Housing Assignments Are Now Visible – 1/15

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Dear Students,

Housing assignments are now visible in your wesportal.  We encourage you to take a moment to review your assignment, even if you were on campus in the fall, as there may have been changes in your roommates if a vacancy existed.

Room changes will not begin until two weeks after the first day of classes.  There currently are no vacancies in High or Low Rise apartments, but they may develop later this semester.

Please email Residential Life at reslife@wesleyan.edu if you have any questions.  Please note that the office will be closed on Monday in observance of Martin Luther King Day.

Students may return to campus between Friday, February 5 and Monday February 8.  You will not sign up for a move in timeslot this semester, only a testing appointment.  Please plan to arrive on campus at that time.  You will receive your key after being tested.

We look forward to welcoming you back to campus!  Travel safely.

Sincerely,

Fran Koerting
Associate Dean of Students/Director of Residential Life

Preparing to Return to Campus for Spring 2021

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This is a repost of the message sent to the study body on January 14, 2021 by Dean Culliton.

Dear students,

Happy New Year! I hope this note finds you well, and that you have been enjoying a restful break. I write today with important information regarding our plans for the spring semester.

Members of the University community are very much looking forward to having students back in Middletown. Our experience in the fall allowed us to test and fine-tune our safety processes and protocols, and we feel confident that we have strong systems in place to limit the spread of COVID on campus. It will require all of us to be diligent in order to keep Wesleyan safe.

However, we are also mindful of the high levels of COVID spread in many parts of the country, and worrying news about new variants of the virus. Our plan remains to begin the spring semester in early February, with students permitted to return to campus beginning February 5, and spring semester classes starting February 9. We will alert you immediately if we determine that health conditions necessitate adjusting this schedule.

As a reminder, spring semester will once again begin with an initial two-week period of campus-wide quarantine and online instruction to comply with the State of Connecticut’s requirements.

Below is a checklist of important steps all students must take before returning to campus. Please read these steps carefully to ensure you are prepared.

  1. Beginning on January 22 until you return to campus, we ask students to limit exposure to others (quarantine at home), and especially to avoid large groups of people.
  2. All students will need to receive a negative COVID test result from a PCR test taken within five days prior to leaving home. Students will be directed to upload test results to WesPortal and have a copy upon return to campus. If you receive a positive result, do not come to campus. Recover at home and alert the Davison Health Center.
  3. If you have been in close contact with anyone with COVID or COVID-like symptoms please contact the Davison Health Center and delay your arrival on campus until at least 14 days after your close contact.
  4. Any student who did not get a flu shot on campus this fall is required to send proof that they have received a flu shot off-campus to healthforms@wesleyan.edu by January 20.
  5. Prior to leaving home, you must schedule your arrival COVID test appointment online. This appointment must be your first stop upon arriving to campus. Unlike the fall semester, you must use the app to schedule your COVID test and the number of available tests each hour is limited to reduce density as students move in. You will receive your residential keys after being tested on campus. For students travelling by plane with late arrival times, please contact reslife@wesleyan.edu with information about your travel day and time to secure a later time slot.
  6. Students who were not on campus in the fall semester must electronically sign a testing waiver for the Broad Institute and Wesleyan. These students can find waivers in their WesPortal beginning the last week of January.

I will continue to communicate with you in the weeks to come, including regarding updates to the COVID Code of Conduct for spring term. Information about campus health and safety during COVID can always be found on the Keep Wes Safe website.

Enjoy the remainder of your break, and I look forward to seeing you back on campus next month!

Sincerely,

Rick Culliton

Dean of Students

Chair, Pandemic Planning Committee

A Message from Chaplain Jami

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In times like these. . .

Dear Friends,

Like many of you, I have been deeply troubled and grieved by the events of January 6, 2021 and feel an urgency to process the trauma and chaos that unfolded in our nation’s Capitol. As so many politicians, pastors, journalists, and members of the public have stated, we must keep our focus on the Higher Good: This is a time to claim truth, justice, and honor; it is a time to embrace hope in our democracy; it is a time to heal and turn our attention to caring for ourselves and our friends and family; and it is a time to embrace God’s love and honor God’s creation.

As the Protestant chaplain, I want you to know I am here for you. You may schedule a chat with me via Zoom.

I will also be holding space for grief, processing, and conversation on Monday, January 11th from 7 to 8 p.m. on Zoom. You may come at any time, stay for as little or as long as you like.

OISA Zoom Session for New & Returning Students – 1/15

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Spring 2021 Q&A Zoom Session for New and Returning F-1 Students

Date: Friday, January 15, 2021

Time: 9:00-10:30 am EST (use a time zone converter to find out your local time)

Students may submit questions using this form. All questions submitted by 11:59 pm EST, Tuesday, January 12, 2021 will be answered in the live session. This session is for both undergraduate and graduate F-1 students. Parents and families are welcome to attend.

IRS COVID-19 Stimulus Checks and F/J Students

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This is a reposted message from OISA and the Controller’s Office.

Dear international students,

Please see the message below from Christine Rodrigue about COVID-19 stimulus checks. If you have additional questions, please reach out to Christine at crodrigue@wesleyan.edu.

Hope you all are well!

Chia-Ying

 

Dear F and J Students and Scholars,

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Federal Stimulus Package enacted in April 2020 was intended to help taxpayers, businesses, tax-exempt organizations and others affected by the coronavirus.  The package included Economic Impact Payments, more commonly referred to as Stimulus Checks, to individual taxpayers.

In December 2020, the U.S. government approved the second pandemic stimulus payment under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, providing an additional one-time payment of up to $600 per eligible taxpayer.

Individuals eligible to receive the stimulus checks:

  • must be a US Citizen or Resident Alien for tax purposes
  • cannot be claimed as a dependent by another taxpayer
  • must have a valid Social Security Number (SSN), and
  • have gross income of up to $75,000 ($150,000 for married couples)

You are not entitled to receive stimulus checks if you are:

  • A Non-Resident Alien (F-1 and J-1 Students are Non-Resident Aliens during the first five calendar years of presence in the U.S.)
  • A single taxpayer with an adjusted gross income (AGI) above $99,000
  • A head of a household with an AGI over $136,500
  • A married couple with an AGI over $198,000
  • A child over 16 or a college student under age 24

If you received a stimulus check, you should verify your 2019 tax year U.S. residency status.  If you determine that you were a Resident for tax purposes in 2019, then you are entitled to the stimulus checks.  If you determine that you were a Non-Resident for tax purposes in 2019, then you received the payment/s in error, and you should follow the instructions provided by Sprintax and the IRS (links below) to return the payment/s to the IRS.  By keeping a stimulus check that was issued in error, you may incur penalty and interest payments or jeopardize your future U.S. visa or Green Card applications.


Everything a non-resident in the U.S. needs to know about the COVID stimulus checks–Sprintax provides further clarity and guidance for international non-immigrant students and employees, specifically non-resident aliens for tax purposes.

IRS Economic Impact Payment Information Center

I hope you are doing well and staying healthy.

 

Take good care,

Christine Rodrigue

Sr. Accountant/Tax Specialist

Wesleyan University

Controller’s Office

International Compensation and Taxation

Notes from OISA for December 2020 Completers – 12/18

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OISA provided the following information as a reminder for students on F-1 visas completing their degree requirements in Fall 2020.

Please read the information below about your F-1 status:
  • Please check your current I-20 to make sure that it has the correct program end date (it should say 12/19/2020). If you need a new I-20 with an updated program end date, please let me know. If you are currently on campus, I can drop of your updated I-20 at p-safe for you to pick up. If you are currently off campus/outside of the United States, please purchase a shipping label via UEMS. An updated I-20 will be shipped to you. Please keep ALL your I-20s in a safe place. If you would like to claim any of your F-1 benefits, you will be asked to present all your past I-20s.
  • Please read the “Prepare for your End of Program” page carefully. This page contains information about grace period if you are currently in the United States. If you need your SEVIS records transferred to a different SEVP-certified school, please let me know ASAP. The transfer must be completed within 60 days after the program end date listed on your I-20.
  • If you are interested in applying for Optional Practical Training (OPT) after graduation, please read the OPT page on the OISA website. Please note that you MUST be physically in the United States to submit your OPT application to USCIS.
  • If you do not wish to apply for OPT, your F-1 status ends at the end of your grace period or the day you exit the United States, whichever comes first. You will NOT be able to use your F-1 visa/I-20 to come back to Wesleyan for the graduation ceremony in May 2021 if there is an in-person celebration. You will need to enter the U.S. using a different visa that matches the purpose of the trip (likely a B1/B2 visa – a business/tourist visa), even if your F-1 visa has not expired. Please check with your local U.S. embassy about how you can obtain a B1/B2 visa if desired.

Graduate Liberal Studies Program Info Session – 12/10

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The Wesleyan Continuing Studies office is hosting a virtual information session, on Thursday night at 7pm EST, to talk about the Accelerated MALS degree (applicants may begin earning a Master’s Degree while completing their undergraduate degree). GLS courses taken in the senior year, as part of full-time enrollment, will be included in undergraduate tuition and financial aid packages; plus they count toward residential credit count requirements.

Click here to register for the virtual event https://continue.wesleyan.edu/register/Accel

For more information, please contact:

Glenn Knight
Assistant Director, Continuing Studies
gknight01@wesleyan.edu

 

Public Health Update – December 4, 2020

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To the Wesleyan Community:

I hope you all had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving, though I’m sure many of your celebrations looked quite different than usual. The holiday offered us a time to reflect on the blessings we have even during a difficult period, especially for those who have suffered hardship and significant losses during this past year.

At this point, all but about 300 students have left campus for the short time remaining in the semester; this number will drop to about 150 at the start winter recess. I had the opportunity to check in with our students who were in isolation and quarantine on Thanksgiving Day. Their positivity and gratitude to enjoy a meal and to be able to visit virtually with family was inspiring.

Speaking of positivity and gratitude, I—like everyone, I’m sure—have been feeling buoyed by all the encouraging news coming out recently about vaccines for COVID-19. It appears that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is likely to give Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to both Pfizer and Moderna for the vaccines they have developed, and that other pharmaceutical companies may not be far behind with their own vaccines. So far these vaccines boast a 90-95% efficacy (typically current vaccines for other illnesses have much lower efficacies), and appear to be safe overall with minimal side effects (such as headache, muscle aches, fever, and fatigue). If approved, these would be the first vaccines to use a synthetic messenger-RNA (mRNA) that when injected into the body “teaches” our cells to produce the spike protein that covers the SARS CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19. Our immune system then identifies this as a foreign invader and produces antibodies to protect us. There is no risk in getting COVID-19 from this type of immunization.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to listen in on a meeting at which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) began the process of prioritization for distributing the vaccines. As you may have read in the news, they determined that phase one of vaccination would include all healthcare professionals, as well as residents of long-term care facilities, with skilled nursing homes being the highest priority. These groups comprise approximately 24 million people. By the end of December, 40 million doses of vaccine should be available, with 5 to 10 million doses produced per week thereafter. Because the vaccination series involves two injections given three weeks apart, the number of people who can be vaccinated can be calculated by cutting the numbers of doses in half.

The next priority groups will be determined in future meetings, and it is predicted that essential workers, those aged 65 and older, and those with high-risk medical conditions will be in the following phases. Young, healthy people who are neither healthcare nor essential workers—which describes most, though not all, of our students at Wesleyan—will most likely be able to get the vaccine in the spring. We are in the early stages of discussing plans related to the vaccines, and will share more information as it becomes available.

This is all great news, but it’s important that we don’t let our guard down now. In fact, cases are surging in many parts of the country and health officials are deeply concerned that travel and gatherings related to the holidays may make the situation worse. So please, continue to wear your face masks, keep your distance, and enjoy your friends and family virtually—or at least at a safe distance—for now.

In closing, I have two quick reminders for students: Any student who did not get a flu shot on campus (at campus clinics or the Davison Health Center) this fall is required to send proof that they have received a flu shot off-campus to healthforms@wesleyan.edu by January 20, 2021. In addition, any student who is diagnosed with COVID-19 over winter break is asked to submit their positive lab result to the Davison Health Center at healthforms@wesleyan.edu. This will assist us with managing testing for these individuals after they return to campus.

Be well,

Tom McLarney, MD

Graduate Liberal Studies Program Announcement and Info Session – 12/3

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Graduate Liberal Studies Program
Accelerated MALS degree for Wesleyan undergraduates

A flexible solution for students interested in beginning a Wesleyan MALS degree during their final term as an undergraduate

www.wesleyan.edu/masters | contact: masters@wesleyan.edu 

Info Session, Thursday, December 3rd, 7:00pm, EST

Register through the following link: https://continue.wesleyan.edu/register/MALSinfo

Who: Students who will enter their spring term senior year needing only 1, 2 or 3 credits to graduate.

What: Students accorded provisional admission to the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies (MALS) degree may begin taking Graduate Liberal Studies (GLS) courses during their 8th term of undergraduate study.

When: Students must apply for this program prior to the MALS degree application deadline for whichever will be their 7th or 8th term as an undergraduate (Spring 2021 deadline: Thursday, December 10, 2020)

How: If provisionally admitted as an MALS candidate, students get approval to take GLS courses in fall or spring term of their senior year (approval required from class dean, advisor, faculty member and GLS director). After graduation, they may then petition to have courses count toward their MALS if they were not applied to any of the credit, major, Gen Ed, or other requirements for the BA degree.

Why: The purpose of the Accelerated MALS degree is to enable students to begin earning a Master’s Degree while completing their undergraduate degree. In addition, GLS courses taken in the senior year as part of full-time enrollment will be included in undergraduate tuition and financial aid packages and residential credit count requirements.

Cost: Tuition and fees for GLS courses taken during the fall or spring term while the student is an undergraduate are included in the undergraduate tuition for those terms. Once a student has graduated with a BA and has been formally admitted to the MALS program, GLS course tuition and fees are due at the time of registration. Limited need-based financial aid is available to MALS students. Aid for students who are continuing their Wesleyan academic career for a 5th year will be based on parental financial information. Details are in the aid application.

Benefits

  • Students can get a head start on earning their MALS while finishing their undergraduate degree. This may allow the student to complete a Master’s Degree in one year after completing their undergraduate degree.
  • Students who complete three Graduate Liberal Studies courses while an undergraduate will save approximately $9,000 in tuition for their MALS degree.
  • Students who are entering their 8th term at 31 credits may take MALS courses to maintain full enrollment. – See important Considerations about credit values.
  • The degree can be completed in 4 terms (summer/fall/spring/summer).

Important Considerations:

  • Courses may not be counted toward more than one degree. If an MALS course is used to satisfy ANY undergraduate degree requirement, it cannot also count toward your MALS.
  • GLS courses are worth .75 credits (3 credit hours), not 1 Wesleyan credit (4 credit hours) as Wes undergraduate courses are.