mid-week, mid-quarter check in
Bill Maurer
Wednesday November 4 17:45:31 PDT 2020
Dear social sciences faculty, lecturers, staff, grad students and
researchers,
We're midway through the quarter and despite the high drama of the
elections a lot of things in our immediate institutional context
are going pretty well. I just wanted to email a few updates and
reminders.
Updates: We can expect remote instruction to be the dominant mode
of teaching in spring and summer. (Summer Session has already told
us that Summer will be remote). The UC Office of the President has
told its own staff that they should expect to continue to telecommute
through June. I bet we're in the same boat.
Expect more news regarding "curtailment," i.e., "we're not calling
it a furlough but it will be a few days of either unpaid leave or
vacation days around Winter break." This is distinct from another
announcement for staff soon about the campus being closed from
December 18 to the end of the year, for which staff can use a
combination of vacation days or leave without pay. I know it's
confusing. Natalie Cook will be able to answer staff members'
questions. When we know more about curtailment, Natalie and I will
guide the faculty.
Reminders: The administration has asked everyone to complete the
short UCLC online course about safety protocols. If you do intend
to come to campus, even for a brief visit to pick something up,
please inform your department manager so we can control occupancy
to under 30% of normal.
Now, you might be asking, "Why do I need to watch a video training
about hand washing and what to do if my coworker sneezes all over
my computer keyboard?" And in fact some of you have asked exactly
that. UC Irvine has decided to just keep beating the public health
protocol drum over and over and over and over and over... because
we know that people get sloppy and get into each other's space,
forget to bring a mask, etc. when they're on campus. We know THAT
because people report it to us. The alternative would be much more
direct monitoring or surveillance. I prefer our existing approach.
Let's do what we can to keep each other safe and healthy.
Research re-start: As I've written before, if you would like to
apply to re-start research activities on campus, please submit your
request to Associate Dean McBride here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdj41AlhCo879RRfRmclEyLuMXLk41E8eNFeG6yZyog8PVlJw/viewform?usp=sf_link
Feel free to email him at mcbride@uci.edu if you have any questions.
Teaching support: Janet DiVincenzo and our faculty coaches remain
at your service to assist by helping you plan or brainstorm about
your Winter and Spring courses. More info here. If you have questions,
problems, or need any kind of advice or help planning your teaching,
please reach out!
That's all for now! Thank you for all that you are doing in support
of our mission of teaching, research, and service! And for taking
care of each other along the way, too.
Bill