Graduate School - All Graduate Students

We hope that you are doing well as the summer begins.

As you read in President Christina H. Paxson’s message on April 6, Brown is planning to return to the traditional two-semester academic calendar and mostly in-person operations beginning in Fall 2021. Only a portion of the curriculum will be available in hybrid or fully online form. Students who are taking courses and/or serving as a Teaching Assistant, Teaching Fellow, Research Assistant, or Proctor will be expected to participate in-person, with limited exemptions for students who are unable to do so due to health concerns, travel or visa restrictions, or financial hardship.

If you cannot participate in-person this fall because of health concerns or disability, travel or visa restrictions, or financial hardship, you must submit a request for an exceptional circumstances exemption no later than 8:00 a.m. EST on Monday, June 7, via UFunds. Submitting a request form will be the only guaranteed opportunity to request an exemption to study remotely for exceptional circumstances for the Fall 2021 semester.

PhD and MFA students unable to study in-person should apply for an exemption through UFunds, using the form “Petition for Remote Status, Fall 2021 - PhD and MFA,” which can be found under “Graduate Student Administrative Forms.” All other master’s students who are unable to study in-person should apply using the “Petition for Remote Status, Fall 2021 - Master’s (excluding MFA)” form, which is also in UFunds under “Graduate Student Administrative Forms.” Please note that this exemption process is only for continuing students. Newly matriculating students will be contacted separately.

We recognize that advanced doctoral students sometimes use fellowship semesters to conduct research elsewhere. We expect this to be the case in Fall 2021. For this reason, doctoral students who are neither enrolled in coursework nor serving as Teaching Assistants, Teaching Fellows, Research Assistants, or Proctors do not need to complete the application for an exemption. Similarly, some Research Assistantships or Proctorships do not involve being active here at Brown, such as an RAship being completed in a lab away from Providence. Students appointed on RAships or Proctorships that would not normally involve being active on campus do not need to apply for an exemption.

We recognize that the dynamic nature of travel restrictions and visa delays means that some students will not yet know when or whether they will be able to arrive on campus. PhD and master’s students who are uncertain at this time should submit a request for an exemption and describe the relevant circumstances. Requests for exemptions due to health concerns or disability will be evaluated by Student Accessibility Services (SAS). Students may be contacted to discuss the circumstances described in their request.

Students will receive notification of the status of their request by June 15. Further information about the exceptional circumstances exemption request follows below in the form of Frequently Asked Questions; please read the information carefully.

If you have questions, PhD and MFA students should write to Graduate_School@brown.edu. Master’s students (other than MFA) should write to spsmasters@brown.edu.

I wish you a healthy and productive summer.

Sincerely,
Andrew G. Campbell
Dean of the Graduate School