Dear UH Faculty, Staff, and Students:

As President Khator communicated last week, the University will maintain our current social distancing and face covering guidelines at least until the COVID-19 vaccine has been made widely available to our campus community. With that in mind, I would like to update you concerning how the University will approach delivering classes this upcoming summer and fall semesters.

The summer 2021 and fall 2021 class schedules will be published the week of March 25 with priority student registration starting the week of April 12. Be assured that the health and safety of our faculty, staff, and students remain our top priority. Over the coming months, the University will continue to monitor external conditions and vaccine availability to take into account their impact on our campus community.

As has been the case throughout the pandemic, we remain committed to student success and will continue to maximize opportunities for face-to-face instruction during the summer by offering a mix of traditional face-to-face, hybrid, hyflex, and online classes. Summer 2021 classes involving face-to-face instruction will be delivered employing our current social distancing guidelines, face covering requirements, enhanced facilities cleaning protocols, and COVID-19 classroom seating capacities.

Looking forward to the fall 2021 semester, we anticipate that all members of our campus community will have the opportunity to receive a vaccine over the next few months. As such, the University will transition back to an in-person instructional class schedule beginning fall 2021 that will include traditional face-to-face classes along with the regular complement of hybrid and online classes historically offered during a fall semester. In addition, faculty may continue to deliver their classes in a hyflex instructional mode if they deem it pedagogically appropriate. While fall 2021 classes (which involve face-to-face instruction) will utilize pre-COVID-19 classroom seating capacities, the final fall semester classroom seating capacities may change as we move through the summer and should we receive updated advice from our health experts. We will remain flexible and hold to health and safety standards in our decision making.

As always, I would like to thank each of you for your unparalleled efforts in continuing to provide our students with an outstanding academic experience. Your dedication, commitment, and resilience have been truly exceptional even under the most challenging and uncertain of conditions. While I am mindful of the fact that we are still in the middle of the pandemic and your health remains our top priority, I look forward to again being able to greet you in person as we begin the long process of returning to normal and fully reopening our campus.  

If you have any questions, please contact my office at provost@uh.edu.

Warm regards,