Welcome Back & Staying Healthy This Fall! A Message from Provost Martin: August 1, 2022
Welcome Back & Staying Healthy This Fall! A Message from Provost Martin
Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:
The start of a new academic year is always an exciting time. We look forward to welcoming you back along with what we expect will be our largest and most academically accomplished freshman class. Our final headcount won’t be announced until the 11th day of classes, but with the robust freshman class and current retention rates, we expect to top 30,000 students for the first time.
As we prepare the campus for the 2022-23 academic year, we wanted to share a few items that may be at the top of your mind in terms of the health and safety of our entire community.
We plan to launch the semester much as we ended the 2021-22 academic year.
- If you are feeling sick, please stay home and do not attend work or class. We ask faculty to remain flexible with students who are sick.
- Review our quarantine and isolation guidance if you’ve been exposed to COVID-19 or test positive for the virus.
- While COVID-19 testing remains available at the Pat Walker Health Center by appointment, you may find it convenient to have a supply of self-tests on-hand for your personal use. These are available at many retail outlets as well as for free via the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
- Vaccinations of all varieties, including COVID-19 and seasonal flu, are also available at the Pat Walker Health Center by appointment.
- Masks are recommended indoors. Please be encouraging and tolerant of people’s choices to mask or not.
- Masks are available. Free C195, KN95 and 3-ply disposable masks are available for members of the campus community and may be acquired from Facilities Management Central Supply by request – these are free and available to everyone. Call 479-575-3840.
- The COVID-19 Response Team continues to meet periodically to discuss campus and community conditions, such as hospitalization rates and known infections, and will continue to recommend policies and procedures designed to keep the community healthy.
The university’s COVID-19 site will continue to be updated with the latest guidance and information. We’re looking forward to another great year at the University of Arkansas and are excited to see you soon. Go Hogs!
Terry Martin, Ph.D.
Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs