From Provost Julie Ross: Appreciation for Partnership and Flexibility During Canvas Outage

Dear Colleagues,

I want to express my sincere gratitude to our faculty, instructors, and academic support staff for the extraordinary professionalism, flexibility, and student-focused care you have demonstrated in response to the Canvas outage and the resulting disruption to final exams and end-of-semester activities. 

I recognize that rescheduling exams to Sunday created challenges for many in our campus community. For some, this meant changes to long-planned Mother’s Day celebrations, family gatherings, and travel. For others, it may have affected important personal, religious, or community commitments that are often part of every Sunday. I know these adjustments were not insignificant, particularly on short notice and at the end of an already demanding semester.

Despite these challenges and changes, you responded with calm and compassion for students, commitment to academic integrity, and remarkable adaptability under difficult circumstances. Your willingness to adjust, communicate, problem-solve, and support students on such short notice reflects the very best of our academic community.

Please accept my heartfelt thanks for all you do for our students and for Virginia Tech.

In the spirit of Ut Prosim,

Julie