UTC covid on summer events

sent to UTC info

Greetings from the Office of Research, 

Each summer, the UTC campus hosts numerous grant-sponsored residential or group activities – for conferences, academic camps, research experiences, etc.  With the ongoing disruptions caused by Covid-19 and uncertainty about the duration of the impact, you may have concerns about whether it will be feasible to hold your planned sponsored group / residential program activities on campus for Summer 2020.  Based on initial information from some sponsors, we anticipate that our funders will be understanding if activities are unable to take place.  With the situation being so dynamic, many sponsors have not yet formulated or communicated specific guidelines or parameters.  However, we wanted to provide this guidance to you, in case it is helpful for purposes of planning and preparation.  

·         Consider Timing & Scheduling:  At present, it seems very unlikely that activities scheduled for April or May will be able to take place on campus.  Events scheduled for June or July might be able to take place, but there is significant uncertainty on this.  

·         Defer to Next Summer:  If your grant award or sponsor will allow, our recommendation is to defer your planned summer activity to next summer and seek a no-cost extension to extend your award end-date, as needed.  For example, this would be the best option for NSF REU programs.

·         Seek Guidance from Sponsor:  If you are the PI or PD on a grant with a summer program component, please begin working with your sponsor to determine the next steps which may include some combination of deferring activities into a future year, getting a no-cost extension to extend the end-date, changing the scope of your project, etc. 

If you have any questions or need assistance, please contact ORSP staff Angie-Johnson@utc.edu or Tracey-Woodbury@utc.edu.