It is hard to believe that we are already almost at Thanksgiving Break. Congratulations on all of your hard work and academic progress to date. I have had the pleasure of meeting several of you during my office hours, and have kept up with your remote learning experiences through faculty and staff.

As always, it is my priority to keep the Kroc School community safe, and to date this has required keeping our operations remote. Yet I realize that we are all eager to see each other in-person. While we do not know what public health conditions will permit during the Spring semester, we are looking ahead and planning for different scenarios. At this time, I am writing to let you know which courses we plan to deliver in hybrid format, should we be permitted to do so.

Please note the following:

1. The teaching modality for all of our courses is now listed on the Kroc Student Resources Site.
2. We will only pivot back to a fully remote schedule if the federal, state, or county government, or USD require us to do so.
3. We will confirm our plans for you again on December 21, before we close for the holidays. This is to give students who reside outside of the area a month’s notice ahead of Spring classes starting.
4. We will survey you ahead of the Spring semester so that you can indicate whether you will study exclusively remote or participate in-person in hybrid courses.

Regardless of the delivery modality, we are committed to providing a one-of-a-kind learning experience. We sincerely hope that conditions will permit us to offer hybrid courses. But if it’s not possible to meet in-person, I encourage all of you to continue your fruitful remote learning engagement, always remembering why we are distancing ourselves: to keep our community safe. Be mindful that as the pandemic progresses many in our community have now been personally impacted, including having lost loved ones. Continue to be kind and encouraging to one another. Take good care of your physical and mental health, practice self-care and prioritize your well-being. Use the wellness services made available to you, and reach out to your faculty advisor or the Academic Programs team if you need support. And of course, I invite you to attend my office hours from 12:30-1:30 pm on November 30th and December 14th.

Saludos,

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