I want to say thank you to all of you who have worked together to help make our fall 2020 semester a success so far. As the semester moves on, I want to recognize that our lives have been disrupted in many ways and that it has had a large impact on all of us. I encourage you to seek balance in your life, whether it is at work or school or in interactions with others within our community. Please take the time to care for yourself and your loved ones.

As you know, the decision to provide instruction and student services largely remote for fall 2020 was made early to give faculty and staff sufficient time to be prepared. Our primary goal was to ensure that we could support students as they continue their educational pursuits. Additionally, we felt it was important for students to know in advance what courses they were registering for and how they would be taught.

As we prepare for registration for the spring 2021 semester the same interests are still at the core of our decision making. In order to ensure that we can provide high quality and uninterrupted courses, we have made the decision to stay largely online for spring 2021. We will be monitoring regional public health conditions, and should those conditions change significantly, we will work to add more in-person courses as possible.

We have learned a lot about how to best serve our community since we went largely online in March and we will apply what we’ve learned and continue to strive to serve our students with the utmost care that they have been accustomed to for so many years at Sierra College.

This semester we are serving nearly 18,000 students, nearly all of them remote, with almost 2,000 class sections online, up from less than 400 in 2019. A year ago, if I had been told this is what our semester would look like, I wouldn’t have believed it, and would have questioned that we could make a change this significant so quickly, and execute it so well. I am in awe of the strength, courage, and resilience of our Sierra College Community.

Below is a more detailed update on the status of instruction and activities, with the understanding there may be additional updates before the spring semester starts in January:  

• Lectures and labs will continue to be largely online  
• Student services including counseling, financial aid, and tutoring will continue to be offered largely remote and with live online chat available at sierracollege.edu/studentservices  
• We will continue offering public health and safety programs and certain workforce preparation courses that can’t be offered online in person for spring 2021
• Wolverine athletics teams are planning to return to competition in spring 2021 per the approved plan from the California Community College Athletic Association
• Commencement is being planned and we are developing multiple scenarios where we can celebrate the achievements of graduates from both 2020 and 2021  

A few weeks ago, I shared our Return to Campus plan with faculty and staff. I want to extend my gratitude to those that contributed to that plan and remind everyone that right now we plan for the worst, and hope for the best. We will continue planning, and I look forward to celebrating the best, with you, in the near future.

For continued updates, please check sierracollege.edu/covid19 or try our new live chat during business hours at sierracollege.edu/studentservices.

We’ve got this Wolverines! 

Willy Duncan
Superintendent/President
Sierra College