Dean's Messages

To our U of T Engineering community

I hope you’re keeping safe, healthy, and enjoying these last weeks of summer. We all know Back to Skule™ will look different this year — for the majority of our students, staff and faculty, we’ll be starting the Fall Term remotely. But more than ever, I’m reminded that U of T Engineering has always been a strong community and we’re undertaking this new experience together.

Our instructors have been working intensely this summer to reimagine their Fall Term courses to deliver an engaging and interactive semester for all our undergraduate and graduate students. And on campus, many changes have been put in place to ensure those who do plan to visit can move through every one of our buildings with physical distancing. Those include:

• Installation of directional signage for one-way entry, exit and movement through buildings
• Maximum capacity signs posted on the doors of all classrooms and around common-use spaces to ensure distancing can be maintained
• Maximum capacity signs on elevators, limiting entry to one or two people. As always, we encourage anyone who is able to do so to take the stairs
• Classrooms will be fully cleaned and disinfected every day, and high-touch points such as doorknobs and elevator buttons will be wiped down twice a day
• Wearing non-medical masks will be mandatory in all common-use indoor spaces on University property, including hallways, labs, meeting rooms, shared offices and classrooms
  • U of T is providing all students, staff and faculty with two non-medical masks
    • students can pick theirs up at these locations: uofteng.ca/G3pEpw
    • masks for faculty and staff will be distributed through home units, with first priority given to those who are working on campus
• Residences have been making modifications, including having students live in single rooms, modifying dining facilities and meal programs to enable distancing, and performing additional maintenance and cleaning of all rooms and common spaces prior to the arrival of students. More information can be found at: https://www.viceprovoststudents.utoronto.ca/covid-19/#ResidenceFall2020
• The Engineering & Computer Science Library in Sandford Fleming will remain closed, and we are renovating the space. There will be some pretty dramatic changes to the Library space and I think everyone will really like the updated facility — stay tuned for the unveiling. Gerstein and Robarts will be partially reopening, though the stacks will remain off-limits
• Our Engineering Computing Facility (ECF) labs and printers will remain closed, but the entire ECF environment is remotely accessible from any internet connection. Remote access instructions and a complete list of resources is available on the ECF webpage

Just like when we resumed some in-person research activities earlier this summer, as we continue to gradually return, we will be following step-by-step processes to evaluate how student spaces and offices are configured and used. As always, these processes are guided by current government policy and the recommendations of our public health agencies, as well as input from our own experts here at U of T.

While our remote access guarantee will remain in place for both Fall and Winter Terms, like many of you, I remain hopeful that we’ll be able to offer more in-person activities next term. I continue to be inspired by the resilience and tenacity I’ve seen — this pandemic isn’t over, and I’m sure there are many changes still to come. I’ll continue to share those updates. I thank everyone — from students, staff, faculty to alumni and the broader community — for all their hard work, patience, comments and suggestions. We’re all working hard together and I’m excited and proud of our Skule™ community.

Chris 

Christopher Yip
Dean
Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering
University of Toronto