Message from Provost and FA Leadership

Good evening, all,

A joint email from Interim Provost Eric Leshinskie and Faculty Association leadership welcoming faculty back to the semester is below. I hope you have all had a chance to read the last email from the Chancellor with the exciting news that password reset is ready allowing access to Canvas and your district email again!

Thank you all for being patient while IT worked tirelessly to get us to this point. Updates will be sent as things develop, so watch your email or access the status update site.

Stay well,

Patrice Nango
Faculty Association President


Email from the Office of the Interim Provost

Chandler-Gilbert | Estrella Mountain | GateWay | Glendale | Mesa | Paradise Valley

Phoenix | Rio Salado | Scottsdale | South Mountain | Maricopa Corporate College

Dear Faculty,

We hope this message finds you safe and that you are doing well despite what we all realize are very challenging personal and professional circumstances. We want to sincerely thank you for your patience throughout the week. Communication is coming to you from many angles and, when email is interrupted, it makes communication even more challenging. But, we are pleased to share that Maricopa is moving in a positive direction for a successful restart of the spring semester on Monday, March 29.

Password reset 

Earlier this afternoon, you should have received either a text, personal email, and/or work email regarding the necessary steps to reset your password. Steps were outlined for the Self Service option; however, if you are unable to use the Self Service option, you can use the chat feature on the idme.maricopa.edu website to verify your identity in order to have a password link sent to you. The chat support will be available for faculty and staff today until 10:00 p.m. Please note, you may experience a short wait while our chat teams work to get employees verified. Chat support will also be available Friday (7am-10pm), Saturday (8am-8pm), and Sunday (8am-8pm). Please have your government-issued ID available via webcam for verification purposes. The chat feature can also assist you with questions regarding the multi-factor authentication.

Canvas Access

Once you have reset your password, you will be able to access Canvas. We encourage you to do so as quickly as you can to make any necessary adjustments. We do know some students currently have access to Canvas, and all students will receive instructions to reset passwords Friday morning. Messaging, co-developed by our LMS Core Team, FEC Leadership, and the ASA Division, has been placed in Canvas to provide information for students.

Flexibility and Care

We all recognize that this has been a challenging situation and has disrupted instruction. We also understand that despite our best communication efforts, students may still have challenges through Monday and beyond. We respectfully recommend the following for your consideration:

Reflect on your chosen due dates for quizzes/tests this week. We anticipate that Monday and Tuesday may have students still reconnecting, but we hope not many. A slight delay in when work is expected to be submitted or completed may go a long way in easing student concerns. Although the final decision is yours, we strongly urge you not to set any hard deadlines before Wednesday (3/31) to avoid penalizing students suffering through the same technology and connectivity issues that have affected all of us this week.

For those 8-week classes now scheduled to commence on 3/29, please do not immediately drop a student as a no-show on day one or day two. We request you allow until Wednesday before doing so, and we encourage you to keep the lines of communication as open as possible with your students.

Faculty communication is our most effective way to reach students. You know your students best.  Please reach out to them as frequently as you can, reassuring them that we care about their success and are available to support them during this challenging time. In particular, please try to contact any student who has not returned to your class since spring break. It is possible they need help, and your voice might be the one that keeps them engaged and learning.

Collaboration and Support

We have learned from our response to the pandemic that we are stronger together. As we restart instruction on March 29, we will be better able to support our students if we collaborate and support each other. Please reach out to the adjunct faculty in your divisions/departments to see if they need assistance. Rely on your local CTLs, Faculty Developers, and colleagues who can help you with Canvas needs. Connect with your division/department chairs for updates and information. Consult your Dean or VPAA with questions or if additional support is needed. Collectively, we responded well to supporting our students when we returned to instruction one year ago. We are very confident that collectively, we will do the same this year.

Finally, as we all are experiencing stress and uncertainty, please do take time to take care of yourself.  We have all been moving at a non-stop pace for the past year. Take time for you…for each other…so we can collectively support our students.

Please note a second communication will be sent Friday, March 26, with detailed information about the optional semester extension.

Sincerely,

Patrice Nango, Faculty Association President
Sasha Radisich, Faculty Association President-elect
Eric Leshinskie, Interim Provost