Opening Remote, Riding This Wave Together – To Incoming Students

Riding This Wave TogetherDear Incoming Kroc Students,

We are one short month away from the start of your academic journey 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.

We are confident in our ability to offer you a highly engaged remote learning experience. 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 new reality might not be what you wished for. But we at the Kroc School are more enthusiastic than ever about our mission to remake the world for the better during these unusual times.

We will support you in having an impactful and rewarding graduate experience, and have planned community building for this remote environment. To start your experience, all new students are enrolled in KROC 500 Foundations: Peace, Justice, and Social Change – an exciting new course in which you will study alongside your classmates in all three degree programs at the Kroc School. You will develop a common language and theoretical grounding to commence your studies and come together as a cohort. You belong in our community, and our faculty and staff are here to support you.

We hope this message helps to reassure you, despite the pandemic-related challenges. At this time, if you are outside of the San Diego area and can reasonably live and learn from where you are, it may be preferable for you to remain there.  However, you may decide to reside in San Diego if you have 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 at ekeehn@sandiego.edu, or by scheduling an appointment with Coordinator of Student Success Marissa Newman at marissanewman@sandiego.edu.

Academic Support and Tech Recommendations

All of our student services are already being offered remotely, including academic advising and career development services. Soon, you will be linked with a Kroc School peer – a continuing student who will help guide you as you start your degree program.

It is imperative that you have all 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. If you have any questions or concerns, please let our team know.

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.

Here are two important reminders for your continued onboarding to the Kroc School:

  • A self-paced remote orientation course will begin on August 12, 2020. You will be automatically enrolled in this course, and it is mandatory that you complete it before commencing your studies.
  • A live, virtual 1-day orientation will be held on September 1, 2020. All faculty, new students, and academic programs staff will be present to launch the academic year. This session is also mandatory.

We will continue to stay in close touch as we lead up to the start of classes. Keep monitoring your USD email accounts for important information on orientation, as well as our plans for the fall.

 As ever, we are committed to the importance of our school’s mission, and are thrilled that you are undertaking your studies with us. We warmly welcome you to our expansive community.

Saludos,

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

Comments are closed.