’s implementation of the various directives, as well as proposed changes in Board policy, will require further consultation with faculty senate and student leadership, you should immediately take note of the following:
- Remote Instruction
Remote instruction will continue through at least the end of this semester subject to possible limited exceptions in clinical areas to be decided at a later date. No decision has yet been reached as to whether summer courses will also be delivered solely through remote instruction. Obviously many of these decisions ultimately will be based on State of Nevada and NSHE guidance, as well as recommendations of health officials.
- Commencement
Spring in-person graduations have been postponed. Some institutions are considering conducting virtual graduation ceremonies. We are considering rescheduled dates for a late summer graduation, but will be seeking further input from student and faculty leadership before committing to a plan. Grad days scheduled virtually for next week will go forward as planned on March 30th. Starting at 8 a.m., please visit nsc.flywheelstaging.com/GradDays to participate. We know how hard students have worked to graduate and we want this to be a meaningful event.
- Withdrawal Dates
To provide more flexibility to students, the Chancellor is extending the time for students to withdraw from courses to up to 70% of course instruction time. For Nevada State College, that means nursing students will have until Saturday, March 28, 2020 and all other students will have until Thursday, April 9, 2020. This information will be added to the website. For eight-week sessions, nursing students have until Thursday, April 16, 2020 and all others will have until Thursday, April 23, 2020.
- Tenure
The tenure clock will be extended for any faculty requesting the extension at any time over the next year based on the disruption from moving to remote instruction. The requests will follow the typical process with details to be discussed by the Provost with Faculty Senate.
- Policy Changes
Proposed policy changes concerning Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory Grading, Delinquent Accounts and Deferred Payments are intended to benefit students that are going through education and financial disruptions. Each of these issues require Board approval and further dialogue with Faculty and Student Leadership.
We will provide more information as we finalize some of the logistics. As always, I am very appreciative of your patience and flexibility during an unprecedented and difficult time.
Be Bold. Be Great. Be State.
Bart Patterson
President
