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Dear LAS faculty, staff, graduate students and post docs,

Thank you for all of your contributions in getting us to the end of the semester. It’s been very challenging, but your hard work has paid off. Final exams are just around the corner.

As we wrap up these last few weeks, here are just a few friendly reminders. December 9 (2:15 p.m.) is the deadline to turn in grades, and CELT has created a helpful end-of-semester checklist for Canvas. Please be prepared for any student needs in the days following the posting of grades. As outlined in the Provost’s October 1 message, faculty responsibilities continue through December 16, and resume January 11, 2021. Thank you for continuing committee, mentoring, course planning and other work.

In a more recent memo from the Office of the Provost, the need for flexibility was reiterated, in the case of students who encounter challenges completing final exams due to COVID-19. An update includes the option of assigning a grade of incomplete, allowing students to take a final exam at a later date.

I would like to give a special thanks to instructors teaching classes during our first winter break session! The students really appreciate this extra opportunity for meeting their degree requirements, and enrollment has exceeded all expectations.

As usual, staff will continue to work beyond the instructional period of the semester. Our LASERS team is available to provide grant pre-award assistance support in December and January. If you don’t know who the LASERS team member is for your department, you can send an email to LASERS@iastate.edu. CELT has several development offerings, including training specific to teaching during a pandemic. In addition, advisers will continue to respond to students throughout the winter session. Stacy Kilstofte, our HR partner, will soon send out details about holiday closings and the university partial shutdown.

We will celebrate our newest graduates on November 28 at 11:00 a.m. with a virtual Convocation event. Please join us if you’d like to comment during the livestream, or send a message to the graduating class here.

I hope you will all enjoy a well-deserved break and a wonderful holiday season. This semester will definitely rank among the most intense and unusual of our careers. Thank you again for all you have done for the college!

As always, I had help writing this message. Here is Loki at the front and Milo further back.

With my best wishes,

Beate