The Student and Faculty Centers will be unavailable this coming Saturday for 12 hours beginning at 2:00 P.M. PDT for server hardware upgrades being performed by our hosting provider Sierra-Cedar. The outage is scheduled to be complete by Sunday, 10/4 at 2:00 A.M.

During the outage students will be unable to register for classes and access their records through the Student Center.  Teaching faculty will not have access to the Faculty Center for class rosters, attendance and grading.

Blackboard, email and library services will remain available.  Both students and faculty can find direct links to these services in their respective Portals at http://my.cityu.edu.

Please join us for a Fall Quarter New Student Orientation Webinar. The webinar is designed to orient attendees to the student portal, the student services center, Blackboard, and resources including help center, library, and tutoring.

Sessions are available:

• Thursday, September 24, 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. PDT
• Wednesday, September 30, 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. PDT
• Saturday, October 3, 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. PDT
• Tuesday, October 6, 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. PDT

Simply register for the session that best fits your schedule. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

On August 29th the University is updating Blackboard Learn to incorporate the new Ultra Base Navigation . This new navigation has a modern look and feel and will save you time with simpler ways access to important information.

What is the Ultra Base Navigation?

It is a new navigation menu that lives outside of Blackboard courses. It includes links to new pages such as the Activity Stream, Calendar, and course Messages, that provide quick access to the most critical information consolidated from all your courses. The new navigation replaces the current tab and module structure of your Blackboard landing page.

What does this mean for my courses?

• Your courses will not change. This will have zero impact on your course content and structure. They will look and operate exactly as they do now.
• Starting August 29^th, you will see the new navigation as soon as you log into Blackboard.

How will this enhance your experience?

• Modern, intuitive user experience. You’re going to find this simple, intuitive, engaging user experience easy to navigate.
• Works well on mobile devices. This navigation is designed to work well regardless of which device you’re using.
• Aggregates important information. All your course information – like calendar, messages and grades – is now consolidated into one global view, minimizing the time spent navigating into each individual course.
• Only one click away. See something that needs your attention? Just click on it and you will be taken directly there, minimizing clicks and saving time.

To learn more about what you can expect with the Ultra Base Navigation, here are a few useful resources:

• Ultra Base Navigation Brochure
• Getting started with Ultra Base Navigation
• Activity Stream Video
• Notification Settings Video

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to the 24/7 Help Desk.

Dear City University Students:

I hope that everyone is staying well and safe during these difficult times. I know there is a great deal going on in the world and much uncertainty. I write today in hopes of providing at least one point of certainty about our fall quarter courses. the University continues to pay close attention to guidelines from government and health officials about exactly when we can return to campus and what guidelines we must follow when we do. While certain areas are beginning to reopen more widely, it is clear that a full return to campus for all students and all classes is not likely in the near future. We believe it is in the best interest of our students, faculty, and staff to continue to offer the majority of courses normally scheduled as in-class or mixed mode via synchronous video throughout fall quarter as we have done for spring and summer quarters.

However, we will be offering some in-person or face-to-face class sessions for international students. We are committed to supporting our international students in maintaining their studies, and despite recent positive news from Homeland Security, as allowed by the state and county, we plan to provide select face-to-face instruction options to maintain international students’ visa status. We have plans in place to be able to do so safely and ensure health and safety guidelines are followed.

If more clear guidance suggests we are all able to safely return to campus at some point in fall, we will announce a comprehensive plan to begin doing so. Until then,
stay well, stay engaged,

Provost Dr. Scott Carnz