NOTE: The following guidance for teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic was last updated on Aug. 15, 2022.
Public Health Mandates
To protect each community member's health, The University of Baltimore will monitor the public health situation and follow State of Maryland and/or Baltimore City directives. Employees and students are required to comply with University System of Maryland (USM) and UBalt protocols, which may change during the course of a semester, depending on community transmission rates, etc.
Currently, USM and UBalt strongly encourage all community members to be vaccinated against Covid-19 and to receive booster shots at appropriate intervals. Information on vaccine clinics can be found here. At this time, the city health director strongly recommends masking indoors.
UBalt will continue to monitor the public health situation as well as state and local guidance, and adapt accordingly.
Faculty Absences
A faculty member should follow the usual department/school procedures for advance notification to the school and to students if one or more classes must be missed for any reason. If a faculty member has to be absent, that faculty and the relevant department/dean's office should set up a process as soon as possible for ensuring students lose no instruction because of a faculty absence.
Faculty members should consult with their supervisor, dean, and the Office of Human Resources as soon as possible if they will experience anything more than a short-term absence.
Faculty and other employees with COVID-19 symptoms or a positive COVID test or diagnosis should not come to campus and should report the information immediately to employeehealth@ubalt.edu. The person should then follow the guidance Human Resources provides. Human Resources will notify the faculty member's supervisor and, after appropriate evaluation of the situation, anyone else with a need to know for public health reasons. Appropriate arrangements for conducting the course will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Tenure-track faculty who have any kind of serious illness or life event should alert their chair/executive director and dean, and may wish to consult the Tenure Clock Extension Policy.
Confirmed COVID-19 Notification Steps
View the COVID-19 Notification Steps. Note that vaccination status is private health information covered by HIPAA.
Microphones for Lecturing
Faculty members may wish to remain masked while teaching, although they are not required to. If a lecturer has trouble being heard while wearing a mask, a wireless microphone may be used. If your classroom is not equipped with a wireless microphone and you want to use one, contact av@ubalt.edu. Check your classroom at least a day before you teach if you think you will need a microphone.
Syllabi Notations About Absences and Make-Up Work
More than ever, it is important that faculty indicate on syllabi how class absences are addressed. Students should be informed how to contact the faculty member if they know they must miss a class. As usual, student absences must be addressed on a case-by-case basis, as should the way in which students will make up work. Faculty have discretion to say if make-up work varies from the original assignment.
Student Absences
If a student has COVID-19 symptoms, the students should follow University protocols for such cases (for details, visit our Frequently Asked Questions). The student must work with faculty members on a case-by-case basis about how to make up missed work, as they would with any other excused absence.
An experience with short-term COVID-19 symptoms does not require ADA-type accommodations for the student. It is treated as a short-term illness.
If a student or faculty member has been diagnosed with "long COVID," then the student or faculty member should follow the usual steps for seeking ADA accommodation, if necessary. Medical documentation of long COVID is required.
Students in the School of Law must follow the Law School's absence policy. Please refer to the School of Law Student Handbook for details.
Excused Absences for COVID-19 and Other Reasons and Making Up Missed Work
Undergraduates and graduate students who miss a class taught in any modality because they have a documented medical appointment—including COVID-19 vaccination, testing or treatment—should be deemed to have an excused absence. If students have a short-term illness of any kind, including COVID-19 symptoms, students should follow the usual procedures with their faculty for a short-term illness.
Undergraduate and graduate students who must isolate because of COVID-19 and are scheduled for an on-campus course or an on-campus meeting of a hybrid course must notify the faculty members teaching their courses. The student must work with faculty members on a case-by-case basis regarding how to make up what was missed in class.
If an undergraduate or graduate student will be absent for more than a class or two, the student should discuss with each of their faculty members how absence will impact their study, how work could be made up, and if it is possible or appropriate to request an incomplete or a medical withdrawal from a course. The student should also contact their academic adviser.
Unexcused Absences
If an undergraduate or graduate student has an unexcused absence, a faculty member may refuse to set up make-up work. It is therefore extremely important that students work with faculty members to demonstrate when and why an absence is excused.
As usual, unexcused absences from class are unacceptable. University policy—which is tied to the University's ability to distribute federal financial aid—indicates that a student who misses 20 percent or more of a course is failed for nonattendance (FA). In such cases, a student may be required to pay back federal financial aid received for that term.