July 9, 2020
SUNY Niagara has announced plans for the fall semester which begins Aug. 31. The College will offer in-person, online, and hybrid classes, as well as face to face labs that require hands-on instruction such as culinary, CADD, health sciences, and other related courses. The announcement was made in conjunction with SUNY approving the Fall 2020 Reopening Plan for SUNY Niagara. The SUNY Niagara Reopening Plan was developed by a campus-wide committee comprised of faculty, staff, students, and administrators with guidance from community members trained in dealing with health crisis emergencies. “The reopening of the SUNY Niagara Sanborn campus and the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute campus will be a measured and gradual approach to ensure the health and safety of students, faculty, and staff,” said President William J. Murabito in an email to the campus community. “While we realize the situation may change in the future, we hope that this announcement will provide direction and guidance to all.”
Student housing at SUNY Niagara will reopen for the fall 2020 semester with reduced occupancy, eliminating shared rooms, and making all rooms single-occupancy. Any resident with suspected COVID infection will be quarantined in a COVID suite pending testing and confirmed results, as needed.
SUNY Niagara’s Reopening plan details enhanced measures to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, including increasing disinfection and cleaning protocols, providing free hand sanitizer stations in every building, and maintaining social distancing guidelines. Masks will be provided to every student, faculty, and staff member upon their return to campus. In accordance with guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and working with the Niagara County Health Department, testing and contact tracing protocols will also be in place for students, faculty, and staff members. Every person coming to campus will need to go through a screening process as well as pass through a free-standing infrared temperature screening device that has been purchased to provide maximum distance when screening is being conducted.
Some of the more thorough measures the College has taken to protect the students and staff are installing Lexan barriers in the labs and in the offices to create a physical barrier between students and staff. These barriers have been installed in the College’s Science labs, the Culinary labs, and in high-traffic offices on campus.
The SUNY Niagara campus is currently open to the public for college business only. Remote services for enrollment and advisement will also continue to be available. Registration is now open for the fall semester. For more information about SUNY Niagara’s Reopening plan and how to enroll, visit www.niagaracc.suny.edu.
Media Contact Information
Barbara DeSimone
Director of Public Relations and Event Management
Phone: 716-614-5904
Email: desimone@niagaracc.suny.edu