Campus News

Dr. Wolff shares Montana University System task force’s guidance to ensure a healthy fall semester

Dr. Susan Wolff, CEO/Dean of Great Falls College MSU

Dear Great Falls College Community,

I wanted to share with you the Montana University System's comprehensive set of guidelines that will support us as we plan for a safe return to campus life this fall.

The guidelines will be released to the public later today and give overarching guidance to our local task force as we work on our specific plan.

The Montana University System handbook was developed by the MUS Healthy Fall 2020 Task Force, which has worked over the past six weeks to develop the guidelines in partnership with officials from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS).

The handbook is the result of extensive research as well as feedback from campus experts and a broader population of employees, students and administrators across the MUS, wrote Commissioner Christian and DPHHS Medical Officer Dr. Greg Holzman in a foreword to the guidelines.

"While it is important to acknowledge that public health risk factors cannot be entirely eliminated, even in the best of times, we are confident that this handbook provides campuses with the clear planning protocols they need to safely and enthusiastically welcome students back for the kind of academic and extra-curricular experience that has distinguished our campuses for decades and – in some cases – more than a century," wrote Christian and Holzman.

Christian established the 12-member MUS Healthy Fall 2020 Task Force on April 21. It included Dr. Leanne Frost from Great Falls College who is chairing our own task force. The resulting handbook provides a framework for campuses to plan across a broad range of operational areas, from classroom management, to training for residence hall advisors, to quarantine and isolation protocols.

While individual campuses are well into their fall preparations, the handbook provides the system-wide framework of recommendations and protocols they need to enter the next phase of planning. MUS colleges and universities will continue developing their specific Healthy Fall 2020 plans in coordination with their campus communities and will share details as they become available.

Here is a link to the MUS guidelines: https://mus.edu/coronavirus/MUS-Healthy-Fall-2020-Planning-Guidelines.pdf

Look for weekly updates from Great Falls College about the work of the Great Falls College Task Force.

We are so excited for our fall semester, which begins Aug. 17, a week earlier than originally planned to ensure the safest possible return to campus for students, faculty and staff.

Thanks and be well,

Dr. Susan J. Wolff | CEO/Dean