Embry-Riddle to Return to Classes June 30

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University announced that it would return to face-to-face instruction on June 30. The next phase in re-opening is planned for ERAU’s Daytona Beach, Florida, and Prescott, Arizona, campuses. In doing so, the university will follow all local, state, and federal guidance, including the following measures: limiting classroom capacity, optimizing class schedules to minimize contact, pre-screening returning students, requiring cloth face masks in all common areas (indoors or outdoors), and daily wellness checks. If students have recently been sick, they are not allowed to come back to campus until they have met any quarantine and testing requirements. Any visitors will need to check in at designated welcome centers—Henderson Welcome Center in Daytona, and the Visitors Center at Prescott.

“We continue to review all progress and monitor every phase of the strategy,” said Mori Hosseini, chairman of ERAU’s Board of Trustees. “We believe that a structured, cautious return to normal operations will provide a platform for our institution’s long-term success and better prepare us for the fall semester. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is well positioned for this next step. Our safety focus is unparalleled and our board is unanimous in supporting this decision.”

“We have resumed flight and housing operations on our campuses,” ERAU President P. Barry Butler said in making the announcement. “Beginning face-to-face classes on June 30 will mark the next critical milestone. Our plan focuses on statistical risk testing, risk mitigation, support for contact tracing—and most importantly, education. We are continuing to educate our community on the risks, create redundancy across all of our safety standards, and finalize our testing protocols.”

Procedures in flight check-in and aircraft sanitization provide guidelines to follow that other flight training organizations may emulate. A total of 1,747 Eagle graduates celebrated the occasion virtually in May.