Information for Faculty

Please review this step-by-step guide to returning to campus, which outlines the requirements for vaccinated and unvaccinated Loyolans.

Find the latest information on mitigation measures and policies for campus visitors, University-sponsored faculty travel, and more at the Health, Safety, and Well-Being Update website.

As outlined on this webpage, Loyola is layering several mitigation measures to promote health and safety in our classrooms. Examples are requiring vaccination and boosters, requiring masks on campus, continuing with the On-Campus COVID-19 Testing program, asking faculty and students to wipe down the areas they use in the classrooms, enhanced building ventilation, and following the Positive Diagnosis Protocol.

Read the latest update on contact tracing on the Positive Diagnosis Protocol page.

Loyola is requiring all students, faculty, and staff to be vaccinated and to receive a booster shot of a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as they are eligible unless they receive an approved medical or religious exemption. Upload your vaccination card now to Loyola Health through the Loyola mobile app or at LUC.edu/vaxupload. Select "Upload Vaccinations" and select "Booster" from the drop-down menu.

Students who are admitted for spring 2022 are required to be vaccinated and boosted as soon as they are eligible or have an approved exemption. Students in spring 2022 classes must upload their vaccination card by January 3. Students who do not meet these requirements will be unenrolled from in-person classes.

Regardless of vaccination status, everyone is required to properly wear a face mask in all public spaces and in all buildings at all Loyola campuses. This includes classrooms, labs, meeting rooms, lounges, shared office space, cubicles, hallways, and elevators. Faculty must wear masks while teaching.

Please visit Loyola’s COVID-19 Testing Dashboard for the latest information about the health of the Loyola community.

Loyola continues to follow the higher education guidance from the Chicago Department of Public Health and CDC. At this time, neither agency recommends social distancing in college and university classrooms.

A mechanical engineering consultant studied all University buildings to verify that ventilation rates, filtration strength, and outside air levels have been optimized, and we continue to follow guidance around ventilation as outlined by the Illinois Department of Public Heath Environmental Toxicology section.

Higher efficiency filters have been purchased and installed throughout campus, and Facilities is introducing additional outside air and increasing the turnover of air in the buildings above standard levels to improve the indoor air environment.

Please see the Positive Diagnosis Protocol page for how to report a positive diagnosis and what to do if you’ve had an exposure.

Faculty and staff who have received exemptions must participate in the On-Campus COVID-19 Testing program when they are on campus.

Fully vaccinated faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to take a free on-campus COVID-19 test as often as they would like. However, if faculty and staff are feeling sick or experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, you should not go to Loyola’s surveillance testing sites to be tested. Instead, you should be administered a diagnostic test by your health care provider or at a preferred testing site.

If you see anything on or around Loyola’s campuses that you believe to be an infraction of our COVID-19 safety practices, including mask wearing, you can file a report online through the Office of Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution (OSCCR).

Loyola will take all reports of non-compliance very seriously. If a student-related matter is referred to the OSCCR, a swift response and appropriate action will follow each report. Reports of faculty non-compliance with safety practices should be referred to the appropriate dean’s office.

Faculty should be prepping for their assigned instructional mode. If your class is scheduled to be in-person, you should prepare for an in-person class. Some classes have been assigned a mode of HyFlex (simultaneous in-person and online teaching) or hybrid (alternating in-person and online teaching). Those faculty should prepare for those specific modes. Loyola is not expecting faculty to prep alternative modes beyond the assigned instructional mode. Note: all faculty will still be expected to work with the Student Accessibility Center and students on any approved accommodations.

For assistance with classroom technology for any instructional mode, contact the ITS Service Desk at 773.508.4487 or ITSServiceDesk@luc.edu.

Faculty who need accommodations under the Americans with Disability Act (ADA) should contact Human Resources to begin the accommodation process. For preferences on instructional mode, faculty should contact their department chair, program director, or associate dean to discuss their options.

Please ensure that your Sakai site is fully developed and ready for teaching online for the start of the spring semester. Sakai sites should include syllabi and other course materials when appropriate along with Zoom links for online classes. For assistance, visit the ITS Sakai support page.

We encourage you to continue to build flexibility into your course materials in case you or your students fall ill. Please see key considerations for planning a flexible course.

Once we return to an on-campus learning experience, some classes may move online if faculty become ill but are able to continue teaching online. Please discuss with your department chairs or associate deans before moving your class online.

Faculty will not be asked to prepare seating charts or take attendance in spring 2022. You may still keep a seating chart if you wish and can download Seating Chart Samples to create your own.

For the safety of everyone, if students are not on your roster, they should not be in your classroom. Please ask any students not on your roster to leave the classroom. You can also report the student online through the Office of Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution (OSCCR).

In spring 2022, Loyola courses return to the pre-pandemic class schedule, including 15-minute passing periods between classes.

We will continue to provide wipes for faculty and students to wipe down their classroom surfaces before and after each use. Each night, all classrooms are cleaned and re-stocked with sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer. Please report any missing inventory to Facilities via 773.508.2100 or LUC.edu/facilities.

Classrooms with a large seating capacity will have a shared instructor microphone in the room. Here are classrooms equipped with a microphone. Please visit your smaller capacity classrooms to see if you would like to request a microphone. ITS is working to source additional lapel microphone kits. However, there is currently low stock among our vendors as microphones are in high demand.

For questions related to classroom microphones and tutorials on how to use the classroom technologies, contact the ITS Service Desk at 773.508.4487 or ITSServiceDesk@luc.edu. You may also view a lapel mic tutorial video.

Faculty can continue to ask their students to complete group work in the classroom. Please do not move furniture. Instead, students should move to different seats to be in groups.

Loyola faculty have always worked with students suffering from an illness or facing other challenges to help them keep up with their classwork. COVID-19 is another illness that will take students out of the classroom. Loyola expects you to work with your students but does not expect you to teach HyFlex (simultaneous in-person and online teaching) to accommodate students in isolation or quarantine.

If you have questions about teaching students in isolation or quarantine, please reach out to your department chair, program director, or associate dean.

Faculty may want to include a syllabus statement about eating and drinking in the classroom. In general, students removing their mask to take a drink is acceptable but removing the mask to eat is not. Students who need to have food available during class should work with the Student Accessibility Center to have that accommodation documented.

Faculty can invite guest speakers to their classes and other guests to campus if the guests are fully vaccinated or had a negative PCR test 72 hours prior to being on campus. Loyola University Chicago has partnered with CLEAR Health Pass to provide easy proof of vaccination status for faster entry to campus. To get started, your guest should download the CLEAR app and enroll for free here. You may also use Zoom or other technologies to invite guests into your classrooms or meetings.

Extra masks will be provided in classroom buildings for students, faculty, and staff who forget their mask. Please report any missing inventory to Facilities via 773.508.2100 or LUC.edu/facilities.

Should a student not follow the masking requirement, faculty may ask them to leave the classroom. Faculty can also report what you believe to be an infraction of our COVID-19 safety practices, including mask wearing, online through the Office of Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution (OSCCR).