Dept of Fine Arts Emergency Plan

Plan for Continuity of Administration and Instruction

During a pandemic or catastrophic event it may be necessary for the administrative staff of the Department of Fine Arts to implement a following “Continuity of Administration and Instruction” plan.

The plan will be implemented upon notification by the Chair of the department to the Dean’s Office of the College of Arts and Sciences. Should the chair be unable to communicate such a notification, the plan will be automatically implemented and the Acting Chair will communicate its status to the Dean’s Office as soon as is possible.


Administrative Plan:

If the Chair is unable to perform his duties for more than three consecutive days an Acting Chair shall assume the duties as chief administrative officer of the department.

The senior faculty member of the Executive Committee shall become Acting Chair. The Executive Committee is composed of the Studio Program Head, Art History Program Head, Graduate Program Coordinator for Studio, Graduate Program Coordinator for Art History, Graduate Program Coordinator for Art Education and the Graduate Program Coordinator for Curatorial Studies.  For 2009-2010, the members of the Executive Committee are James Grubola, Christopher Fulton, Ying Kit Chan, Susan Jarosi, John Whitesell, and  Barbara Hanger.  First back-up for the Department Chair is Ying Kit Chan, second is Christopher Fulton, and third is John Whitesell.

Should the senior faculty member be unable to serve, the duties shall fall to next senior member of  the Executive Committee and so on. Should the Graduate Program Coordinator for Curatorial Studies not have a full-time appointment to the faculty, they will not be eligible to serve as Acting Chair.

If the Program Assistant in art history is ill – the art history office suite will be closed and calls and other duties will be forwarded to main office in Schneider Hall. The main Fine Arts office will remain open if staffed by at least two people. To maintain at least two staff in the main office, staff from other offices, such as art history, the Visual Resources Center, and galleries will shifted to the main office. If there are no staff available to operate the Cressman Center, Visual Resources Center, Hite Galleries/Belknap, those facilities will be closed.

Back up for the department’s unit business manager, Linda Rowley, is Theresa Berbet.

The department’s website is maintained by Ying Kit Chan, Theresa Berbet and Amanda Payne.

Instructional Plan:

General prevention information

• Faculty should become familiar with flu prevention tips and inform students by directing them to the UofL Website (louisville.edu/update/flu/) for updates.

• Faculty should remind students to stay home if they experience flu-like symptoms.

• Faculty should sterilize surfaces in classrooms and labs.

• Faculty should promote cough etiquette and encourage hand washing and use of hand sanitizer.

• Faculty should provide hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes and sprays in class.

Student absences due to the flu or other illnesses

A student diagnosed with the flu should notify faculty by phone or e-mail (but NOT in person) that he or she will be away from class due to illness.

Faculty should develop a plan to keep up with course content and missed assignments or tests.

Faculty should have a clearly stated policy regarding make-ups and absences and should be sure to communicate this policy to students as soon as possible.

The student may be too ill to be productive academically while away and should not be penalized if unable to keep up. It may be necessary to give a grade of “Incomplete” in some cases.

Faculty should reconsider attendance and make-up policies as much as possible and ensure that students who are ill to stay home, even if it puts them beyond the absence limit which has been established. Be aware that Campus Health Services will not be signing “doctor’s excuses” for illness this semester because doctors may not be able to see every patient.

To help students keep up with a class, faculty should keep in touch with the sick students by e-mail and/or post updates and projects on-line.

Faculty absences due to the flu or other illnesses

Faculty should have a plan in place before they become sick. This plan must be explained to the students in advance.

Faculty should have a means to inform all students of their absences by e-mail, Blackboard or other networks. Faculty should send out the message as early as possible.

Faculty should post class information, assignments, and slide shows on Blackboard or other networks in place of lecture when they become sick.

Faculty may substitute Blackboard’s discussion board or blog for class sessions or discussions.

Faculty should inform the Fine Arts office as soon as possible and provide additional class
information and the location of on-line postings.

Faculty who need help with Blackboard or other on-line tools should contact the Delphi Center
for advice or tutorial.

Substitute teachers

If the faculty member's absence is anticipated to be more than two consecutive meetings, arrangement of a substitute teacher should be considered. The substitute teacher should be a
graduate teaching assistant or a qualified individual.

A GTA may be assigned as substitute teacher if her/his schedule allows. The faculty must
contact the Graduate Coordinator, the GTA's mentor and the GTA to discuss the feasibility of this assignment.

The faculty may recommend another qualified individual as a substitute. The approved substitute teacher will be compensated by the department. The faculty must seek approval from the Department Chair and notify the Program Head for such a recommendation.

Once a substitute is assigned, the faculty should maintain communication and provide lessons plans to the substitute teacher to ensure the continuity of the class.