The following message was sent to emeriti faculty and friends on September 4, 2020:
Dear UChicago Emeriti and Friends,
As Summer Quarter comes to an end, work continues in preparation for the start of Autumn Quarter 2020 as outlined by President Zimmer and Provost Lee and described in a video overview released in early August. Groups focused on the Arts, the Libraries, Community Engagement, and Recreation and Sports have also begun planning processes to guide resumption of activities in continued, close consultation with physicians and epidemiologists from UChicago Medicine. For updates about the process and working groups, please consult UChicago Forward where you can find recordings of Town Hall sessions, campus announcements, and much more. For the most recent information on the campus response to COVID-19, please refer to the Coronavirus Updates site the University maintains.
During the Autumn, courses will mainly be offered with remote instruction with some courses being run in-person or in a hybrid fashion. To help instructors prepare for teaching across a variety of modes, the Chicago Center for Teaching, Academic Technology Solutions, and the University of Chicago Library have partnered to offer a robust program of workshops to inform course planning and instruction focused on five areas: introduction and pedagogy, content creation and structure, accessibility and inclusivity, student engagement, and assessment and assignments. You can register for upcoming sessions as well as view recordings of previous workshops on the Training page of UChicago’s Teaching Remotely site. There you can also find additional pedagogical guidance from the Chicago Center for Teaching as well as a new “Instructor Guide for Remote and Hybrid Instruction,” which contains information on COVID-19 related policies and guidelines for teaching in person and remotely, developed by the Education Planning Committee.
In addition to the remote teaching workshops, we are happy to share updates from the Library on Special Collections’ new efforts to create a COVID-19 archive, the Court Theatre’s new season, and upcoming events at the Seminary Co-op.
UChicago Library
In order to document the experiences of and impact on the UChicago community during the pandemic, the Special Collections Research Center has started a COVID-19 Archive to preserve materials for future study. Archivists are looking to catalog the diverse experiences of the university community and individual responses to the pandemic, to enable future scholars and researchers to examine how teaching, researching, studying, and working had been altered and to understand how members of the community connected to each other and to campus. To better capture this moment, the archivists at Special Collections have asked for photographs, stories, born-digital files, and other ephemera from members of the community that speak to experiences at home, on campus, in the lab, or somewhere in between. Special Collections has also started to capture and archive the many websites dedicated to the University’s response to the pandemic. For more information on what Special Collections is seeking, please consult the guide Special Collections has prepared.
Court Theatre
The Court Theatre has reimagined its upcoming 2020-2021 season, offering patrons and subscribers a variety of ways to experience the Court and gather virtually. The Theatre & Thought Series is a collection of online seminars produced in partnership with the University of Chicago Graham School that feature insight from and discussion with UChicago faculty, Court Theatre artists, and scholars about classic works. The seminars begin in September with “The World of August Wilson and the Black Creative Voice.” In addition, a series of Deep Dive events featuring online discussions, readings, and productions focused on Tom Stoppard’s Leopoldstadt will take place throughout October and November, culminating with a reading of the play directed by Charles Newell. Online and onstage productions of the Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner’s Inquiry, 1912), Othello, and August Wilson’s Two Trains Running, are planned for the Winter and Spring.
Upcoming Events
In addition to providing its book pick-up and delivery services, the Seminary Co-op has planned a number of virtual events for the Fall. On September 8 at 12 p.m. the Co-Op will resume its popular author events when Margaret Schabas and Carl Wennerlind will discuss their new book A Philosopher’s Economist: Hume and the Rise of Capitalism, presented in partnership with the University of Chicago Press. The authors will be joined in conversation by Don Garret (NYU) and Chad Zimmerman, the executive editor for economics at the University of Chicago Press. Register for the event and find out more information here. Additional authors speaking this fall include Ellen Wayland-Smith (9/15, 6 p.m.), Jill Lepore (9/16, 7 p.m.) Claudia Rankine (9/24, 7 p.m.), Juan Felipe Herrera (9/30, 11a.m.), and Peniel E. Joseph (10/14, at 7 p.m.).
For information about other events around campus, please continue to visit UChicago Virtual Events, a central place the News Office has developed to keep the community informed. Check the site regularly for updates on upcoming events, to register for Zoom webinars, tune in to music performances, and attend live lectures.
Resource Updates
Benefits
By now we hope you have received your welcome letter from Discovery Benefits, Inc. (DBI), the UChicago Direct Bill Administrator. DBI can be reached Monday through Friday 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. CST by phone at (866) 451-3399 or by email at cobraadmin@discoverybenefits.com.
If you have questions regarding the transition or any other benefits matters, please contact Xaviera Espinoza (Senior Benefits Analyst) at xaviera@uchicago.edu and copy benefits@uchicago.edu.
Keep Connecting with Zoom
UChicago Zoom accounts remain available to emeriti who intend to continue their research, scholarship, and advising throughout the summer. Please refer to the emeriti faculty website for more information about how to obtain an account and a document of FAQs that we have put together.
Warmly,
Melina Hale, Phil Venticinque, and Cassandra Martynow
Melina Hale
Vice Provost
Phil Venticinque
Assistant Provost
Cassandra Martynow
Associate Director