Dec. 4, 2019

FLORENCE, AL - The University of North Alabama has released its plan to return students, faculty, and staff to campus for the Spring 2021 semester amid the ongoing pandemic. The plan, which is the result of work done by the Covid-19 Recovery Task Force, was originally developed for the Fall 2020 semester. The task force updated the contents, however, to reflect the safety measures and practices already in place at UNA.

"The spring guidance provides updates to the travel policy, Covid symptom reporting and contact tracing, and information related to the academic calendar," said Dr. Tammy Jacques, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs. "Most of the edits are updated to keep language current. We want to remind the campus community and visitors that cloth face coverings will continue to be required in spring semester. There are only a few exceptions that are noted in the guidance plan."

The Covid-19 Recovery Task Force was appointed by UNA President Ken Kitts in March of 2020 and has met to bring various campus constituencies together via Zoom in order to communicate best practices regarding the pandemic and how to manage it on campus. The task force is chaired by Dr. Kimberly Greenway, Vice President for Student Affairs.

"This 28-member group has worked tirelessly to track the pandemic and recommend best practices to mitigate the spread of the virus, from distancing and other safety and cleaning protocols to student re-entry testing to sentinel testing to contact tracing," she said. "All of these efforts combined have allowed us to have a fall semester in which students were able to be on campus for classes, to live in our residence halls, and to enjoy some level of normalcy in their college lives. Our goal is to have the same result with the Spring 2021 plan and the guidance outlined there."

The updated guidance plan may be viewed here. UNA students will return to campus on Jan. 4, with classes set to resume Jan. 6. Asymptomatic Covid sentinel testing will continue for students and employees for the spring semester through the GuideSafe program. University Health Services now has the capability to do diagnostic (symptomatic) testing for the UNA community as well.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs through the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Human Sciences, and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of the NCAA Division I's ASUN Big South Conference. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: www.una.edu and www.una.edu/unaworks/