FIRE COVID-19 Update
Updated: Apr 1, 2020
To all of our current UMD FIRE students, I am writing to you today to encourage, assure and inform you regarding changes to come with your experience at The University of Maryland and as a valued member of the FIRE program. Most of you have just departed campus and I can tell you that it is very, very quiet here. I hope that you have traveled safely to your next destination or are feeling secure on campus. Especially for any students who may still be at UMD - please check umd.edu/virusinfo and reslife.umd.edu frequently to keep up to date with UMD's most recent guidance on all issues related to this challenging time. Regarding your FIRE experience to come - worry not. The FIRE team and I have been working very hard for the past week to prepare for the challenges ahead. We recognize that it will be difficult to recreate the authentic discipline immersion, capacity for discovery, methods training, and mentorship FIRE normally supports in its many and varied research environments. We have good ideas on how to support the original experiences targeted using remote instruction and will do our very best to deliver. Please remember, as well, that FIRE is a 3-semester experience and that we also have this fall together to make up ground and advance research goals targeted together. I will close with both caution and hope. Caution: I ask that each of you take time to read more about the societal values associated with rigorous social distancing and make choices that will allow all of us to have the best path forward possible. This is one of those moments in time where we are all truly connected and dependent on each other's commitment to do what is best for our families, communities, nations, and world. Social distancing and other strategies by which we play our part to slow the spread of this new contagion will make a real difference and save lives. Be a part. Hope: we can do this together. I encourage everyone to find someone to talk to about anxieties you are feeling at this difficult time. Using appropriate social distancing methods - find a friend, find a family member, consider your FIRE Research Educator or write to me. Talk, share, laugh, get good sleep, take care of yourself and others around you. I look forward to seeing you again soon and wish you all the best during this time of uncertainty. Sincerely, Patrick Patrick Killion Director of Discovery-Based Learning Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost University of Maryland