As we all know our state, including our region, moved to Phase Four of the pandemic on Friday, June 26. Guidance for operations from the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board was completed and approved by the Illinois Department of Public Health and released just three days earlier. Now, of course, comes the question — what does this mean for our college?

I wish I could say it means we are back to normal operations. But we cannot be. Guidance for us still requires six-foot social distancing, limits spaces to gatherings of 50 or less, requires health screenings for all who come on to campus, and the wearing of masks. Unfortunately, we are extremely limited in classrooms that can accommodate the six-foot distance. Staff have meticulously reviewed the possibilities along with the greatest need for use of that limited space. We have courses that must have face-to-face components. We have courses that might better serve students in a face-to-face environment. These considerations, along with many others, led to the decision to offer four different teaching modalities for the fall. There will be our regular face-to-face and online courses. There will be remote courses using Zoom-like delivery, more like the traditional offerings. And finally, there will be flex courses that are some combination of the other three. No matter the modality we start with, all must be ready to move to distance offerings on very short notice. Phase Four could be rescinded at any point pending another spike in the COVID-19 virus. Deans are working with faculty to make decisions on specific modalities and teaching assignments. Students will be hearing from student services staff and/or faculty with more specifics about their course modalities in the very near future.

Our divisions will have some staff returning. Some will be back for the foreseeable future. Some will be rotating — all based on their area of responsibility and maintaining distancing. There will be extremely limited visitor access, and those should be done by appointment.

Supervisors, HR and Administrative Services will all be reaching out with more details on what operations will look like. Please watch for their emails and stay updated through LincIn. Our facilities staff continues to maintain our campus and support us in maintaining a safe environment.

Each decision that is made about operations is being carefully evaluated with focus on safety, published guidelines and student needs. We are all in this for long haul. Pending a vaccine or even more improved treatment regimens, it could be next year before we return to normalcy as we used to know it. In the meantime, LLCC faculty and staff will continue to retain positions and be paid so that we take care of students and each other. I hope each of you and your families are doing well. Remember to reach out to each other to give support and encouragement that we all need to get us through these trying times.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President
Lincoln Land Community College

Lincoln Land Community College is committed to respect and compassion as we celebrate the differences among people, cultures and ideas. These are included in our stated values and should guide all that we do. As our country and our communities grapple with the senseless death of George Floyd and others before him, it is time for us as a college community to reaffirm our commitment to equity and inclusion. These have to move well beyond aspirations to practices that are engrained in all that we do.

I cannot begin to comprehend the sadness, sense of loss, or anger that our African American community is experiencing. I do know that it will take all of us working together to continue to build a learning and working environment that is free from all forms of harassment and discrimination.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President
Lincoln Land Community College

Dear Faculty and Staff,

I had been working on something to send out as we “mostly” tie up this semester. But I watched our Commencement and thought — that says it all. Thanks to all of you, each and every department, that have contributed to help our students get to this point. It hasn’t been easy. In fact, it has been damn hard work. But we are mostly there. I say mostly because we still have some that are awaiting guidance to let us totally finish up. But even so, graduation night was a time to celebrate. The ceremony was great, and students, families, faculty and staff had an opportunity to “be in the moment.”

We still have a way to go. I can’t give you any answers as to the next step. That is dependent on the Governor’s guidance and the Illinois Department of Public Health. Just know that we are ready to move, even incrementally, as we are given the go-ahead. Each step will be taken with concern for the safety of all. But flexibility is still the key to our success.

As we wait for the yellow and green lights, just know that each and every one of you are appreciated. We have kept our eyes on the goal post — and that is getting our students through. We are doing everything imaginable, and I don’t use that term lightly. Your imagination, creativity and dedication made our ceremony tonight possible, and kept the hopes of those to come alive.

For those of you leaving for a summer break, know we are grateful. For those who remain, we still have work to do, but I know you are up to the challenge. I can’t yet tell you what fall will hold, and I can’t tell you when we will all be together again. But I can tell you that the graduation ceremony Friday was just one step in our moving forward to take care of students.

Thanks for just being the heart of what is — Lincoln Land Community College.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President

Dear LLCC Family,

First, I hope this finds everyone well. I know we all have our own personal challenges dealing with this unprecedented time. I wanted to check in with you as we head toward the last stretch of spring semester. It has been incredible seeing the innovation and dedication of our faculty and staff. Some faculty have shared snippets of their courses and demonstrated that creativity abounds. Staff are finding all kinds of ways to connect with students and keep them engaged. Administrators are trying to stay on top of the seemingly daily policy changes from the state, the feds, and our many accrediting and approval bodies. It is taking the efforts of all of us to get our students across the finish line.

As I talk with faculty and staff, I have been reminded that these last few weeks are a challenge for keeping students motivated in good times. Our current situation will only serve to increase that challenge. This is again where creativity and purposeful connections will go a long way. Most courses can be completed on time. Unfortunately, we do not have the answers as to when we will be able to complete those courses that will still require some face-to-face/hands-on activities. Just know, and let students know, we are developing plans on how to see those students through to completion as soon as that is possible.

The good news is that we plan to celebrate everyone’s effort with a commencement ceremony, albeit virtual. Student services and PRM are planning our event, including recognition of every student who plans to graduate, and release that video on May 15 – the originally scheduled date for graduation. It is an ambitious undertaking, but certainly something to look forward to.

We also hope to have a portion of our employee recognition event in virtual mode. HR and PRM plan to launch a week of celebration for employee anniversaries and retirements. We hope this can take place beginning May 5. The awards portion will be delayed until fall.

In the meantime, we are working on alternate course scheduling and preparing for the inevitable increase in online and hybrid courses for at least summer and fall. We certainly hope our campus will be able to slowly reopen in the not too distant future, but know this must be done safely and within any forthcoming guidelines. I would like to say we can get back to normal, but the reality is that we do not know what future “normal” will look like.

So, I am reaching out to let you know that each and every area is doing its best to take care of our students, while working to keep our faculty and staff safe, and to make sure our business operations are not interrupted. We do not have a map for this. However, we clearly have a college full of faculty and staff who are up to the many challenges that lie ahead.

Continue to take care of yourselves, your family and your friends.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President

Dear Lincoln Land Family,

As we find ourselves in the second week of operating Lincoln Land Community College remotely, I want to share with everyone the College’s current plans for the end of this semester and beyond. More changes and challenges will surely come, so flexibility will be the operative word for the foreseeable future.

Given Governor Pritzker’s latest stay at home order, LLCC will continue remote operations through at least April 30. All classes (with the exception of those with lab/clinical requirements) will complete the semester on schedule in the current remote format. The Vice President of Academic Services is working with the faculty and academic deans to plan for completion of those lab/clinical courses with the additional requirements, and he will share those plans as soon as possible. We are being flexible and creative, but in many cases our actions are dictated by accrediting, licensing or certifying agencies. We continue dialogues with those agencies and have received approval for alternative deliveries in some disciplines.

In short, the vast majority of our classes should be completed within the normal semester, and we continue to look for remote/online options that might be effective and will help students who still need lab or clinical experience to complete as soon as is safely possible.

Unfortunately, LLCC will not have our regularly scheduled May graduation. We know this is an important event, and I assure you that we will have some sort of celebration for graduates – more to come on how and when.

I know everyone is being overwhelmed with emails and messages as you try and take care of school, home, work and yourselves. So, in an effort not to add to that burden, I am limiting my communications just to sharing broad reaching information.

Day-to-day operational news will come from the experts: course communications and assistance from faculty, deans and our Academic VP; student service news, guidelines and assistance from success coaches, financial aid, records, admission and Center for Academic Success staff working with the VP of Student Services.  Our human resource and business offices are sending regular communications regarding any changes in policy/procedure we are implementing in order to better support employees as we continue to operate in uncharted territory.  IT is managing help desk requests, and public relations is maintaining updates on the website while also getting information out to our communities. The Foundation continues to seek resources to help students with emergent needs.

The bottom line is although not physically together, we are still fully operational and have numerous resources to support our faculty, staff and students. Students should continue to check our website, LLCC email and texts regularly for updates. Faculty, staff and administration should check LincIn daily for new information and to see how some of our staff are creatively managing work, families and play right now.

Continue to take care of yourselves and your families.

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President
Lincoln Land Community College

Faculty, staff and administration,

I wanted to send a note to thank you all. I just had a second check-in yesterday with the cabinet, and all reports are good. It is absolutely amazing what all of you have been able to accomplish in a week’s time. Of course there were some issues here and there, but we had a remote college working today! We will continue to address those issues of which we are aware and still have a new set of classes to launch today, but I just wanted to stop and take the opportunity to remind us all of what a great faculty, staff and administration LLCC has. You are truly awesome!!

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President
Lincoln Land Community College

I promised you an update. I am sure you all have heard about, and likely read, the Governor’s Executive Order. We have reviewed that and feel that our decisions and operational changes are in line with the Order. As I mentioned in correspondence last week, we are officially operating remotely as of Friday evening, March 20. From this point forward (at least through April 7) only essential personnel will be on campus. Those staff have been identified and will be able to be on campus Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8 a.m. to noon. This is only for operations that are required to take care of business that cannot be done remotely — like checking mail for invoices, payroll — and then that evening to sanitize areas occupied that day. Police will be on duty, and maintenance will make sure our facilities are in order. We will work with other essential needs as they evolve. If there is an emergency need for you to return, and you have not been identified as an essential employee, please work through your supervisor and cabinet member to get approved and to notify our police chief. We want to provide a safe work environment for those who will need to be onsite.

For more specific information and assistance please go to the college webpage www.llcc.edu and click on COVID-19 College Update. There are pages for faculty and staff, and one for students. These will be updated regularly. Please check LincIn for daily news, and we ask that you continue to send that news as you have in the past. This is a way for us all to stay connected to one another. Those connections will be extremely important for maintaining our college as a community.

Get some rest, and take a deep breath. We all dive in today. There has been an amazing amount accomplished in a week. Your cooperation and your efforts are greatly appreciated. Even so, we know there will be some challenges. Please exercise compassion and patience with our students and each other as we go through a bit of a learning curve. For at least the next week there will be a lot of demands on all of us as we find a “new normal.”

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President
Lincoln Land Community College

You will get a much more detailed communication today after the cabinet meets to “finalize” our plans. I put that in quotes because this is such a fluid situation, and because putting a college into remote is a steep learning curve for all of us. Again, we greatly appreciate all of the efforts that you have made this week to make this happen and to take care of our students. As I have let you know, we have very quickly been moving staff into remote work mode. We plan to have that concluded this evening. As staff has gone remote, our custodial staff has worked hard to sanitize spaces. We have also been working on a “go to/how to” reference for our website for you and for students. This will be a “one stop” FAQ resource that will organize the many communications you have received regarding future operations and will be updated regularly.

More to come!

Charlotte Warren, Ph.D.
President
Lincoln Land Community College