On Tuesday, July 28, Chancellor Franklin D. Gilliam, Jr. and other University leadership presented at a virtual Town Hall hosted by Faculty and Staff Senates. Provost Jim Coleman called the meeting to order and welcomed the group.
The Chancellor and Provost Coleman both addressed concerns about a recent UNC System request for hypothetical budget scenarios. Tina McIntire and Bob Shea addressed these concerns as well from their unique perspectives and areas of responsibility.
Cathy Aikens spoke about how to address the issue of face coverings during class, to make sure every student is wearing one. Jeanne Mandorin addressed a similar follow-up question about staff situations.
Zach Smith and Julia Jackson-Newsom addressed a question about how the University would deal with any cases of COVID-19. Of particular note was that a new contact tracing dashboard will soon be available on the UNCG COVID-19 Updates website homepage.
Sameer Kapileshwari addressed a question about what has been done to improve or monitor air and water quality within campus buildings, and Traci McMillian followed up with the latest information about COVID-19 transmission through air and through particles.
Kapileshwari and Tim Slone then addressed questions about the availability of face coverings, and their recommended usages in shared spaces such as offices with cubicles.
Andrew Hamilton addressed questions about the classroom teaching environment, including the used of microphones for instructors, the need for special case for face coverings such as using face shields. This was followed by a question on how faculty should address student requests to change their mode of receiving instruction.
Chancellor Gilliam, Provost Coleman, and Bob Shea addressed a question about how possible budget cuts would affect non-tenure faculty.
Next questions concerned attendance policy for students, and how fees are structured for online, hybrid, or fully in-person students.
A question about how parking passes will work for faculty who are not on campus as much due to mixed teaching modes.
The last questions were about how NAVIGATE would proceed, and clarification on how and where faculty and students can obtain face coverings on campus.
Chancellor Gilliam closed with a special thanks to faculty and staff who have children or elders to care for. He emphasized face coverings, noting that this is a health issue and not a political one. “We all have anxiety about this, but we have a very strong team working on all of this,” he said. “Stay upbeat. This too will pass, and we’ll get through this – but only if we do it together.”
