UR School of Nursing Anticipates Return to Fully In-Person Learning in Fall

The University of Rochester School of Nursing is making plans to return to fully in-person classroom learning beginning with the fall 2021 semester.

The school has remained in operation since the COVID-19 outbreak hit New York, but it closed Helen Wood Hall classrooms and shifted to remote didactic instruction mid-semester in March of 2020. Labs and clinical experiences for students continued to be held in person. School-wide safety protocols instituted during the pandemic, including mandatory masking, frequent hand washing, and daily health screenings, will continue for the 2021-22 academic year.

Additionally, all School of Nursing undergraduate and graduate students who plan to enroll for the 2021-22 academic year will be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The University of Rochester has determined that vaccination is the most effective approach to limiting or eliminating the spread of COVID-19, and the safest and most manageable way to increase in-person operations, instruction, and activities on campus.

The School of Nursing’s Return to Campus website will be updated over the summer with specific information for the fall semester, which begins Aug. 25. The site will detail the protective measures put in place in accordance with the overall University of Rochester reopening plan, as well as the guiding principles set forth by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

“While none of us can be certain what the future might bring, we’re excited to welcome our faculty, staff, and students back into the building on a full-time basis. These halls have been too quiet for too long,” said Kathy Rideout, EdD, PPCNP-BC, FNAP, dean of the UR School of Nursing.  “I am extremely proud of the work our faculty and academic leadership team has done to transition to remote learning and develop new and innovative ways to deliver content, and I am just as amazed at the resilience and adaptability of our students, who have carried on with their learning among extraordinary conditions.”

Helen Wood Hall, which operated at 25 percent capacity for most of the 2020-21 year, is undergoing a facelift with the vertical expansion of the Loretta C. Ford Education Wing underway. The project began in the fall of 2020, and the beginning phases required closing off large classrooms in the education wing, further limiting the amount of available space within the building. The education wing is back open, and other frequent student gathering places, such as the atrium, student lounge, and Evarts Lounge, are expected to re-open for fall.