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GVSU hosts virtual town hall with incoming students laying out plans for fall 2020 semester

Grand Valley State University logo
gvsu.edu

Grand Valley State University is preparing for campus life to resume with face-to-face learning as part of the curriculum come the fall 2020 semester. President Philomena V. Mantella spoke with nearly 1,200 incoming students and parents during a virtual Laker town hall meeting.

She explains all decisions will be based on guidance from the governor's office and science-driven data.

For now, three learning options are being developed by administrators that includes face-to-face instruction, fully online or a hybrid model. A final decision will be made at the end of the Spring term which is June 22.

Dr. Philomena V. Mantella portrait
Credit gvsu.edu
Dr. Philomena V. Mantella, President Grand Valley State University

President Mantella says that Grand Valley is, “In a unique position to accommodate social distancing. The average class size is 26 students and less than 1 percent of Grand Valley's 4,400 class sections have more than 100 students; most of those are broken into smaller labs and sections of 30 students or fewer. 

Flexibility and safety are essential to any learning model established for resuming instruction in the fall.

I’m Patrick Center.

Patrick joined WGVU Public Media in December, 2008 after eight years of investigative reporting at Grand Rapids' WOOD-TV8 and three years at WYTV News Channel 33 in Youngstown, Ohio. As News and Public Affairs Director, Patrick manages our daily radio news operation and public interest television programming. An award-winning reporter, Patrick has won multiple Michigan Associated Press Best Reporter/Anchor awards and is a three-time Academy of Television Arts & Sciences EMMY Award winner with 14 nominations.