| MEMORANDUM
To: USC Community From: Charles F. Zukoski, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Date: March 10, 2020 Subject: Update to University Policies and Plans Related to COVID-19
We are continuing to monitor closely developments regarding the COVID-19 outbreak with your health and safety at the forefront of our decision-making. Our highest priority is your well-being, and the well-being of anyone who visits our campuses. While there are no cases of COVID-19 at USC, health authorities announced yesterday the first possible case of community transmission in Los Angeles County. We believe the risk to our students, faculty, and staff remains low, but it is our responsibility to you and our greater community to be proactive in our efforts to encourage social distancing as a means of preventing the spread of illness. At the same time, we are committed to continuing the academic excellence and vital work of the university. As a result, we are taking the following measures, but please be aware that as we learn more, we may need to make changes to these dates.
This is a challenging time for all universities and organizations that bring together a large, highly mobile population, and we appreciate your patience and support as we navigate this uncharted territory. We ask for your patience and collaboration as we work through difficult issues related to the continuity of all of our academic programs. During Spring Recess, we will assess our classroom and lab experiences in an effort to improve our online instruction. We have already learned that in laboratory and clinical settings, we must follow professional standards and appropriate hygiene, including frequent handwashing and social distancing. Please check your email regularly during Spring Recess for any updates. Events For university-related event questions, please email studenthealth@usc.edu and your inquiry will be routed to the appropriate department. Travel Professional: Only essential professional travel will be allowed for faculty, staff, and graduate students. Essential travel is generally defined as travel that is required to preserve the safety or results of a research subject or research activity that cannot be postponed. All faculty and staff must have written approval from their dean or supervisor for reimbursement of essential travel expenses. Graduate students require written approval from their faculty-sponsor and dean. Study Abroad: Students who were studying abroad in CDC Level 3 countries have already returned, and the university is closely monitoring the situation in other countries. Any students abroad who wish to return home voluntarily should contact their USC program advisor to discuss their academic continuation options. Health Notice Please remember to take care of yourself, and use common sense hygiene practices. Please stay home if you are sick, wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, cover your cough with your elbow or a tissue, and avoid touching your nose and mouth. For students who are ill and feel they need medical care, please call or schedule an appointment online at usc.edu/myshr; an advice nurse is available 24/7 by calling 213-740-9355 (WELL). Faculty and staff should contact their personal healthcare provider. Further Resources cc: |
USC Staff Assembly Scholarship available: Due May 22
USC Staff Assembly Scholarship
More Information: https://staffassembly.usc.edu/scholarships/
Apply: Staff Assembly Scholarship
Application are due by: Friday, May 22, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. (PST).
Questions? E-mail staff.assembly@usc.edu
USC Rossier Book Club
Dear USC Rossier Faculty, Staff, and Students,
I’m pleased to share the next book we will be reading and exploring as a community in our USC Rossier Book Club: The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Please join us for our School-wide discussion in the USC Hotel’s Central Ballroom, Wednesday, April 15, from noon to 2 p.m. Lunch will be provided.
Please note: Book Club meetings are always accessible online! Just choose that option when you RSVP.
RSVP by Friday, March 27 by clicking on this link.
Complimentary copies of the book will be available in WPH 1102 Tuesday, March 10, 10 a.m.‒noon and 2 p.m.‒4 p.m., through Friday, March 27. *** Please note that by accepting the book, you are indicating your commitment to read it and participate in our discussion! *** At this time, we do not have audio copies available.
You are also welcome to join our discussion remotely. Please provide a mailing address if you will need the book shipped to you. A link to our virtual classroom will be provided closer to the date of our gathering.
You can find a brief synopsis of The Water Dancer here. Reviews of the book include:
- Rolling Stone: “What’s most powerful is the way Coates enlists his notions of the fantastic, as well as his fluid prose, to probe a wound that never seems to heal. ‘To forget is to truly slave,’ one character says. ‘To forget is to truly die.’ There’s an urgency to his remembrance of things past that brims with authenticity, testifying to centuries of bone-deep pain. It makes The Water Dancer feel timeless and instantly canon-worthy.”
- The Los Angeles Times: “Using a touch of magic to explain an effort of unimaginable terror and courage in escaping slavery, The Water Dancer at times feels like a spiritual companion to Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Underground Railroad. But instead of imagining a literal railroad in place of a treacherous, multi-stop effort to pull innocent people from the depths of slavery, Coates envisions the transcendent potential in acknowledging and retelling stories of trauma from the past as a means out of darkness.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a renowned American essayist, writer, and journalist. His non-fiction novel, Between the World and Me, won the 2015 National Book Award, the 2015 Kirkus prize for nonfiction, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, and a New York Times #1 Bestseller. Coates has written for The Atlantic, Time, Washington City Paper, and The Village Voice, and contributed to The Washington Post, O, The Washington Monthly, New York Times Magazine, and other publications. He lives in Paris, France. The Water Dancer is his first novel.
The Book Club is part of our initiative, “The Rossier Way,” which is designed to cultivate a culture of caring and support amongst faculty, staff, and students. I am hosting the Book Club events in partnership with Darline Robles, Associate Dean of Equity and Inclusion. Our goal is to select a work of fiction that helps us explore themes relevant to our mission to advance educational equity.
We look forward to hearing your perspective and a lively discussion in April.
Fight On!
Sincerely,
Karen Symms Gallagher, Ph.D.
Emery Stoops and Joyce King Stoops Dean
Dissertation defenses and qualifying exams
For those of you planning to schedule a qualifying exam (proposal defense) or final dissertation defense, please work with your dissertation chair to do so. You may find that some committees opt for virtual sessions rather than in-person sessions as accommodations during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Students who started the EdD program in 2017 or later will receive information about the new uploading platform once it’s available later in March.
Students who started the EdD program in 2016 or earlier will upload to the Graduate School’s Thesis Center. They provided the information below.
How can I defend my dissertation if COVID-19 affects my ability to meet with my dissertation committee in person?
Remote participation in a dissertation or thesis defense is always an option for a limited number of committee members. With the approval of the student, committee chair, and the dean of the school, the defense can be conducted entirely through Zoom or other videoconferencing tool. The standard rules apply to the defense. This means that all committee members must be part of the same defense “meeting,” whether they are on campus or remote.
How can I submit my dissertation if COVID-19 affects my ability to function on campus?
Dissertation checklists and manuscripts are submitted electronically via Thesis Center (http://graduateschool.usc.edu/current-students/thesis-dissertation-submission/) and are not affected by the location of the student.
How can I take the oral portion of my qualifying exam if COVID-19 affects my ability to meet with my exam committee?
Remote participation in the oral portion of a qualifying exam is always an option for a limited number of committee members. With the approval of the student, committee chair, and the dean of the school, the defense can be conducted entirely through Zoom or other videoconferencing tool. The standard rules apply to the exam. This means that all committee members must be part of the same exam “meeting,” whether they are on campus or remote.
How can my advisor submit an academic petition on my behalf to the Graduate School if COVID-19 affects the university’s functions on campus?
Petitions are submitted by advisors online and are not affected by the location of the student or the advisor.
Human Subjects Research at USC and the Evolving COVID-19 Outbreak
Please review both documents regarding research during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Office of Research COVID-19 information regarding research_ (003)Human Subjects Research COVID-19
MEMORANDUM
| To: | Principal Investigators and Study Coordinators |
| From: | Julie Slayton |
| Director, Office for the Protection of Research Subjects | |
| Date: | March 09, 2020 |
| Subject: | Human Subjects Research at USC and the Evolving COVID-19 Outbreak |
As we continue to grapple with the consequences associated with the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, the risk/benefit ratio for biomedical and social behavioral research participation must be carefully assessed. Both the ethical principles of research delineated in the Belmont Report and federal regulations for the protection of research participants dictate that we ensure the risk/benefit ratio be acceptable at all times. Universities such as Columbia have already paused certain types of human subjects research activities underway at their institutions and others such as the University of California system are considering their next steps. While we do not believe that such research at USC should be brought to a halt at this time, we do strongly recommend that investigators take steps to decrease the likelihood that they will put themselves, members of their study teams, or their study participants at risk of becoming infected with or spreading the disease. Below are guidelines to follow with respect to overall planning and data collection activities
Establish Formal Plans
All investigators engaging in human subjects research should develop concrete and actionable plans for:
- Continuing or halting data collection.
- Regularly communicating with the following to ensure everyone is operating under the procedures recommended by the University: Team, study sites, participants and their caregivers.
- Managing data in the event the University Park and/or Health Science Campuses are closed for research purposes.
Investigators and study teams conducting research activities that involve medications and/or devices should create plans for patients who have had new devices or recent procedures and/or who require close monitoring because of the nature of the medications. These plans should include contingency plans for providing medications, cross training of staff, and ensuring access to required care.
Review Data Collection Procedures
As part of planning, investigators and study teams should revisit data collection procedures as well as the extent to which or circumstances under which data collection should be brought to a halt, either temporarily or permanently. Suggestions for biomedical and social behavioral research are provided here:
Specifically for biomedical studies, consider:
- Screening study participants or potential participants for their travel histories within the last 14 days and flu-like symptoms.
- Decreasing the number of protocol-mandated in-person study visits to healthcare facilities.
- Replacing protocol-mandated visits to healthcare facilities with home visits or telemedicine, allowing blood draws at remote or commercial laboratories.
- Shipping investigational products directly to research participants.
Specifically for social behavioral studies, consider:
- Ensuring that that the research staff is healthy and check with study sites to determine whether there have been any identified cases or if anyone at the site is or has been quarantined when collecting data from populations at higher risk of suffering severe health consequences if they contract COVID-19 (e.g., older adults or those designated at higher risk by the CDC) or in settings that bring large groups of people together in contained spaces (e.g., K-12 schools, close proximity living spaces).
Both biomedical and social behavioral studies:
- Avoid or minimize bringing groups of people together for data collection activities (e.g., focus groups, whole group interventions).
- Consider moving face-to-face data collections (e.g., interviews, surveys administered in person, some forms of observation) to telephone or online (e.g., Zoom) formats.
- Follow recommended guidelines for reducing exposure and, if prudent, pause study activities.
- Determine whether it is necessary to completely suspend research activities and if so, pause recruitment until the situation changes.
For full board and expedited studies, if an investigator or study team needs to alter data collection activities by shifting to phone or online, or another change needs to be made to a study protocol in order to protect participants or study personnel, an amendment should be submitted with the language “COVID” in the title. This will allow the IRB to flag the amendment and review and approve it quickly. If a sponsor or investigator needs to make a change to research plans and is unable to submit an amendment (e.g., immediate hazard or risk to research participants exists), these changes can be made and then reported to the IRB within 5 days, as a reportable event. Eliminating immediate hazards may include actions that reduce potential exposure to COVID-19, or to continue to provide medically necessary care (including study drug) to participants who have been placed in isolation or quarantine because of suspected or known exposure. The USC IRB encourages sponsors and investigators to take such steps as necessary to eliminate apparent additional risks to participants.
At the current time, the USC IRBs will continue to review and approve research protocols that have been or will be submitted, including those submissions that require full board review. However, any research team that has not yet begun research activities should ensure that doing so will not jeopardize members of the research team or participants. In addition, should the COVID-19 landscape change significantly, there may come a point when research activities including human research subjects will be restricted and application reviews might be paused in the interest of individual and public health.
Cc:
Maja Matarić, Interim Vice President of Research
RoseAnn Fleming, Interim Director, USC IRBs
Michael Bowdish, Chair, Biomedical IRB
Jeremy Goldbach, Chair, Social Behavioral IRB
Rossier 2020 K-12 Education Career Fair Canceled
Rossier 2020 K-12 Education Career Fair is
CANCELED due to USC policy amid the COVID-19 outbreak
Register through the link below:
https://rossier.wufoo.com/forms/rpn1esu1979g4b/
If you have already registered, DO NOT re-register.
Please note that registration is required for participation.
If you would like to see the name of the employers who have expressed interest in hiring from your program, click here. This page will be updated as soon as employers confirm their participation.
For all questions and concerns please contact:
Nare Khodadadians
Career Services Specialist
USC Rossier School of Education
1149 S. Hill Street, Suite 575 | Los Angeles, CA 90015
(213)740-2157 | nkhodada@rossier.usc.edu
KCLC March Updates
Are you beginning to feel overwhelmed with midterms, assignments, papers and balancing all of the things you need to do? If so, please feel free to drop by the USC Kortschak Center for Learning and Creativity (KCLC) between Monday-Friday at 1-3pm to speak with an Academic Coach about how you can achieve your academic-related goals and fullest potential. This service is available for undergraduate and graduate students.
Additionally, on Friday, March 6th from 1-3pm, KCLC is partnering with the USG Student Assembly for Accessibility to host an event that promotes accessible study spaces for students with disabilities (featuring Professor Beau)!
Vice Provost for Graduate Programs Student Luncheons
Dear Graduate Student,
USC Graduate School’s Vice Provost for Graduate Programs, Sally Pratt, invites you to attend one of the upcoming Spring 2020 Graduate Student Luncheons.
The luncheon will be an opportunity to create an inclusive community for graduate students from the University Park Campus and the Health Science Campus. You have the opportunity to talk with the Vice Provost about a variety of university-wide graduate and professional student topics Vice Provost Pratt is interested in hearing your news, updates, and concerns and in soliciting feedback on aspects of the Graduate School that work well and how the Graduate School can improve its relationships with graduate students.
The event is open to all USC graduate students, and attendance will be capped at 15 students per luncheon. Space is limited; please note that your RSVP does not guarantee you a seat at the luncheon. The exact location of each luncheon will be communicated through a confirmation email sent to the first 15 students, per event, who have expressed interest in the particular meeting date.
Our Spring 2020 Graduate Student Luncheons will take place on the following dates:
- UPC: March 25, 12-1:30 PM
- UPC: April 6, 12-1:30 PM
- UPC, International Student Topics: April 8, 12-1:30 PM
- HSC: April 14, 12-1:30 PM
Reserve your space for one of the luncheons by filling out this form.
Community Public Health Update for COVID-19
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