Dean's Community Message

August 18, 2020

Dear College of Engineering Community,

I hope your final week of summer is off to an excellent start. As students begin moving onto campus, all attention and focus across the University is on Monday’s start of the fall semester. Thank you for all you are doing to prepare and for your diligence in safeguarding yourself and those around you. Keeping our community safe will take a collective effort from all of us: Be sure to wear your mask and use the symptom checker on the Penn State Go mobile app.

As we look ahead to this next chapter, I wanted to highlight a video from the weekend’s virtual commencement ceremony that features our own aerospace engineering alumnus Dr. Guion S. Bluford Jr., the first African American astronaut in space. Dr. Bluford’s message to the newest members of the Class of 2020 applies to all of us, especially now.

“Chase your passion. Be fearless in its pursuit. Be aggressive in your desire. Be persistent in your effort.”

Here are today’s updates:


First Week Advising

From Monday (Aug. 24) through Friday (Aug. 28), engineering advisers are only available for drop-in Zoom advising meetings. Between 8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. (EST), first- and second-year students can use this link to drop in. If the waiting room is too full for the remaining time in the day, students will be advised to drop-in the following day, so please plan to join early. In-major students should contact their department adviser for more information. Students at other Penn State campuses can find their advising representative here.


Peer Advising

First- and second-year students can also connect with the Engineering Peer Advising Leaders (EPALs). These trained College of Engineering students can help answer your questions on general education requirements, academic deadlines, general scheduling questions, how to get involved, LionPATH, Canvas, and Starfish. Their individual Zoom hours are posted here. They also host a general Zoom room during their posted hours.


Instructor Resources: Countdown to Classes

The University’s Keep Teaching website features a new Countdown to Classes section with essential teaching tools, guidance, and resources for the fall semester. This includes two useful guides that will be helpful: Instructor Guide to Fall 2020 and Flexible Instructional Teaching Guide.


Reminder: Surveillance Testing Expectations

The University will conduct surveillance testing of faculty, staff and students on campuses throughout the semester, testing about 1% of our campus populations (about 700 people) per day. The plan includes random and risk-stratified surveillance testing as well as testing for individuals who are identified in the contact-tracing process. For the safety of our community, all who are contacted to be tested are expected to participate. Learn more about the University’s testing plans.


Teaching Tip #35 – Student privacy in classroom recordings

If instructors are considering reusing lecture videos from previous semesters when teaching this fall, it is necessary to ensure that the videos do not include any personally identifiable information about the students in the prior semester’s class. For additional information, contact the Office for Digital Learning for assistance.


Be well!

Justin Schwartz
Harold and Inge Marcus Dean, College of Engineering