chancellor-from
March 16, 2021

Dear UAF staff and faculty,

Exactly one week ago, Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced that all Alaskans age 16 and over are now eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. This means that all UAF students and employees that want to be vaccinated are now eligible if over the age of 16. I encourage everyone willing to get vaccinated to visit the states vaccination provider locator page to schedule an appointment. I received my first shot and await my second. For our campus safety I encourage you to participate in this opportunity.

As the state continues to work on making vaccination available across Alaska, this is great news for UAF and our community as we begin to open our campus back up to the public and plan for summer and the fall 2021 semester. At this time, UAF is still operating within UA Phase B of the UA phases. We anticipate being able to move into Phase C at the end of the semester and then Phase D or E for operations in the fall 2021 semester. Phases D and E represent largely “back to our normal operations,” or at least our new post-pandemic operations. With phase changes and safety measures taking shape, it is UAF’s intent to be fully open and operating at full, in-person capacity this fall including residence halls and classrooms.

Moving into next phases such as Phase C will provide remote work as an available option, but most employees will return to work on site, with our public spaces and services operating according to state and local guidelines as well as UAF event guidelines.

We are not out of the pandemic yet and there is still much to be done and many to be vaccinated. Please be mindful of COVID-19 symptoms, and if you are ill, stay home.

It will be exciting to see our campus buzzing again with students, staff and faculty, along with classrooms filled and our buildings occupied. Thank you for your patience and thanks for choosing UAF!

— Dan White, chancellor
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