Chancellor Mo Dehghani sent the following message to students, faculty and staff on March 31:
Dear Distinguished Colleagues and Dear Friends,
The Rolla City Council passed a stay-at-home ordinance Monday night to help slow the spread of COVID-19 in our community. This ordinance goes into effect at 8 a.m. Monday, April 6, and will remain in effect through Monday, May 11.
Because of our own measures already in place at Missouri S&T to slow the spread of COVID-19, this ordinance will not have a substantial impact on our current operations. Under our current arrangement, all Missouri S&T employees should continue to work from home, if possible, through Sunday, April 12, and remote instruction will continue through the end of the semester. These steps are important to maintaining social distancing practices while allowing the university to continue its essential work.
The Rolla City Council’s action may affect our current remote work arrangements, but not our remote instruction. Remote work arrangements are scheduled to end on Sunday, April 12, with employees returning to their regular work sites and schedules on April 13. We are evaluating our operations in light of the council’s decision and will update the campus community soon on any changes to our current approach.
It is increasingly critical that each of us continue to do our part to slow the spread of this virus and protect those who are most vulnerable. We will continue to work with the Phelps-Maries County Public Health Department, Phelps Health, our community leaders, UM System campuses and other partners to respond decisively to this situation.
For more information about the university’s response to COVID-19 and for all the latest updates, please visit the coronavirus information website.
Finally, I hope you will join me and your fellow students, faculty and staff members for a town hall-style online meeting at 10-11 a.m. Thursday, April 2. You may join the meeting via Zoom, and if you have any questions or have topics to discuss, please send your comments to SandTChancellor@mst.edu by the end of the day today, Tuesday, March 31.
Thank you for all you have already done to protect the well-being of our families, neighbors and friends, and for your commitment to this vital effort. As hard as this situation seems to us all, remember that this country and university have endured adversity of equal or greater magnitude before and have clearly emerged stronger. We will, too.
Sincerely,
Mo Dehghani
Chancellor