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Greetings New Faculty,

I want to thank each of you for all of your hard work to prepare UNT for the fall semester. Our work isn’t done, and we all know we may need to adapt throughout the fall semester due to changing health conditions, which we are monitoring closely. I am incredibly grateful for your efforts to date. 

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security modified its regulations for online courses permitted under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). These changes affect our international students with F-1 visas who plan to continue their studies or begin their studies this fall at UNT.

We are a caring community and UNT is committed to do everything we can to ensure that each student makes academic progress and is able to graduate from UNT.

I am writing today to provide an update on the progress on our Return to Learn restart initiative. I encourage you to attend tomorrow’s Academic Affairs Restart Town Hall, June 23 from 2 to 4 p.m., to learn more about the preparations and progress for the fall semester.

I am writing today to provide an update on the progress on our Return to Learn restart initiative.

Over the past week, I have struggled to find the right words to express the sorrow and grief that captures what is happening in America right now. I have spent this time listening to my friends and colleagues share their own frustrations with the world they experience every day, many of whom are struggling to understand why this particular incident of violence, against George Floyd, is such a pivotal moment for our country. We are a country that continues grappling with racial division. 

I am writing to you today to announce a Voluntary Separation Program (“Program”) for eligible tenured faculty members. This program seeks to financially reward the long-standing contributions of tenured faculty, while also opening resources for reallocation in support of the university’s strategic goals and support budgetary relief as a result of COVID-19. This program offers eligible faculty members a lump sum payment equal to one (1) year’s annual base pay as stated in their UNT faculty salary notice for fiscal year 2020 in exchange for voluntarily separating from the university.

Like every other R1 university, we are grappling with challenges of advancing our mission in these extraordinary times. Today, I am outlining a transparent academic plan for how we seek to mitigate known and anticipated impacts of COVID-19. This plan is built by starting with the question of “How Can We.” How can we operate to maximally advance the intellectual development of our students and support their success? How can we operate in ways that support our goal of advancing as a research university? How can we continue to demonstrate that we are a creative and caring community?

We have fantastic examples across our campus of faculty helping others. Dr.

I know that these are difficult times. As a faculty member who is preparing to teach a course this summer, we want to provide you with resources to help support the development of your course(s). To aid you in preparing for teaching this summer. We are providing you with the following resources, which you will find in Canvas.