Coronavirus

Dear Oregon Tech students, faculty, and staff,

We are currently ending the second week of winter term and next week, I look forward to welcoming you back to the courses and labs offered on-campus. Seeing the activity on campus, although still limited due to COVID-19, creates a welcoming environment and excitement, even if we are just waving hello to one another. Next week will also see the continuation of in-person services such as healthcare availability (mental and physical) and Student Involvement & Belonging activities.

At this time, I want to share spring term course delivery plans as they currently stand: Spring term 2021 will proceed in the same format for each campus as fall 2020 and winter 2021, but please understand, our plans for spring term remain subject to change, as the circumstances may require. Please also note that there will NOT be a two-week remote instruction as we did this winter term. Classes will be offered per course plans below starting the first day of the spring term.

SPRING 2021 TERM START DATE

The spring term starts Monday, March 29, 2021 for all campuses.

CURRENT SPRING 2021 CAMPUS-SPECIFIC COURSE PLANS

Portland-Metro: Lectures will be taught through remote (primarily synchronous) delivery and labs will be offered in-person.

• We will continue to monitor conditions and if necessary, all labs, except for allied health programs, will be moved to remote. If conditions or guidance from the Oregon Health Authority, the Governor’s Office, or county health direct, as the last option, we will offer all courses and labs in remote format.

Klamath Falls: 100 and 200 level lectures and all labs will be offered in-person with few exceptions, while 300 and 400 level lectures will be remote (primarily synchronous). All upper-division courses taught in-person will also be recorded for remote delivery.

• If conditions change, we will progressively reduce the in-person teaching, first to only labs and then to only allied health labs.

Chemeketa: Chemeketa site facilities will be accessible as determined by the administration of Chemeketa Community College. As it stands currently, lecture classes will be taught through remote delivery. Lab courses are planned to be in-person, conditions and the community college administration permitting.

Seattle: The Seattle campus is currently conducting a mixed-model mostly remote/hybrid with very few classes in-person for lab purposes only, and will continue this model unless there is different guidance from the state of Washington.

To help plan your spring term class schedules, courses to be taught remotely will be identified on the class schedule posted on the Registrar’s website with the notation “REMOTE.”

FUTURE UPDATES TO OUR PLANS

Oregon Tech’s Coronavirus website will continue to be a great resource for information and provide mechanisms for submitting questions or voicing concerns. Please also continue to read communication sent from the various offices regarding updates.

We are committed to ensuring that student success remains a pillar of Oregon Tech’s mission and strategic plan, and we will continue to make plans with this at the forefront. Thank you for your dedication to keeping our community safe and healthy.

Sincerely,

Nagi G. Naganathan, Ph.D., ASME Fellow
President
Oregon Institute of Technology

Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff:

It is my pleasure to welcome all of you to the much awaited 2021 and the start of the Winter Term.

I want to compliment and thank you for your diligence and cooperation that helped us offer a successful fall term. While the new year offers much promise for relief and recovery from the pandemic with the availability of the vaccine, we are still dealing with continuing challenges from the virus and have to remain vigilant until the pandemic is truly behind us. I am confident that with all of us following the health and safety protocols in place, we will have another successful term.

Thank you, students, for all of your hard work. Please know that all of us stand ready to help you in every way possible; please reach out the moment you have questions or need any assistance.

Each one of you – students, faculty, and staff –contribute to the success of Oregon Tech. Your health and safety are paramount in this regard; choosing to go remote for the first two weeks immediately after the New Year celebrations is an extra precaution.

I wish you a productive and successful Winter Term. Go Owls!

Sincerely,

Nagi G. Naganathan, Ph.D., ASME Fellow
President

Dear Faculty and Staff:

We are very glad to announce that Dr. Nagi’s recovery has gone so well, he is able to return to work effective today!

As 2020 comes to a close, we wish you a happy, healthy holiday season.

This year brought unprecedented challenges for all of us. You have truly risen to the occasion. Our faculty successfully navigated transitions from in person to remote delivery, our classified and unclassified staff worked harder and furloughed to conserve precious resources, and our students remained engaged and enthusiastic. Again, thank you to everyone for helping to address the many challenges of these unusual times.

We have seen Oregon Tech “walk the walk” of our strategic plan, demonstrating even in tough times our commitment to student success, to innovation, to community, and to institutional excellence. You have proven we are Oregon Tech Together, and that together we are greater than the sum of our parts.

Candidly, we expect 2021 to pose continuing – and new – challenges. But with challenge comes opportunity. Thank you for being part of the team that will enable us to thrive as we move forward.

We send you best wishes for this holiday season and hope that you and your family stay safe and stay well.

Respectfully,
Senior Leadership Team

Joanna Mott
Erin Foley
Brian Fox
Sandra Fox
David Groff
Maureen DeArmond
Adria Paschal

All,

After meeting with the Academic Reopening Committee to review operating plans for next quarter we are announcing changes in our Winter Term operating plans for the Klamath Falls campus because of continued changes in the COVID-19 situation across Oregon and the country. We recognize the importance of continuing face-to-face instructions and labs because of our applied programs and are focused on doing so safely and in the best interest of our students' education.

For Klamath Falls, our residential campus, given the short time between the holidays and the start of the winter term, the first two weeks of lecture course and labs (i.e. all instruction) will be taught through remote delivery, with a return to the modalities shown in the schedule starting the week of January 18thand continuing for the remainder of the term. Residence halls will open on January 2 so students can return to campus housing. Information will be posted to the Oregon Tech COVID-19 response page located at https://www.oit.edu/coronavirus.

At the Portland Metro campus classes will follow the same format as for fall, with lectures being taught remotely and labs in person.

Thank you all for your continuing efforts to maintain physical distancing, wear face coverings, wash hands frequently and limit social gatherings. We know you hear this frequently but until vaccines are available these are the best measures we can take to curtail the spread of the virus in our community.

On behalf of Dr. Nagi we want to thank you all for your expressions of concern and best wishes for his speedy recovery.

We wish you all a safe end to the term and a restful winter break.

Respectfully,

Senior Leadership Team

Joanna Mott
Erin Foley
Brian Fox
Sandra Fox
David Groff
Maureen DeArmond
Adria Paschal

All,

Dr. Naganathan has asked me to share with you that he tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. He is in good spirits and recuperating. Out of an abundance of caution, he has asked me to address his day-to-day responsibilities until he returns to the office. In turn, I am working with Oregon Tech’s senior leadership team to ensure the continuity of all Oregon Tech operations.

Please join me in wishing Dr. Naganathan a speedy recovery and offering best wishes to his family.

Respectfully,

Joanna Mott
Provost and Vice President
Academic Affairs and Stategic Enrollment Management