COVID-19 Campus Mitigation Plan

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Message from Provost Liesl Folks, March 11, 2020:

Dear Arizona Students,

I am writing to follow up on President Robbins’ email with more details on how we plan to address the transition to online instruction for most classes and other changes.

Our top priority is your health and safety. We are working to balance that with the need to support your academic goals, and, to the best extent possible, continue to deliver life-changing educational experiences.

As you know, the start of classes has been delayed until Wednesday, March 18, to allow our campus time to move away from in-person instruction. All available campus resources will be directed to this effort.

As you return to campus, here is what you can expect:

  • All classes will resume.
  • Residence halls, food services, recreation facilities and Campus Health are fully operational, with additional precautions in place.
  • Almost all classes will migrate to remote learning modes, beginning immediately.
  • Classes will continue in online mode until Monday, April 6, at which time the University will assess its operational status.
  • Changes in the delivery of your classes will be communicated to you directly by your faculty / instructors.
  • Class attendance protocols have been adjusted to align with CDC guidance. We do want you to stay home if you feel unwell.
  • Cleaning and disinfectant protocols have been greatly increased across campus.
  • Student employees should expect their employment and wages to continue.
  • Classmates and community members will be using social distancing and enhanced personal hygiene to protect themselves and others, and we ask you to be respectful of their choices. Keep in mind that those at most risk are the elderly and those with underlying illnesses. Please limit non-essential contact with these populations.

As a reminder, faculty / instructors are prepared to offer reasonable accommodations to students who are concerned about their own health and safety or who have self-quarantined.

Stay well informed and healthy

Please remember that we are all collectively responsible for our community’s well-being.  Be sure that you are taking care of yourself according to CDC guidance, online here, and looking out for your colleagues, friends, and other campus community members.  Monitor your health closely, and be prepared to self-quarantine, if required, especially if you have travelled extensively over the break.

If you have concerns, please contact the Dean of Students’ Office (Tel: 520-621-7057).

If your family has concerns, please have them contact Parent & Family Programs (Tel: 520-621-0884).

The University’s Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) is closely monitoring the changing circumstances of COVID-19 and the impact to our community, and together we are making decisions to ensure the health and safety of all students, faculty, and staff. 

I appreciate your understanding and support at this challenging time. My hope is that at the end of this we all will be proud that we kept teaching and you kept learning.

 

Regards,

Liesl Folks, PhD, MBA
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost

 

Sand Mandala Opening Ceremony

Witness the creation of a sand mandala on the U of A campus.

When
11 a.m. – 11 a.m., Oct. 12, 2025

OPENING CEREMONY, OCT 12, 2025 @ 11AM 

Witness the creation of a sand mandala on the U of A campus. The mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist ritual artform that helps viewers to envision enlightenment. Venerable Lama Losang Samten will create the intricate and colorful patterns of the mandala over the course of several days. When he is done, he will conduct a dissolution ritual at which the mandala will be destroyed as a meditation upon impermanence. 

The particular mandala to be created at U of A is the Kalachakra or “Wheel of Time,” regarded as an especially powerful tool for healing and transformation and transmitted to Buddhist practitioners across the world. 

Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine

Lobby, 1502 E Mabel St.

All mandala events are FREE and open to the public:

OPENING CEREMONY 

OCT 12, 2025 @ 11AM 

PUBLIC VIEWINGS

OCT 13 – 17, 2025 @ 

9AM – 12PM and 3 – 6PM (Thursday until 5PM)

DISSOLUTION RITUAL & RECEPTION
OCT 18, 2025 @ 2PM 

For additional details on the mandala events, visit afot.org.

 

In partnership with the College of Humanities 2025 Tucson Humanities Festival and hosted by the University of Arizona: Center for Buddhist Studies, Health Humanities Hub, Department of Religious Studies & Classics, Department of East Asian Studies, and the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine 

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Flyer

Sand Mandala Dissolution Ritual & Reception

The sand mandala will be destroyed as a meditation upon impermanence.

DISSOLUTION RITUAL & RECEPTION
OCT 18, 2025 @ 2PM 

Witness the creation of a sand mandala on the U of A campus. The mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist ritual artform that helps viewers to envision enlightenment. Venerable Lama Losang Samten will create the intricate and colorful patterns of the mandala over the course of several days. When he is done, he will conduct a dissolution ritual at which the mandala will be destroyed as a meditation upon impermanence. 

The particular mandala to be created at U of A is the Kalachakra or “Wheel of Time,” regarded as an especially powerful tool for healing and transformation and transmitted to Buddhist practitioners across the world. 

Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine

Lobby, 1502 E Mabel St.

All mandala events are FREE and open to the public:

For additional details on the mandala events, visit afot.org.

 

In partnership with the College of Humanities 2025 Tucson Humanities Festival and hosted by the University of Arizona: Center for Buddhist Studies, Health Humanities Hub, Department of Religious Studies & Classics, Department of East Asian Studies, and the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine 

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Flyer

Sand Mandala Viewing

Witness the creation of a sand mandala on the U of A campus.

PUBLIC VIEWINGS

OCT 13 – 17, 2025 @ 9AM – 12PM and 3 – 6PM (Thursday until 5PM)

Witness the creation of a sand mandala on the U of A campus. The mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist ritual artform that helps viewers to envision enlightenment. Venerable Lama Losang Samten will create the intricate and colorful patterns of the mandala over the course of several days. When he is done, he will conduct a dissolution ritual at which the mandala will be destroyed as a meditation upon impermanence. 

The particular mandala to be created at U of A is the Kalachakra or “Wheel of Time,” regarded as an especially powerful tool for healing and transformation and transmitted to Buddhist practitioners across the world. 

Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine

Lobby, 1502 E Mabel St.

All mandala events are FREE and open to the public:

DISSOLUTION RITUAL & RECEPTION
OCT 18, 2025 @ 2PM 

For additional details on the mandala events, visit afot.org.

 

In partnership with the College of Humanities 2025 Tucson Humanities Festival and hosted by the University of Arizona: Center for Buddhist Studies, Health Humanities Hub, Department of Religious Studies & Classics, Department of East Asian Studies, and the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine 

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Flyer

Sand Mandala on Campus!

Saturday
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Flyer

Witness the creation of a sand mandala on the U of A campus. The mandala is a Tibetan Buddhist ritual artform that helps viewers to envision enlightenment. Venerable Lama Losang Samten will create the intricate and colorful patterns of the mandala over the course of several days. When he is done, he will conduct a dissolution ritual at which the mandala will be destroyed as a meditation upon impermanence. 

The particular mandala to be created at U of A is the Kalachakra or “Wheel of Time,” regarded as an especially powerful tool for healing and transformation and transmitted to Buddhist practitioners across the world. 

Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine

Lobby, 1502 E Mabel St.

All mandala events are FREE and open to the public:

 

OPENING CEREMONY 

OCT 12, 2025 @ 11AM 

 

PUBLIC VIEWINGS

OCT 13 – 17, 2025 @ 

9AM – 12PM and 3 – 6PM (Thursday until 5PM)

 

DISSOLUTION RITUAL & RECEPTION
OCT 18, 2025 @ 2PM 

 

For additional details on the mandala events, visit afot.org.

 

In partnership with the College of Humanities 2025 Tucson Humanities Festival and hosted by the University of Arizona: Center for Buddhist Studies, Health Humanities Hub, Department of Religious Studies & Classics, Department of East Asian Studies, and the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine 

Workshop: Write Your Personal Statement

Prepare to apply for scholarships!

When
5 – 6 p.m., Oct. 9, 2025

Prof. Daisy Vargas is holding a workshop to provide feedback and tips on writing a strong personal statement for scholarship applications.

Get a head start on applying for the Rombach/Bretall Scholarship for Religious Studies and other scholarships!

This workshop will be held in LSB 146, the room facing the grassy area on the east side of the Learning Services Building. 

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Workshop flyer

Prof. Friesen Wins Book Award

Sept. 11, 2025
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Prof. Friesen

Courtney Friesen, Professor in the Department of Religious Studies & Classics, has received the Frank W. Beare Award from the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies.

Presented at the society’s annual meeting in June in Toronto, the Beare Award recognizes an outstanding book in the areas of Christian Origins, Post-Biblical Judaism and/or Graeco-Roman Religions. 

Friesen’s Acting Gods, Playing Heroes, and the Interaction between Judaism, Christianity, and Greek Drama in the Early Common Era, published by Routledge in 2024, explores religion and the receptions of classical theater (tragedy, comedy and satyr drama) in the early centuries of the Common Era. 

Judges for the prize commented that this is “a slim but surprisingly expansive volume, [the book] models an approach to ancient Mediterranean religion that collapses the conventional disciplinary boundaries separating classics and ancient history from biblical studies to patristics. Friesen successfully demonstrates the ongoing influence especially of Euripides on interwoven Greek, Jewish, and Christian intellectual cultures, and offers tantalizing hints of drama’s durable place in the popular cultural imagination of the ancient world. The book is well-argued, breaks new ground, and overturns the traditional view about early Christian opposition to theatre.”

JOIN US FOR MOVIE NIGHT!

Screening of GLADIATOR

When
5 – 9 p.m., Sept. 16, 2025

Join us for Movie Night!!

The Department of Religious Studies & Classics will be having a screening of GLADIATOR on Tuesday, September 16, 2025 from 5:00pm to 9:00pm.

Dr. Philip Waddell will be leading a discussion and answering questions after the movie.

Find us in ENR2, Room S225.  We look forward to seeing you there.

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movie night

JOIN US FOR MOVIE NIGHT!

Screening of GLADIATOR

Sept. 16, 2025
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Russell Crowe in Gladiator

The Department of Religious Studies & Classics will be screening the movie Gladiator. 

Join us Tuesday, September 16, 2025 from 5:00pm to 9:00pm at ENR2, Room S225.

Dr. Philip Waddell will be leading a discussion and answering questions after the movie. We look forward to seeing you there.