Northern Today Spring 2020

NORTHERN TODAY 10 SPRING 2020 Students and faculty will come back this fall, with in-person classes resuming. Moving forward, the NSU Return-to-Campus Taskforce and Academic Planning Fall 2020 Taskforce will explore best practices that put health and safety first while supporting the university’s educational mission. The “Wolves Mask Up” campaign is already underway, emphasizing prevention through social responsibility, encouraging the use of masks, hand sanitizer and other hygiene methods. Northern has also lowered the maximum occupancy in event spaces, and is offering a limited number of single-occupancy residence hall rooms for the upcoming year. Other measures being considered include smaller class sizes, and offering some courses in a hybrid model (in- person and online). While much is yet to be determined, one thing is certain: When Wolves return to campus this fall, they will return to a new normal. The resiliency, flexibility and innovation learned in this season of change will be crucial, and the NSU community, working together, will continue to adapt. News | NORTHERN STATE UNIVERSITY Northern continues to adapt to new normal amid pandemic AROUND THE WORLD, spring 2020 has been a season of rapid, unpredictable and unprecedented change. Wolves Country is no exception. Students left for spring break thinking they would return in a week, but the spread of the COVID-19 virus led to uncertainty and upheaval. After a spring and summer of online courses, classes are scheduled to resume in-person this fall. While spring 2020 will always be the season when people learned to navigate life during a pandemic, at Northern, it has also been a season of other lessons learned: Faculty quickly adapted and excelled at teaching entirely online. Students discovered how resilient they can be while adjusting to remote education. Staff found ways to be flexible and creative, reaching students through innovative methods. Examples of some of these measures can be found on pages 9, 12 and 13. The entire Northern community has learned the importance of connections, even when they’re virtual, and that the NSU community extends far beyond the physical campus. S E A SON OF CH A NG E COVID-19 PANDEMIC Northern State University Timeline LOO K I NG A H E A D