Message from Georgian College’s president:
Dear students and colleagues,
The health and safety of our campus community is always my top priority. After careful consideration, all in-person classes at all Georgian College campuses are suspended from Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 20 to allow us the time to retool our programs to move to remote delivery where feasible. Existing online courses will continue as usual. Our campuses — including libraries, student services and counselling, food services, the athletic centre and others — will remain open. Georgian Employment Ontario offices will also remain open.
Beginning Monday, March 23, all programs will be delivered through remote means. Students are required to check Blackboard next week regarding their specific program delivery, as well as how we’ll address hands-on learning. Students are expected to attend their co-ops and placements unless otherwise notified.
We are focused on developing solutions that support the safety and wellbeing of staff and students and allow for the successful completion of their semester in a timely fashion.
The college will remain open. Employees are expected to report for work however, we will be encouraging and implementing flexible work arrangements where we are able. We will also be adopting measures that support social distancing and minimize personal contact to create a safer work and learning environment.
I’d also like to remind everyone it’s critical we all continue to be vigilant with illness-prevention practices – including effective hand-washing and staying away from the college if you are ill. I appreciate this is a challenging time for us at the college and would remind everyone the Employee Assistance Program (EAP)is available for employees and counselling services for students.
As this is a dynamic and evolving situation, we will be providing more information as it becomes available. Your patience at this time is appreciated as we work through the details of this plan.
The decision to suspend classes was not taken lightly, but the health and well-being of our Georgian community, is our priority. The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented and evolving situation and we are making decisions as quickly as possible with the guidance of public health officials.
I want to thank our faculty, staff and administrators for their commitment to our students and their education. They are moving swiftly to retool their methods of delivery and their expertise and focus on this is deeply appreciated.
Dr. MaryLynn West-Moynes
President and CEO, Georgian College
