REMOTE TRANSITIONS NEWSLETTER
March 22, 2020 |
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Letter from Aurelie and Shelley |
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We greatly appreciate all the hard work everyone has put in this week. We’ve started the “Remote Transitions Newsletter” as a way to try and synthesize all of the messages from upper admin as well as requests from the English Department and Writing Program.
We ask,
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if you get a message that you think needs to be forwarded to the English Department and/or WP, and
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if it is not an emergency and can wait 2-3 days,
please forward to us to incorporate into the newsletter (please put “NEWSLETTER” in the email subject line). Forward to asheehan@arizona.edu and/or rrodrigo@arizona.edu.
Please be sure to take care of yourself and get some rest this weekend. Our next newsletter will come out sometime next week.
Be Well,
Aurelie & Shelley
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A Quick Guide to this Edition |
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Folks, take this one idea, technology, activity at a time. Don’t try to consume all these resources at once. Return to them when you need ideas or help.
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Please share these with students!
Technology Supports for Students: New information page up today: http://student.it.arizona.edu with supports for WiFi access and computer access – please share widely, and also contact Darcy Van Patten, Executive Director Digital Transformation and Student and Academic Technologies, if you have information that could be usefully added to this page.
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ACTION: Required & Highly Desired |
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Classes WILL be online until the end of semester
We will be holding all courses online between now and the end of semester – no change will be contemplated henceforth. The students need clarity from us on this issue - faculty and staff should reinforce this message repeatedly.
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Do not drop/withdraw students
Even if they were at the point of you withdrawing them before Spring Break, do not do so. |
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SBS is requiring that we have teaching continuity plans for instructors who are no longer able to teach.
Everyone: If you are feeling “flu-ish,” especially if you might not be able to continue with teaching your courses, please email Aurelie, Jeff, Shelley R., or Anne.
English (non-100/300 level Writing Classes): Please find 1 or 2 back-up faculty who could take over teaching your course. Please add these back-up instructors to your D2L course with “instructor” privileges. Next week we’ll be asking you to share with us the names of your back-up instructors.
WP Faculty teaching 100 & 300 level Writing Classes: If you are suddenly unable to teach your course, contact Shelley R., Shelley S., and/or Sara V. as soon as possible and we’ll organize a back-up instructor.
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SBS is requiring that we collect information about students who are not participating.
By next Wednesday (3/25) we need instructors to assess which students have not participated in any way with the new remote class format or reached out to the instructor saying they can not participate online. Please email the student and ask if the student needs any additional support to continue in the class. If the instructor either learns of a barrier to the student’s remote participation OR does not hear from the student by Wednesday, 3/25, please complete the following form that provides student names and course numbers. We will forward that information on to SBS. FORM: https://uarizona.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4VGwV4h3OrdyyJn
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Forwarded & Synthesized Upper Administration Info |
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Clarifications
Personal Responsibility for Safety: All students, staff and faculty must decide for THEMSELVES if they choose to spend any time at all on campus. No supervisor can require on-campus presence until further notice. If you are challenged to support any essential activity because of lack of personnel, please let Betsy, Lisa or me know, and we will help you to figure out a path forward.
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News Items/Updates
Classrooms to be Locked: Centrally scheduled classrooms will be locked to deter students from congregating in them, BUT faculty will be able to access them to deliver their online classes or record their lessons. A process for reserving centrally scheduled classrooms through room and course scheduling will be communicated to instructors, who are actively teaching today. If you manage a departmentally scheduled classroom, these too should be locked, but made available by reservation to your faculty. See below for instructions on how to access classrooms.
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Xenophobia
Please be vigilant in supporting our community members of Chinese-origin and Asian at all times. We are hearing reports of xenophobic attacks around the nation, and we absolutely want to deter anything similar on our campus. Please find ways to remind your teams that now, more than ever, we are part of a global community, battling against a common threat.
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Event Cancellations
All in-person University events on our campuses must be cancelled or postponed. Want to know more... |
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Graduate Students in Need of Food Support
GPSC is working with the Campus Pantry and other areas on campus to provide assistance to those students. As such, we’re hoping to put together a list of graduate students who might be affected and in need of food (or other essentials). Please pass the following sign-up link to students who may need assistance. We are also asking for volunteers. https://uarizona.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9XN3kmHsZvqv4UZ
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Promotions, APRs, Hiring, & SCSs (TCEs)
All promotion, continuing status, tenure and award review decisions are anticipated to stay on regular timelines.
Our existing tenure-clock delay policy should cover any COVID-19 related issues such as individual medical conditions, other personal reasons (e.g. caregiving responsibilities for ill family members), or adverse professional circumstances that are beyond faculty control. Please submit a written request for delay as early as possible after the events or circumstances.
Requests for tenure-clock delays for those who have mandatory review in 2020-2021 must be submitted no later than June 30, 2020. We encourage units to be flexible with unit-level deadlines for promotion and tenure dossier submission, given the added burdens of the moment.
Annual performance review deadlines are extended as follows:
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The deadline for department heads to meet with individual faculty is extended to May 14, 2020 instead of March 31, 2020.
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The deadline for administrator annual review for department heads is extended to June 15, 2020 instead of May 15, 2020.
Given the unexpected changes in teaching format this semester, the following recommendations are provided:
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It is recommended that new peer observations and Student Course Surveys (SCS) from this point forward in the semester are NOT necessary to collect and should NOT be used for evaluation purposes (annual review or promotion/tenure review), unless requested by the faculty member or previously planned for class that was originally conceptualized in the online format
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Some faculty may request peer observation of their on-line format for their own professional development.
Given the potential impact on any open faculty hiring processes, we will allow extended timelines for searches and hiring.
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Travel Plans & Budgeting
We are painfully aware of all the cancelled events and thwarted travel plans. This is a reminder to please contact your lodging and airline to cancel your travel reservations and ask for a refund, if possible. If airlines, hotels, and/or conferences are able to issue a refund, and the airfare or registration was purchased on the pcard, please forward the email confirmation for the refund to Vicki so she can reconcile it back on the pcard.
If we have reimbursed you for your airline ticket, lodging or registration and you receive a refund, please make a check out to the University of Arizona to return the funds. You can contact me (Vicki Henry) in order to bring your check to the Business Office where it will be deposited into the appropriate account.
If you did not receive a refund but a credit, inform us because we are keeping a list to utilize those credits for future business purposes.
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SBS Student and Teaching awards
We are extending the SBS Student and Teaching awards deadline from March 19 by 11:59pm to March 26 by 11:59pm. Thanks for your extraordinary work, always, and especially now!
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Level IV international travel advisory
The state department has just issued a level IV international travel advisory against ALL international travel. This may have implications for UA’s travel policy and continuation of coverage by international emergency medical insurance carriers. Read more.
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Department, WP, & Campus Teaching & Tech Announcements |
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