Following the University of New Haven’s shutdown at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the university is preparing for the campus to reopen in the Fall 2020 semester.

A Tuesday email sent to the student body highlighted the proposed changes. Interim provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, Mario T. Gaboury, said in the email, “Our goal has been to prioritize the health and wellbeing of our students in the time of a global pandemic and to minimize any disruption of the academic calendar and student schedules.”

The campus community will face significant changes to their schedules, course delivery, and class days. The changes listed in the email include:

1. Students will no longer use Blackboard to complete coursework but will be using Canvas, which according to the email, “will offer a tremendously enhanced learning experience for students both in the classroom and online.” The changes to the learning system will take place during the summer, according to Charlie the Charger on Facebook.
2. The university is working on making updates to its academic policies in order to allow for more flexibility in attendance.
3. Because of social distancing requirements, 20 minutes of travel time, rather than the previous 10 minutes, have been added to passing periods between classes to prevent the cluster of students after release. According to Gaboury, classes will begin at 8 a.m., and will not end later than 10:35 p.m.
4. Class sessions have been added on Saturdays in order for longer classes, such as labs, to meet on one day, while some classes scheduled beforehand have also been moved to Saturday.
5. “Approximately 30% of all Fall 2020 semester classes have been converted to fully online synchronous or asynchronous classes,” said Gaboury in the email, “We have done this at the request of students who are looking for greater remote learning opportunities for the Fall 2020 semester.”
6. Students will also notice some changes to their schedule to include hybrid, fully online, remote, flex, on-ground, and clinical/laboratory options to specify how a course will be offered to them. According to the email, the majority of classes will be offered in a hybrid format to give most students the opportunity to participate in an in-classroom experience.

The changes to the Fall 2020 schedule can be accessed and viewed on Banner, according to Gaboury’s email. Students are also encouraged to reach out to the COVID-19 Scheduling Support Team if they need to make changes to their schedule by emailing them at [email protected].

Students can also access the university’s online coronavirus response page for more information.