Please note latest updates reflect more flexible travel guidelines.
Following federal and local guidelines recommended to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), SMU is suspending all university-sponsored and/or sanctioned international travel. Students (undergraduates and graduate students) as well as faculty and staff members currently studying or working abroad are requested to return to the U.S. In addition, SMU requests that those returning from university-sponsored and/or sanctioned international travel follow the CDC’s self observation protocol for symptoms for 14 days after leaving that destination.
SMU Abroad has cancelled all summer abroad programs and is not authorizing university-sponsored and/or sanctioned international travel by students, faculty or staff for the immediate future.
New guidelines issued March 1 by the Centers for Disease Control and amplified by Dallas County Health and Human Services (DCHHS) encourage higher education institutions to consider these measures given the speed of spread and number of countries experiencing human-to-human transmission. We understand the inconvenience this creates and ask for your patience as we work through challenges related to this request.
Any member of the SMU community who chooses to disregard University recommendations for international travel must understand they will do so at their own risk and may face difficulties in return travel to the U.S. and/or possible restricted access to the SMU campus.
Undergraduate students currently abroad and the provider companies that support them have all been notified of the international travel suspension for university-sponsored and/or sanctioned program and activities. SMU is evaluating alternative ways for students to complete their courses and educational requirements. SMU Deans and their staffs are working to inform graduate students of this international travel notification.
We are also in the early stages of notifying undergraduate students signed up for summer programs of these changes. Our SMU Abroad office is committed to providing alternatives by working with SMU Intersessions, SMU-in-Taos and other entities to offer alternative summer options to meet student degree requirements.
SMU has developed a campus-wide plan to address potential challenges created by the Coronavirus. We have established this blog that will be updated regularly. Please see the post from last week on tips to preventing the spread of the virus.
Please understand that people across the SMU campus are diligently working to address this rapidly changing situation surrounding the Coronavirus, its potential impacts on our campus, and alternative curriculum options to allow students to continue and complete their studies. Thank you for your understanding as we work through these challenges together.