MTU Flex Updates Blog

Author: Megan Ross

Fall Career Fair Will Be Virtual

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by Beth William, Career Services

Like many areas of campus, Career Services fall events are going to look a little different this year. Due to social distancing on campus, travel restrictions at many recruiting organizations, and the health and safety of our campus community, Career Services will host our fall career fair virtually.

The virtual fair will be held on the platform Career Fair Plus; the same career fair app students have been using for the past 5 years. Career Fair Plus allows students to schedule times to meet with recruiters causing less disruption to their course schedule.

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Portage Lake Golf Course Listed as Potential COVID-19 Exposure Site

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by University Marketing and Communications

The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department (WUPHD) has listed Michigan Tech’s Portage Lake Golf Course as one of several Houghton County locations that were visited by individuals who later tested positive for COVID-19.

The WUPHD said in a statement that those visiting the locations listed may be at a higher risk for exposure if large crowds were present and masking and social distancing guidelines may not have been consistently followed.

The statement, including the list of potential site exposures, can be found on the WUPHD news site.

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Two Confirmed COVID-19 Cases

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by MTU Flex Task Force

Late last week, two members of the Michigan Tech campus community (defined as faculty, staff, and students) tested positive for COVID-19. The two cases appear to be unrelated.

The Western Upper Peninsula Health Department is actively conducting contact tracing to stop the spread of the virus. Anyone who had close contact with the infected persons will be notified and will be required to self-quarantine for 14 days. 

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Understanding Campus Health and Safety Levels

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by University Marketing and Communications

Last month, Michigan Tech entered Step Two in the three-step Return to Campus Plan. Prior to the start of the fall semester, the University will begin Step Three, which calls for a return to near-normal operations and the return of students to campus. Once the semester starts, the Return to Campus Plan will end, and the University will transition to using Health and Safety Levels on campus.

Sarah Schulte, general counsel and secretary to the Board of Trustees, said the five levels are focused on returning students and additional employees back to campus as safely as possible and on creating the environment needed to continue the fall semester uninterrupted. “The levels give us the flexibility to offer students and employees the most normal campus experience possible while keeping the health and safety of everyone on campus as our first priority,” Schulte said.

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Return to Campus: The Status of Campus

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by University Marketing and Communications

Last month, Michigan Tech began Step Two of our Return to Campus Plan. As the University prepares for Step Three, students and employees, understandably, have questions. To address the student experience, we spoke with Sarah Schulte, general counsel and secretary to the Board of Trustees. Schulte said that once we enter Step Three and return to campus with the start of the fall semester, the University will immediately transfer to the five-tier Michigan Tech Campus Health and Safety Level system.

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MTU Flex: Self-monitoring—What to Do if You Forget

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Editor’s Note: A previous post introduced the COVID-19 Daily Symptom Monitoring Form and explained how to use it to gain access to campus buildings. This post explains what to do if you forget to submit it.

Fast forward to fall. You wake up late. You have to skip your coffee to get out the door on time. When you arrive on campus, you realize you forgot to submit the COVID-19 Daily Symptom Monitoring Form—which means you’re locked out of your building.

If this happens, don’t worry. You can submit the form right here on campus, and your HuskyCard tap access will be restored quickly (usually within five minutes).

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MTU Flex for Academics Update for Week of June 22

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by Office of the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

During the week of June 22, the MTU Flex for Academics Team spent a great deal of time discussing the process that the Registrar’s Office and academic units on campus are using to update the schedule of classes for fall semester. It is already clear that some large, lecture-format courses will be moved to fully remote instruction. At least one faculty member responsible for teaching a large lecture-format course noted that students were more engaged after the course went remote during spring semester. That same instructor indicated that, in a smaller discussion-based class, it seemed that some students who were unwilling or unable to participate in whole-class discussions when the course was face-to-face were much more eager to participate once the course pivoted to remote format. 

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ACT, SAT Waived for Some Applicants

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by Admissions

For incoming students next fall, first-year applicants with a cumulative high school GPA of 3.00 or higher will not be required to provide official SAT or ACT scores to receive an admission decision. The domestic application, now available online for spring, summer, and fall 2021 semesters, remains free for all applicants.

The University recognizes that the incoming class of 2021 faced many obstacles, one of which was the postponement or cancellation of spring SAT and ACT examinations, which traditionally trigger the start of the college application process. In Michigan, all high school juniors were scheduled to take the SAT free of charge as part of state assessment testing in April. Due to school closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, this testing has been postponed until September 23 or October 14—the date of administration to be determined by individual districts.

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Return to Campus: The Student Experience

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by University Marketing and Communications

Earlier this month, Michigan Tech began Step Two of our Return to Campus Plan. As the University prepares for Step Three this fall, students and employees, understandably, have questions. To address the student experience, we spoke with Bonnie Gorman, dean of students and vice president for student affairs.

“Our plans for students to return in the fall have been far-reaching,” Gorman said. “I appreciate all the efforts by so many across campus who have been working to ensure a safe return and meaningful student experiences.”

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New Form Added to MTU Flex Portal

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by University Marketing and Communications

Data is one of the key tools Michigan Tech is using to try to find COVID-19 cases quickly, stop the spread, and keep the campus community and our local community safe. We need your help in order to optimize our success. While it is essential that we know when you are symptomatic or have a positive COVID-19 test, data that you are not exhibiting symptoms or have had a negative COVID-19 test is also important as we are actively monitoring our campus health conditions. We are now pleased to announce that in the ongoing efforts to keep our community as safe and informed as possible in the midst of the current global coronavirus pandemic, Michigan Tech is making it even easier for employees to add to the information being amassed to fight COVID-19 on campus.

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