The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has slightly affected the leadership transition that is less than a month away between incoming UND President Andrew Armacost and outgoing interim President Joshua Wynne.
Armacost is set to begin his full-time presidency duties on June 1, but will do so from his home in Colorado. UND spokesman David Dodds said Armacost should be on campus about three weeks later due to both the pandemic and the logistics of moving from Colorado to North Dakota.
Armacost has been involved with discussions about the campus and its response to the COVID-19 pandemic since its onset, alongside Wynne, who has been doing a majority of his work remotely during the pandemic.
The campus is preparing to reopen this fall with added precautions. A group has been put together at UND, tasked with figuring out how the university can function in a “new normal” in the fall. The group is looking at how UND can preserve physical distancing, considering how it can limit group sizes and ensuring the campus has enough health and cleaning supplies, Armacost told the Herald last month.
Wynne will return to his role as full-time dean of the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences and vice president for health affairs on June 1.
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UND employees will continue to work remotely through at least the end of July.
The university is directing non-essential employees who are working remotely to continue to do so, at least through July 31, according to a university blog post on Monday, May 11.
Between now and the end of July, the university may ask individuals to report back to on-campus duties, if their jobs require it, the post said.
Non-essential employees have been working from home since mid-March, when the university closed its campus due to the coronavirus outbreak. Classes have been held remotely since that time.
“The health and well-being of our community is our top priority, and physical distancing continues to be the most effective way to limit the spread of coronavirus,” the blog post read, noting the situation is fluid.
Dodds said letting employees know that remote work will continue for the foreseeable future allows them to plan their summers and child care needs more effectively.
