This week, we continue to make great strides in our fight against the novel coronavirus. As of today's reporting, we have only 23 active student cases and three active staff cases. We do not have any faculty members testing positive. This information is available on our dashboard, which is updated every morning.

Please remember to download the Peay Mobile app. This app is a great tool to keep you connected with your classmates and to get the latest campus information, but we are also using it to keep our campus community safe during this pandemic. The app includes a health screening questionnaire that I encourage everyone to fill out each morning. We’ve also placed QR codes at most public venues on campus, and everyone needs to check in with those codes using the app. This will help us effectively contact trace should someone test positive. A video on how to use the app is available here.

Your commitment to wearing masks in campus buildings or in groups outdoors is helping us keep our numbers down, but please make sure you are regularly cleaning any cloth masks you wear. If you’re wearing the same, unwashed mask you’ve worn since August, you’re potentially exposing yourself to other health risks in addition to COVID-19. If you are unable to wash your mask, we have more than 11,000 cloth masks and 37,000 paper masks available. Please don’t hesitate to ask us for another mask. This information, along with our current stock of sanitizer and other safety items, is also available on the dashboard.

By having a clean mask and following our COVID-19 guidelines, you will help us continue on-campus instruction until the Thanksgiving holiday. After Thanksgiving, all instruction will move fully online for the remainder of the semester. The residence halls, however, will remain open. If you are living on campus, you do not have to move out after Thanksgiving.

And speaking of holidays, we’ve made changes to the University Calendar regarding the Winter Break. Austin Peay was originally set to be closed administratively from Dec. 25-Jan. 1. During one of my “Pop-In’s with the Prez” meetings, I was asked if staff had to work on Christmas Eve. We looked into it and, because our hard-working employees have been through a lot this year, we made the decision to close campus on Dec. 23-24 as well.

On Monday, Sept. 28, I will host another “Pop-Ins with the Prez” from 9:30-11:30 a.m., through Zoom. These “pop-ins” are a time for faculty, staff and students to share any of their thoughts or concerns with me. You can sign up for a 15-minute slot at this link. That week, Human Resources is also hosting its virtual benefits fair. Employees will have a chance to win gifts for attending various sessions, so please plan on attending. Information on the fair is available here.

And finally, I want to remind everyone about the special Civic Engagement 101 seminar, hosted by Human Resources and the Department of Political Science and Public Management, at 11 a.m. on Sept. 30. This event is open to all faculty, staff and students, and it will provide attendees with important information on the electoral process. We also now have a website, www.apsu.edu/vote, with additional information, such as how to register to vote or how to request an absentee ballot. It’s important that we all fulfill our civic duty by voting, and I appreciate these many areas working to make the process as simple as possible.

If you missed yesterday's town hall session, you can watch it below.

September 23, 2020 Town Hall with Interim President Dannelle Whiteside

Thank you again for everything you do for Austin Peay and for the entire campus community.

Dannelle Whiteside

Interim President