Dear Graduate Students,

As the Fall semester comes to a close, I hope you are looking ahead to all that the Spring semester will offer. We are looking forward to welcoming students, faculty, staff, and administrators back to our campuses in January, and your health and safety remain at the core of our reopening plan.

Please read this message in its entirety, as there are critical, time-sensitive action items for students to complete before returning to campus.

Graduate Student Town Hall
Many of you attended our Graduate Student Town Hall on Dec. 8. If you were unable to attend, please feel free to watch the recording. If you have additional questions, please reach out to your director of program operations, who can best advise you about your specific program.

Steps to Prepare for Campus Return
If you will be attending courses on campus in Spring 2021, you must complete these steps. If you are fully virtual for the Spring semester, these requirements do not apply to you.

1. Complete Healthy Hounds Student Training by Jan. 11: The new Healthy Hounds Student Training can be accessed here through LinkedIn Learning. You will need to follow the prompts to set up an account with LinkedIn using your Loyola email. Once you have set up an account, you will click on the video (roughly 35 minutes long) and watch in its entirety as well as complete the acknowledgment form on the same LinkedIn page attesting to the fact that completed the training. You must complete this training by Monday, Jan. 11.
2. Send Proof of Flu Vaccine by Jan. 11: You must submit proof of having received an influenza vaccination by email to healthservices@loyola.edu by Monday, Jan. 11.
3. Send Proof of Pre-Arrival COVID-19 Testing by Jan. 18: If you will be in classes, in the clinic at the Loyola Clinical Centers, or some combination of the two for six or more hours per week, you must provide proof of a negative PCR COVID-19 test by Monday, Jan. 18, the first day of graduate classes for the Spring semester. If you will be in classes for fewer than six hours per week, you do not need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test. (Student Health Services will send details in early January on how to upload this proof directly to LifeBridge.)
4. Enroll in Campus Clear: Student Health Services will send information the first week of January with regards to enrolling in Campus Clear, the daily symptom checker that all students will be using for the Spring semester. Students may be asked by their professors to show their Campus Clear pass when coming to campus.

Surveillance Testing
All graduate students who are on campus for six or more hours per week will be part of our random surveillance testing pool, which will include students, faculty, staff, and administrators. Testing for COVID-19 will be key to both the initiation and maintenance of a healthy semester for our community.

If you are a student at the Evergreen campus, you will be included in the ongoing surveillance testing available on site. If you are a student at the Timonium or Columbia campuses selected for surveillance testing, you will be required to either complete testing through our home mail kit (more information to come) or be tested on your own and submit proof to Student Health Services.

Graduate students who are selected for testing will also have the option of providing proof of a negative PCR test from another testing facility.

Remote Learning
All courses will be available to students who choose to learn remotely with Loyola for the Spring 2021 semester. Graduate students who wish to take courses remotely should contact their program’s director of program operations (DPO).

Identification Cards
Graduate students who need an Evergreen card (student ID) can get one by following these instructions.

Conclusion
Congratulations on all the work you have put into this semester. I hope it has been a rewarding and enriching time for you and that you are looking forward to all that the Spring 2021 semester will bring.

Sincerely,

Rev. Brian F. Linnane, S.J.
President