Dean’s Update: Maintaining Normal Administrative Services

Dean’s Update on COVID-19 from March 11, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Pardon the volume of emails these past few days but I suspect it’ll be a few more days before the flurry of communications subsides and we get to working under this new ‘normal’ which I hope is as short-lived as possible.

This note is a follow up to President Brown’s message below that essentially asks us to maintain as much as possible ‘normal levels of service’ while also acknowledging that some work can be done remotely.  As he indicates, please work with your supervisors to make decisions about the extent to which it is possible for some of you to alternate working on campus and remotely as long as the pertinent services are provided.  If you are in a union, I understand you are not allowed to work remotely but I know that there are conversations underway with the union which I hope will shed light on this matter soon.

Furthermore, President Brown’s earlier letter to students and the larger community asked that no meetings be held with more than 10 individuals. Per this request, many of us have already canceled a number of large events/gatherings and have moved others to be conducted completely by calling in or via ZOOM.  As it is essential for our continuing operations that committee meetings and other types of meetings (e.g., dissertation defense, some meetings with students) be maintained, I suggest the following:

  1. If the meeting involves ≤ 10 individuals, carry on with them in person, via teleconferencing or zoom, or through a combination of both in person and remotely where some attend in person while others remotely.
  2. If the meeting involves > 10 individuals, please ask some individuals to call or zoom in. This could mean that some may call or join via zoom from their offices down the hall while others might join from the Caribbean sipping a piña colada J

And when in doubt, do ask your colleagues, me, or our new Director of Finance and Administration, Douglas Luke, who is officially joining us tomorrow Thursday.

Thank you for all your efforts and best wishes.

Jorge