Welcome back COB students!
I hope this finds you doing well as you prepare for fall 2021 classes. College of Business (COB) faculty and staff are looking forward to what we hope will be a “near normal” academic year. With the emergence and spread of the Delta variant there will be some challenges and I appreciate your patience and flexibility as the University and COB make necessary adjustments to minimize the risk for our campus community. Below are some hopefully timely updates to ensure your fall semester gets off to a good start.
Review your Fall 2021 Schedule for Changes
Classroom renovation projects, faculty resignations/retirements, and other factors can result in schedule changes. If one or more of your classes has been impacted by a change, you should have received an email. To ensure you have the most up-to-date schedule information, I encourage you to review your course schedule via My Missouri State before fall classes begin.
Plan to Mask Up
As you may already know, the University has adopted a COVID-19 Masking Policy for campus, and the policy is effective for all campus locations as of Sunday, August 22, 2021. COB faculty and staff fully support the masking policy as we believe it is key to not only keep our students and employees safe but to keep the campus open while COVID-19 transmission rates remain high. Please review the COVID-19 Masking Policy in its entirety, and be prepared to Mask Up when you are in campus buildings, including classrooms.
Food and Drink Limited To Designated Food Courts
To ensure compliance with the COVID-19 Masking Policy, no consumption of food or drink will be allowed in campus buildings outside of designated food courts. In Glass Hall, consumption of food and drink should be limited to the food court/seating area adjacent to Einstein Bros. Bagels.
Care for Your Fellow Biz Bears
In the interest of everyone’s safety it is critical that all of our students, faculty, and staff take preventive measures to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19. This includes monitoring for unexplained COVID-19 related symptoms and staying home and/or seeking medical attention if you experience them. If you are unable to attend class due to symptoms, a positive test resulting in isolation, or being asked to quarantine due to close contact with an infected individual, please communicate this information to your instructor in a timely manner.
COB Career Fairs
We are looking forward to holding both in-person and virtual career fairs in September and early October. Over 100 employers have already registered to participate in one or more of the following:
- School of Accountancy Career Fair, Wednesday, September 8th 12:00 pm – 3:00 pm at the University Plaza Hotel
- College of Business Career Fair, Tuesday, September 14th, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm at the Springfield Expo Center
- Virtual College of Business Career Fair, Friday, October 1st, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm via Handshake
All students seeking internships or full-time positions during the coming year are encouraged to participate in one or more of these career fairs. Information on the upcoming COB Career Fairs is available now.
Note: Students planning to participate are required to complete the COB Prepare for the Fair Workshop. The workshop is completed online via Blackboard. If you are a business major or graduate student and do not see the COB Prepare for the Fair Workshop as a course in your Blackboard account, please email marygphillips@missouristate.edu.
Faculty Office Hours
Traditional office hours, especially in smaller faculty offices, create social distancing challenges; therefore, COB faculty may elect to provide virtual rather than in-office support. Virtual support may be delivered by faculty synchronously, asynchronously, or via a combination of synchronous/asynchronous. At the start of the semester, faculty will outline their respective plan for providing student support.
Academic Advisement
Recognizing that social distancing is challenging during 1:1 advising sessions, the Business Advisement Center and Graduate Programs staff will continue to provide academic advisement via Zoom. To request an in-person academic advising session:
- Undergraduate Students – contact SandyCulver@MissouriState.edu; and
- Graduate Students – contact COBGraduatePrograms@MissouriState.edu.
We know there will be some unique challenges as the school year gets underway, but we sincerely hope that by working together our students, faculty, and staff can have a safe and successful fall semester.