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Update for Faculty Teaching Summer 2021

Dear colleagues,

Later today, the University will send an update to all faculty and staff with details on our preparations over the coming months to hold in-person classes during the Fall Term. This message also will announce an extended Fourth of July holiday weekend that will affect classes that you are slated to teach during summer.

For this year only, the University will extend the Fourth of July holiday weekend by two days, beginning July 1 and running through July 5. While many areas of the University—including the library and Norris Center—will shut down during this period, some will not.

Please align your teaching plans during this time with the following guidance:

  • Instructors teaching courses in the two-week and three-week first sessions should teach their classes as scheduled on July 1 and 2. Because you are working these two days, you are permitted to take the equivalent number of days off prior to Aug. 31, 2022.
  • Instructors teaching courses that are longer than three weeks may choose to reschedule or cancel these sessions, or continue to meet on these days. Some schools require a particular number of in-class hours each term and thus must determine a common approach for all their classes. Faculty in the Pritzker School of Law and Kellogg School of Management in particular will hear from their schools about a common approach.
  • Classes may not be extended beyond their published start or end dates to accommodate this change.
  • The University also will send out a notice to students to let them know the two-week and three-week first session classes will meet on July 1 and 2 and that they should communicate with their instructors if they are taking other summer courses that may be affected on these two days.
  • It also is essential that you communicate expectations to students for this University holiday period in the course syllabus at the beginning of the term.

Please note that faculty and staff required to work on July 1 and July 2 may take the equivalent number of approved days off prior to Aug. 31, 2022. Therefore, should you teach on July 1 or 2, I encourage you to take those days off before next year’s deadline. (Employees who are not required to work on July 1 and July 2 are not permitted to carry over these two holidays.) The Office of Human Resources will provide more details closer to the holiday weekend.

Our hope is that the extended holiday weekend, or additional floating holidays, will allow our faculty and staff some additional time to relax and plan for the year ahead.

Please look for the full communication to the entire faculty and staff to come later today.

Thank you,

Kathleen Hagerty
Provost and Professor