Opening Remote, Riding This Wave Together – To Continuing Students

Riding This Wave Together

Dear Continuing Kroc Students,

We are one short month away from the start of the fall semester at the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies. The past few months have been unusual for all of us, and our team has worked tirelessly to offer you high-impact learning this fall. While we planned for hybrid delivery, with the rise in COVID-19 cases in San Diego County, the heightened health and safety risks require us to shift our plans. For this reason, the University of San Diego will open the Fall semester with fully remote instruction.

Know that we are confident in our ability to offer a highly engaged remote experience for students. We have upgraded our technology since the spring, and our entire faculty has undergone extensive training this summer and adopted best practices for remote teaching modalities.

We realize that this has been a roller coaster experience. But the team at the Kroc School is more enthusiastic than ever before about our mission. We will continue to support you in having an impactful and rewarding graduate experience.

We hope this message helps to reassure you and allows you to plan for the fall semester. At this time, if you are not residing in San Diego, if you can reasonably live and learn from where you are, it may be preferable to remain there. However, you may decide to reside in San Diego if you have on-campus housing, accessibility, accommodation or other needs, or wish to be residing locally in the event that public health conditions permit us to invite you back to campus for certain instructional activities.

Learn More

The Kroc School will hold a series of town hall meetings where you can learn more about the changed fall plans and connect with our faculty and support staff. The town hall meetings will answer many common questions about the change to opening with remote instruction. We request that you send questions in advance through this form. We recommend you attend the town hall sessions. 

The town halls will take place on the following schedule:

We will schedule additional sessions as necessary. You can also reach out to our team by writing to Assistant Dean Emily Nagisa Keehn or Marissa Newman.

Academic Support and Tech Recommendations

All of our student services are already being offered remotely, including academic advising and career development services. It is imperative that you all have the technology you need to succeed in this remote environment. Be sure to familiarize yourself with the hardware and network recommendations for remote learning, and explore student technology resources at USD.

Next Steps

Our plans will continue to evolve as we receive direction from public health officials. We are grateful for your adaptability and patience. These are extraordinary times, and we are investing extensive resources in a robust remote learning experience.

We will continue to stay in touch as we lead up to the start of classes. As ever, we are committed to the importance of our school’s mission, and are proud that you are part of our expansive community.

Saludos,

Patricia C. Márquez
Dean, Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies
University of San Diego

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