TO:     SLN Campus Administrators, Faculty, MIDs, ACs,

FROM: David Porush, Executive Director
           SUNY Learning Environments
  
DATE:  September 7, 2005

RE:     Courses for students affected by Hurricane Katrina through the SUNY Learning Network

As many as 175,000 students enrolled in institutions of higher education may have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath and are unable to continue their studies on their home campus.
 
SLN would like to bring to your attention a special relief effort -- called the “Sloan Semester” – offered by many universities and colleges coordinated by the Sloan Consortium, an program of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, [see http://www.sloansemester.org/provider/info.asp <http://www.sloansemester.org/provider/info.asp> ]. Through this effort, campuses are invited to offer completely online (asynchronous) courses for a special semester to students in colleges and universities that have been affected by the Hurricane Katrina disaster.
 
To support this effort, the Sloan Consortium is offering stipends to campuses for each course (from $1000-$2500, depending on enrollments). To participate, campuses must waive all tuition and fees to students who enroll in these online courses under this program. Learning Environments and SLN encourage campuses to explore their options for participating within the policies of SUNY.  To aid your effort, SLN will waive all its normal fees to campuses for their participation and support the courses through our Help Desk, technology and instructional design services. Courses designed for the Sloan Semester should begin on or soon after October 10, 2005 and end no later than January 6, 2006, but courses can be as short as eight weeks long.

The Sloan Consortium in partnership with the Southern Regional Educational Board has created quite complete rules for institutional participation and a means to qualify students for enrollment that streamline the process and take much of the administrative burden off the campuses. Descriptions of these methods and rules can be found at http://www.sloansemester.org/provider/rules.asp.
 
My office and the SUNY Learning Network staff stand ready to assist you in creating courses for this program and bringing them online provided they abide by SUNY policies. William Pelz, Professor of Social Science at Herkimer County Community College, Coordinator of the Internet Academy, and Sloan-award winning distinguished faculty member for SLN teaching, has graciously consented to be the SLN Project Director for this effort and indeed is leading the effort on his campus to offer courses. Please let him know of your interest and specify which courses will be offered by contacting him at:
 
Bill Pelz
[log in to unmask]
(315) 866-0300 ext. 8211
FAX: (315) 866-0402

  
At the same time, SLN courses already underway as part of regular semester offerings can participate in the larger SUNY mission to open the doors of our campuses to students affected by the disaster in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. The Governor has announced an offer of enrollment in all SUNY courses to Katrina-affected students at in-state tuition rates, which also applies to SLN courses.
 
We seek your help in reaching out to students affected by Katrina and communicating the fact that over SLN 4000 courses are currently available to these students online as an alternative to traditional on-campus courses, enabling students to continue their education without physical relocation.
 



 


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