Dean's Community Message

January 15, 2021

Dear College of Engineering Community,

During this uncertain and stressful time, we know one thing to be true: This nation is strong and resilient and so are its people. As we all continue to process events of the last week and circumstances of the past year, please continue to take care of yourselves and to check in with each other. It is vital that we continue to be understanding, patient, and compassionate with one another. For those in our community who are struggling, don’t do so in silence. Reach out to trusted family, friends, and colleagues. Connect with each other, because together we are stronger.

“Democracy is of the people, by the people, for the people.”
—Abraham Lincoln

Here are today’s updates:


TODAY: Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Celebration

The Forum on Black Affairs (FOBA) at Penn State will host the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Celebration today, Friday, Jan. 15, via Zoom, 5:00-6:30 p.m. FOBA has partnered with Penn State World Campus Student Affairs to virtually commemorate Dr. King’s legacy. Click here to join the celebration. More information about this event can be found here.


Pre-Semester COVID-19 Testing

As a reminder, all students are required to participate in COVID-19 testing and have a test result on file with the University within 72 hours before they are back on campus, move into on-campus housing, start on-campus activities, attend classes, or participate in any approved internships or clinical experiences. This includes graduate students and students who have remained on campus or lived near campus during winter break. Please refer to this pre-semester testing checklist in preparation for the upcoming spring semester. This checklist outlines the spring 2021 testing requirements and provides guidance for students to ensure a safe return to campus. This checklist and other COVID-19 resources can be found on the Penn State Student Affairs website.

Beyond a negative COVID-19 test result before returning to campus as part of their return for the spring 2021 semester, there are no additional COVID-19 testing requirements for conducting on-campus research. More information can be found here.


COVID Testing Resources for Employees

Through Feb. 5 walk-up testing is available for University Park employees listed in the “Return to Work” database from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at the Hintz Family Alumni Center. Also, through Jan. 30, Centre County is offering free, walk-up COVID-19 testing for community members from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays. Testing will be conducted at the Nittany Mall (enter via the outside Bon-Ton storefront) through Jan. 16. Testing will be conducted at 1155 Benner Pike, Suite 120 (the former Comcast location) from Jan. 19-30.

For faculty and staff at University Park and other Penn State locations who work on site, opt-in asymptomatic testing via a Vault Health mail-in kit is available. Testing will continue to be available only to employees who are listed in the University’s Return to Work database. Employees can initiate this testing process online through Vault Health. Test kits will be mailed to home addresses, and the test will be completed under virtual observation with Vault Health to complete the process. More information is available here. Employees may also reference this map that shows additional testing locations throughout Pennsylvania.


Reminder: Box Migration

As a reminder, now that the Box migration of the personal accounts for the majority of users in the college has been completed, those users should no longer be working in personal Box folders. Their current Box data is set to a read-only format, so please refrain from creating new files in Box. Access to Penn State Box will expire permanently in September 2021.


Updates to Xfinity/Comcast Internet Usage Plan

Starting in January, Xfinity Internet implemented a data cap of 1.2 terabytes (1,229 GB) of internet data per month. With 1.2 terabytes of data available, users are able to video conference for 3,500 hours, watch 1,200 hours of distance learning videos, stream 500 hours of high-definition video content a month, or play more than 34,000 hours of online games. More information on this update can be found on the Keep Teaching site and box">Reminder: Box Migration site.


Teaching Tip #67 – Required Syllabus Statements

This syllabus template includes the required syllabus statements for the spring semester. It is also in an accessible format.


Take care!

Justin Schwartz
Harold and Inge Marcus Dean, College of Engineering