Wayne Community College will maintain its reduced student presence on campus into the next semester.
The college will run as many Spring 2021 classes as possible in their regular time slots, referred to as synchronous, in online platforms for the first month of the semester.
“This is the same posture we are in currently,” said Dr. Patty Pfeiffer, WCC vice president of academic and student services.
The majority of the college’s fall courses were originally scheduled to be taught online or hybrid (a combination of in-person and online instruction). It moved many of the remaining in-person portion of the hybrid classes to synchronous virtual delivery for the last three weeks of the fall semester.
“That was a proactive move to reduce foot traffic on the campus and so is this decision,” Pfeiffer said. “Wayne Community College has maintained stringent protocols that have made it a very safe place but we have to acknowledge and respond to the growing number of positive COVID-19 cases around us.”
Both curriculum (college credit) and Workforce Continuing Education courses will be impacted by the decision.
Most applied technology, public safety, and allied health courses will have some portions of their courses and lab time face-to-face due to the nature of their content.
“Our goal is to move courses back on campus as soon as possible,” Pfeiffer said. “We will be constantly evaluating to insure we do what is safest for all of our college community.”
Registration for Spring 2021 is underway now through Dec. 15. The next open registration opportunities will be 8 a.m.-7 p.m. on Jan. 4 and 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2021. Classes start Jan. 6.
Students who have already registered for spring courses should check the college’s website for changes to individual courses. They can also contact their academic advisors or achievement coaches with questions about their schedules. In addition, the college will reach out to new students registered for the spring semester to explain the schedule changes.
WCC will operate on its regular schedule with offices open and personnel available to assist current and potential students.
The college will continue to require in-vehicle COVID-19 screenings and face coverings for all who work, study, or conduct business in its facilities.
“Wayne Community College has taken a careful and cautious path throughout this pandemic and we are continuing to do that with this plan,” said WCC President Thomas A. Walker Jr. “It is better to establish a strategy now that will insure as safe an environment as possible for our students and employees than to scramble in the days just before classes start.”
