Dear students, faculty and staff,
I am writing to provide an update on the summer session. As you know, we continue to experience public health restrictions and travel limitations here in Toronto and beyond. While we are hopeful that we will see ongoing improvements in the number of COVID cases, and from the vaccine rollout, the University is planning for this summer to look much like Winter 2021. Therefore, when posted, the summer timetable will indicate most A&S undergraduate courses will continue to be offered online-only for the summer session.
Typically for each session, a preliminary timetable is posted online as a live, working tool to help academic units and instructors determine course offerings and formats based on previous years. This is also helpful for students in their initial course planning. The Dean’s Office is currently working with academic units to finalize the timetable. Given the expectation that most courses will be online-only this summer, the preliminary timetable has been removed while the Faculty continues to work with academic units to finalize course information. Once confirmed, the timetable will be made available as soon as possible in late February.
At the present time, the limited number of A&S courses approved for in-person during the summer session are only those courses such as labs where the learning objectives cannot be achieved virtually. As has been the focus throughout the fall and winter, these courses will be carefully managed according to public health guidelines for essential instruction to prioritize and maximize student and faculty safety. These too are subject to change according to public health guidelines. As we are months away from the start of the summer session, we will continue to monitor the situation and guidelines in Toronto, update our community regularly, and adjust the summer timetable as needed.
Looking ahead to September 2021, our planning continues to be guided by public health, including considerations about course offerings, travel restrictions and physical distancing. It’s too early to know what September will look like. However, I am committed to making decisions about course delivery, and providing as much information as possible, as early as possible, to help students and instructors with personal planning and decision-making.
I am grateful that you continue to manage during these extremely challenging circumstances, and I will be in touch again as soon as we have determined our plans for September. Thank you and take care.
Dean Woodin
Melanie A. Woodin
Dean, Faculty of Arts & Science
Professor, Department of Cell & Systems Biology
University of Toronto