Message to the university community from Dr. Gary Kachanoski

Mar 27th, 2020

Dr. Gary Kachanoski

Message to the university community from Dr. Gary Kachanoski

This has been a momentous week at Memorial as the first week of remote instruction draws to a close. I want to send a heartfelt thanks to all of our students, faculty and staff for your patience, hard work and perseverance in making this transition happen. It has taken an army of people to get us here, and the job is certainly not over yet. We must continue to work together toward the successful completion of the winter 2020 semester for our students.

It has also been a significant week for the public health of Newfoundland and Labrador. Each day the number of COVID-19 cases has increased, and each day our efforts to keep our community safe has also increased.

We have made it clear that unless you have a critical function that requires you to come to campus, you must stay at home for your safety and for the safety of your colleagues who do need to be on campus to perform their jobs. That way we can focus our efforts on keeping the appropriate space between people, and focus our enhanced cleaning efforts on their work areas to keep them safe. We are making decisions based on advice and directives from public health authorities and government.

We’ve also made the difficult decision to postpone Spring Convocation. We recognize that ceremony is something our graduates have worked so hard toward and we will turn our attention to providing that opportunity at a better time in the fall.

The situation continues to evolve and our response will continue to evolve with it. I want to reiterate my thanks to the hundreds of people across our campuses, in jobs at all levels and functions, who are working so hard right now. And to those employees who may not be engaged in the current critical functions, continue to work with your managers to plan your remote work as resources and circumstances allow.

As always, I urge you to visit www.mun.ca/covid19 for all the latest updates from the university. The FAQ is being updated daily as we are able to provide more information across a wide range of areas. We’ve also added information about the Emergency Operations Centre, as I know people may have interest in what that structure looks like and how decision making happens in an emergency.

Please stay home, stay safe and consult the province’s website for the latest public health information.

3:40 p.m.