Agenda

• Summer programs update (Patricia Szasz)
• Commencement update (Barbara Burke)
• Emergency student funding update (Shirley Coly, Barbara Burke)
• Staff Communication & Support (Jeff Dayton Johnson)
• General updates (open to all ILG members)

Notes

• Summer Program Update (Patricia)
  • Middlebury is preparing to send out communications about summer program decisions before the end of the week.
  • For the Institute, some programs will be moving to a remote format, some programs are being postponed, and some programs will be canceled.
  • For SILP we are continuing to weigh different options, and more information will be available in the forthcoming announcements.
• Commencement Update (Barbara)
  • There is core commencement team who are working on planning for our virtual commencement:
    • Barbara Burke
    • Ashley Arrocha
    • Linae Ishii-Devine
    • Betty Nguyen
    • Bob Cole
    • Toni Thomas
    • Devin Lueddeke
    • Stacie Riley
    • Paz Rondez
    • Charlotte Ennen
    • Rae Xue
  • This group is working hard to plan a virtual celebratory event, including a series of activities in the week leading up to commencement.
  • Commencement itself will follow some of our regular program, with some components airing live and others pre-recorded.
• Student Emergency Fund (Shirley Coly, Barbara Burke)
  • The Student Emergency Fund was a joint collaborative effort between a lot of people and offices, with extra support from Advancement, the Office of the VP, Student Financial Services, and Student Council.
  • There has been a great initial response, and with support from donors, the VPs office and a generous donation from the Student Council, the fund has over $20,000.
  • We are asking students to keep their requests under $250 so that we can extend the award to as many students as possible. After the initial wave of applications, if more funding is available we may return to students who are in the most need to see if there are opportunities to distribute more. 
  • The fund was announced to students on Monday and we received 41 applications in the first 48 hours. Barbara Burke has been managing the applications with a small committee that includes Ashley Arrocha and Cameron Steagall from the Student Council who review applications together twice a week.
  • Students are really appreciative of this effort. Please continue to refer students to this fund, and we will continue to meet needs to the best of our ability.
  • The giving link is available here: Student Emergency Fund
• Staff Support (Jeff Dayton Johnson)
  • We will likely continue some form of our town hall model for meeting with various constituent groups in the coming weeks, but if there are any recommendations for connecting with and supporting staff, please let us know.
  • In light of the cancelation of any remaining professional development funding, are there any particular needs we can address?
    • Note: The Director of Organizational Development position still remains open, and will continue to remain open in the current environment, Sheila Cameron and Melissa Sorenson will be partnering with HR to try to address training and development needs that emerge during this time. Please do not hesitate to reach out with requests and suggestions.
    • Training suggestion: How to fill in forms and sign forms at a distance, people are spending a lot of time on this.

• General Updates:
  • Library (Ann Flower)
    • The library has a new chat service set up. We have a pop-up chat window on our website now – staffed M-F 8:30-5.
    • Many publishers are making additional resources available during this time, and the library is working to compile and share those additional resources with faculty and students.
  • Academics (Toni Thomas)
    • Toni and Seamus are working on the process for how students will opt in to pass/fail grading policy on a class-by-class basis.
    • Students will be notified of the process and the form will launch by April 30th/May 1st to give students at least a week to register their preferences.
    • The initial communication on the Pass/Fail decision is available here.
  • Student Council (Jaewon Oh)
    • Student Council has moved to weekly 1 hour meetings (instead of 2 hour bi-weekly meetings)
    • We pushed back elections for the 2020-2021 Student Council one week, but we now have all nominations. We will be notifying nominees today and they’ll have a few days to confirm if they want to run. Elections should be under way by the middle of next week.
    • In addition to the contribution to the Student Emergency Fund, the Student Council also voted to allocate some funding to a Community Initiatives Fund. This will be announced soon, and is an opportunity for club leaders, program reps, and all students to apply for funding for community-building activities that can be done remotely.

    • Students were glad about having the decision made about pass/fail grading, and the ability to be flexible about making decisions.
  • Enrollment Management (Devin Lueddeke)
    • Thanks to everyone who helped with the first Virtual Preview Day event. It was not only the first, but the largest preview day event in history. We had over 600 RSVP’s and over 300 live participants for the events that took place from March 30-April 4.  Some of the recorded sessions are available here.
    • There is a lot of excitement for what we do, and this new format was a promising test for this type of virtual engagement.
  • Student Services (Ashley Arrocha)
    • Student Services has been working with our Health & Wellness and Counseling colleagues at the College to leverage resources and programming for our students during this time. Also, offering another stress management workshop, digital detox workshop w/ Bob and a budgeting 101 workshop. Ongoing development of our online resources for students.
• Registration Delay Note
  • There were some concerns that the note that went out about delayed registration meant that the fall semester was in question. There will definitely be a fall semester, and we are in the process of working to anticipate any changes that might be required to adapt to various scenarios.