VINCENNES, Ind. – Come the fall of 2021, Vincennes University students, faculty, and staff will fully experience and enjoy all that VU campuses and locations offer, including face-to-face classes along with vibrant, engaging in-person activities.

The VU Board of Trustees voted at the February 23 meeting to return to full face-to-face instruction and campus activities beginning with the Fall Semester 2021.

“VU has taken our responsibilities very seriously to keep our faculty, staff, students, and our communities as safe as possible during the pandemic,” VU President Dr. Chuck Johnson said. “Our teams have done great work to contact trace, isolate, quarantine, and help make sure that we keep all our sites as safe as possible. We’ve done remarkably well despite some of the challenges of the pandemic. Now that cases seem to be on the waning side and vaccines seem to becoming more prevalent, we are entering into a period of time where we can begin to plan a fall semester that resumes normality to the greatest degree possible.”

VU is committed to providing students a dynamic, personal, and well-rounded student experience. Faculty offer individualized attention in the classroom and expertise due to the small student-to-faculty ratio.

VU Public Relations and Communications major Olivia Lankford of Vincennes highly values the level of interaction she experiences with faculty and other students during in-person learning. 

“I’m really excited to be going back to the full face-to-face instruction,” she said. “It is the right step to give everyone the full college experience. Forming relationships with professors has always been important to my education. Learning in the face-to-face environment is great and is really going to help me learn better.”

Involvement in student activities and campus engagement is also essential to college life. VU’s social and cultural activities give students opportunities to meet new people, gain leadership skills, provide active service to their community, and create a lifetime of memories.

Grace Jones of Bicknell, Indiana expressed her elation over the return of in-person activities. She lives on the Vincennes campus and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Special Education, Mild Intervention K-12. 

“Being able to go out with your friends to play intramural sports or going to a movie night or even attending an event is one of the biggest parts of a college student’s experience,” Jones said. “I met my partner and I have made friendships that I will have for the rest of my life. I’m so excited that students are going to be able to have those experiences.” 

Jones is ecstatic about participating in many of the VU activities she enjoyed prior to the pandemic.

“With the Education Club, I helped throw holiday parties for adults with mild disabilities, and had a blast of a time helping our community,” she said. “I started a tabletop board game club before Covid hit. I’m really hoping we’ll be able to do the Tube Race down the Wabash River. That’s been a longstanding tradition and it’s a ton of fun.”

University administrators are carefully monitoring the pandemic and will continue to follow the rules and recommendations of local, state, and national officials.

Johnson added, “All signs are pointing to having the pandemic under control by mid-summer, but if that changes, VU will be ready to pivot in ways that maximize the student experience, while keeping everyone safe. As we look forward to a fall semester and an academic year that is more like we’re used to, I can’t be more excited.” 

Continuing students must talk to their advisors to register for classes. Students can find advisors by going to their MyVU account.

Applications for new students are currently being accepted for Fall Semester 2021 at https://www.vinu.edu/admissions/index.html.

To request information about VU, visit https://www.vinu.edu/admissions/undergraduates.html. To schedule a visit and tour of VU, go to https://www.vinu.edu/request-campus-visit.html.

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