Fuqua’s Fall Plans: Update to President Price’s email

Dear Fuqua community,

We are excited at the prospect of physically welcoming students back into our facilities. We have been hard at work making sure we are ready for the beginning of the academic year, with the safety of our community guiding every decision about how to reopen our buildings.  

As you can tell from the email you received from President Price yesterday, Duke is taking many precautions based on medical research and expertise to help us protect one another and keep the virus from spreading. Much of what President Price outlined—for example, wearing masks, practicing appropriate physical distancing and daily symptom monitoring—applies across the University, including the Fuqua School. However, President Price also alluded to possible differences between the undergraduate plans he details and plans for the graduate and professional schools.

As a follow up to President Price’s email, and to avoid potential confusion, I want to note specific areas where Fuqua will differ from what he describes.

We will not be following the calendar outlined for the undergraduates. Our academic calendars are unchanged from what we have previously communicated and posted on our website.

Our dominant teaching paradigm will follow a format that differs from the four options listed in President Price’s email. Classes will be live and held on a regular schedule. The majority of these classes will include simultaneous delivery to students participating face-to-face in the classroom and those participating online. In other words, students will be interacting together in real time with the faculty member whether they are physically on campus or joining class virtually. Fuqua pioneered this teaching format several years ago with great success. Given the possible inability of some students to be in the classroom, we are extending this format across our programs.

Fuqua students will not undergo required testing for COVID-19 prior to starting classes. This requirement exists for undergraduate students, on the recommendation of Duke’s medical experts, because of the density of dormitory living. However, other than initial testing, Fuqua students will have the same access to testing as the undergraduate population if symptomatic or exposed to the virus.

We know you will have many questions unanswered here. We assure you we will continue to communicate in the coming weeks, offering further guidance on how we will safely return to campus. We will also host forums and other avenues to answer your questions.

In the meantime, if you have a pressing question we have not answered please email covid19questions@fuqua.duke.edu if you are a student. Faculty and staff may email covid19response@fuqua.duke.edu

Please be safe and well. We look forward to joining with you for an exciting—and safe—year ahead!

Best,

Bill