Dear New York Tech Students, Faculty, and Staff: I am writing with another update about the new academic year and to share with you our current thoughts on what our New York campuses may look like this fall. Importantly, last week I shared a draft of the Long Island campus reopening plan; today, I am happy to inform you that the plan has been finalized and submitted to New York State. The plan can be found at nyit.edu/reopening, along with related news, FAQs and resources. My sincere thanks to all who have contributed to its completion. We are a creative community whose doer/maker spirit can result in innovation, and we continue to welcome ideas from all members of our community here. As you know, this fall we will offer a mix of in-person and virtual instruction in different modalities. Three of these methods are already in use; namely, in-person, blended, and online. A fourth method, hybrid remote instruction, will use synchronous video conferencing technology. You will learn more details about these methods of course delivery in the coming days from Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Junius Gonzales, M.D., M.B.A. Some great things to look forward to when you return to campus include: Outdoor seating areas on the Long Island campus and modified indoor study and meeting areas on the New York City campus that support physical distancing; and Pop-up “parklets” with wireless access for additional outdoor study on the Long Island campus. Additionally, we have enhanced the information technology infrastructure on both New York campuses. The enhancements include: Installing WiFi in high-use outdoor areas; Adding mobile hotspots that will be available to students through the libraries; Updating AV equipment in all classrooms so that each room has videoconferencing capabilities to support Zoom and lecture capture needs; Creating mobile AV carts to accommodate teaching spaces currently without AV support; Working with academic software vendors to procure home-use licensing rights to software that was traditionally available only on campus; Procuring additional web cameras, document cameras and laptops to support the remote teaching needs of faculty; and Implementing the Canvas learning management platform. We look forward to welcoming the incoming College of Osteopathic Medicine student cohort on August 3, and students in all other colleges and schools on September 9. Make sure not to miss two important events that will mark the launch of the new academic year: the faculty and staff Convocation on September 3, and the New Student Academic Convocation for incoming students on September 8, both held virtually. Planning for the New York City campus reopening is ongoing. Faculty started to return to campus on a limited basis earlier this month. We will continue to share additional information and updates as we move closer to the start of the fall semester. Thanks to all for your resilience and continued support of New York Tech. Sincerely, Hank Foley, Ph.D. President, New York Institute of Technology Copyright © 2020 New York Institute of Technology