Office of the Provost

Dear UConn Community,

I am writing to share two important decisions that were approved by the University Senate yesterday that affect academics for the spring semester as part of UConn’s COVID-19 preparation and response measures.

Spring Calendar

The University Senate approved modifications to the spring academic calendar that will keep the start date as previously planned, but move spring break later in the semester and add two reading days to the calendar.

• Jan. 19, 2021 – First day of spring semester classes
• Jan. 19-31, 2021 – All courses delivered remotely regardless of assigned modality*
• April 11 – 17, 2021 – Spring break
• April 19, 2021 – Spring classes resume (remote modality for all courses)
• April 29 – May 2, 2021 – Reading days (no classes or assessments)
• May 3 – 8, 2021 – Final Assessments (remote modality for all courses)

Now that the Senate has approved these changes, the Provost’s Office is evaluating the instructional modality for the start and end of the spring semester. We are having conversations with a wide range of constituencies including deans and leadership from Senate, USG, and several unions, and we will share those collaborative decisions by week’s end.

*This decision was made in a follow-up communication. Click here to read the memo with further updates.

Pass/Fail

For the 2020-21 academic year only, the University Senate approved an extension of the deadlines to add or remove courses as pass/fail and also extended pass/fail availability to undergraduate students with fewer than 26 credits and students on scholastic probation.

• Nov. 20, 2020* – Deadline to add or remove fall 2020 courses as pass/fail
• April 9, 2021* – Deadline to add or remove spring 2021 courses as pass/fail

*These deadlines were extended to Dec. 28, 2020, and May 14, 2021. Click here to read the memo with these updates. 

Undergraduate students may elect a maximum of 12 credits to be distributed over no more than three courses during their entire academic career (note: courses from spring 2020 do not count toward the 12-credit maximum). Changes to add pass/fail grading will require the approval of an advisor (with signature). It also applies only to elective courses, and schools and colleges retain the option to place further restrictions on pass/fail for their majors and minors. Students may refer to the University Catalog for existing school and college-level pass/fail restrictions.

The Graduate Faculty Council has jurisdiction over academic regulations affecting graduate students, and the existing bylaws apply. Pass/fail is not available to graduate students.

Next Steps

As we near the start of registration for the spring semester, we have been releasing a number of decisions recently. As noted above, we are now able to share a more comprehensive academic communication at the end of the week with a summary of all we know about the spring as a resource to our students, staff, and faculty.

I am grateful to the thoughtful and hard-working members of the Senate Scholastic Standards Committee who pulled together these proposals, the leadership of USG who provided a strong voice for students throughout the process, and of course our senators who considered these issues from the perspectives of faculty, students, and staff. These decisions were discussed and revised through several iterations to meet a balance of continued academic rigor, community safety, and individual well-being. The full text of these two decisions, as well as other recent decisions, can be found at senate.uconn.edu.

Sincerely,
Carl

Carl Lejuez
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs