We are closely monitoring the worldwide developments and responses to COVID-19. At present we have not altered operations but we are preparing for the event that we need to on short notice. We encourage those in our community to take extra precautions in order to remain healthy and to remain at home if experiencing symptoms of illness. If instructors need to miss class due to illness, please contact the department office (cheminfo@uci.edu) and we will assist with covering the course. Students should contact their instructors to make arrangements.
At this time classes are being taught as scheduled, however we encourage faculty to prepare to switch to an online format in the event of a campus closure. Please contact cheminfo@uci.edu to arrange for assistance in preparing to offer your course online. We also encourage use of Gradescope for delivering grades and feedback to students electronically, and are prepared to assist with implementation. We are compiling online teaching resources at: https://www.chem.uci.edu/online%20resources.
The Professors of Teaching have been working to come up with a plan for continuity of general and organic chemistry lectures during Spring quarter and will work directly with the instructors of those courses. In the event of a campus shutdown we will work to continue lecture classes and plan to hold make-up labs when campus re-opens and/or during Summer.
If courses are unable to be completed due to illness or a campus closure, instructors are encouraged to follow campus policy for assigning incomplete grades (https://www.reg.uci.edu/grades/gradingpolicy.html).
Visitors to UCI should feel free to cancel or postpone their trips if they are not feeling well or prefer not to travel at this time. We welcome them to join us at another time and will be happy to work with visitors to reschedule their visits. Per the campus directive issued 3/6/20, “any visitor arriving to campus from a Level 3 jurisdiction must also follow the CDC guidelines to self-isolate off campus for 14 days since the date they left that country.” Please consult the CDC website for the most recent travel advisories.