Dean's Community Message

May 12, 2020

Dear College of Engineering Community,

I hope you all had a great weekend and start to the new week. I also hope you were able to celebrate the end of the semester accordingly!

Today’s inspirational quote was submitted by Pam Stauffer, manager of administrative and financial services in electrical engineering and computer science:

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. IT DOES.”
—William James

Here are today’s updates:

Penn State Announces Procedure for Students to Move Out

Penn State announced that students from areas not currently under travel restrictions who have personal belongings remaining in on-campus housing may begin scheduling times for moving out of their residence halls at campuses where restrictions have also been eased. Only students who receive a personal email from the University directly may proceed with scheduling a move-out date and time. More information can be found here.

Undergraduate Alternative Grading Clarifications

Penn State has implemented optional alternative grading scales for the spring 2020 semester, with additional details and FAQs on the University’s Remote Learning website. Students will be able to submit alternative grade choices from May 20-May 29 through LionPATH. Students can now start to consider all options by using the Alternative Grading Decision Worksheet and consulting with academic advisers. Two points of clarification for undergraduate students related to academic integrity and entrance to major:

  • Academic Integrity: The University has determined that a student will not be permitted to elect alternative grading for a course in which an Academic Integrity violation occurred if the sanction associated with the violation results in any reduction to individual grades in the course or the overall course grade.
  • Entrance to Major (ETM): Credits for which an alternative grade has been selected will not count toward the ETM credit window for Enrollment Controlled College of Engineering majors.

Continuation of Remote Working

Remote working should continue when feasible per Gov. Wolf’s phased reopening plan; requests to change from remote working status are to be sent to the response team at L-COE_CORONA_CRISIS_TEAM@engr.psu.edu. The Telework Tracking System is to be kept up to date by all department and office managers with all authorized status changes. While we await further guidance from the University on how and when labs and other spaces will be accessible, we are collaborating with PSU Purchasing for the procurement of masks and other products that will be needed; we will provide updates as soon as possible. The most current University EHS guidance is always available at ehs.psu.edu/covid19.

Penn State Employee Special Assistance Fund

Penn State has created the Penn State Employee Special Assistance Fund to help offset the financial challenges faced by full-time Penn State employees and their families. Details on how to donate can be found here.

Virtual Workshop Series: Successes and Lessons Learned from Remote Teaching

The Leonhard Center and the Office for Digital Learning will host a series of debriefing sessions for faculty to learn from the spring 2020 transition to remote learning. There will be three sessions focused on different educational contexts:

Engineering Ambassadors YouTube Channel: K-12 STEM Activities

In order to continue to connect with K-12 students and their families, the Engineering Ambassadors created a YouTube channel that features various STEM activities for K-12 students to try at home. New videos will continue to be posted to their channel, so check it out here!

Recognizing Excellence: Zoombies

Please join me in congratulating our newest Zoombie award winners in the college. These individuals have been going above and beyond!

Marek Flaska, Rynne Crissinger, Samantha Hendershot, Cheryl Knobloch, Daniel Russell, Andrew Zydney, Tim Simpson, Cassidy Cecil, Lori Miraldi, Dayna Kann, Sara Hackett, Angela Pope, Miki Wagner, Youyou Cheng, Beth Huber, Danielle Snyder, Azaree Lintereur, Sarah Meyer, Cathy Holsing, Serena Sidwell, Stephanie Cutler, Jane Harris, Ned Brokloff, Lisa Lingle, Brad Sottile, Meridyth Lanza, Jeffrey Watson, and Scott Heckman.

Please continue to submit your appreciation for members of the engineering community. Penn State updates are available on the University’s coronavirus information site. You can connect with me on LinkedIn and follow the college on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Be well!

Justin Schwartz
Harold and Inge Marcus Dean, College of Engineering