SUBJECT:

Update to Faculty on H1N1 Influenza

Dear Colleagues:

We are currently monitoring the status of the 2009 H1N1 influenza in our campus community. Up-to-date information can be found on the campus website(http://blink.ucsd.edu/Blink/External/Topics/Policy/0,1162,25861,00.html), which you can also link to from Blink or the campus homepage. A number of messages and resources regarding the flu situation are available on this site, including a letter from UC President Yudof, links to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), travel advisories, and advice about how to avoid catching or spreading the illness. We encourage you to refer to this helpful site.

The UC San Diego campus remains open for instruction and business. We would like to pass along information that is particularly relevant for faculty, based on what we currently know.

· If you experience flu symptoms, please stay home. Notify your department chair or program director. If you are teaching a class this quarter, you may wish to work with your department chair to arrange for a substitute instructor, or consider distributing course material or assignments to your class via email or WebCT. Remember that you may not require students to attend “make-up” lectures, discussions, or exams at times that are inconsistent with those published in the Schedule of Classes except for individually arranged make-up exams.

· Please let your students know that the same standards apply to them – if they have flu symptoms they should stay home and avoid contact with others. Those faculty members who record podcasts for courses may wish to remind students of their availability. We recognize that this will not be possible in all course formats, such as laboratories, studios, and some seminars.

· Although you may wish to exercise leniency in allowing ill students to catch up or make up missing work during this time, please keep in mind that it will be essential that illness resulting in incomplete course work (late papers, missed final exams) and filings of official grades of “Incomplete” will require the same level of documentation as under normal circumstances.

If conditions change we will be in contact with you again. In the meantime, if you have medical questions, you may contact Acting Director of Student Health Service, Gina Fleming, MD, MSPH. For other questions you are advised to contact your department or the office of the AVC Undergraduate Education.

Paul W. Drake Senior Vice Chancellor Daniel J. Donoghue Chair