Campus employee family,
Thank you for your continued adaptability as we work toward a semester on campus in spite of a pandemic and many other challenges. Your commitment to our students and their success is what makes the Union experience amazing.
Earlier this week, we held several meetings seeking feedback on adjusting the fall semester schedule. Thank you to all who participated in those discussions. I want to update you on the decisions that have been made by the COVID-19 Taskforce and approved by President’s Council this week.
Fall semester will shift two weeks earlier
We believe one of the key components to a successful semester lies in adjusting the schedule.
- The Fall 2020 semester will begin on August 10, 2020. This is two weeks earlier than the originally planned start date. This means that registration will take place on August 9 and uConnect will start on August 6.
- The semester will end on November 24, 2020. Final tests will be taken on Friday, Monday and Tuesday, November 20, 23 and 24. The students will then have an extended holiday break until classes resume for the spring semester on January 11.
- There will not be any long-weekend breaks during the semester. This is to help us fit in all the learning days in the shortened semester schedule. We plan to have two mid-week days off from classes—likely one in September and one in October—to give students and teachers a little break while discouraging travel.
We’re still working out some of the other schedule details because the calendar requires very specific input from many departments. If you have a question about the calendar or would like to have input on dates, please contact Rebecca Lovelace at rebecca.lovelace@ucollege.edu
Why change the semester schedule?
Our goal is to make sure we can complete the semester on campus without having to transition to remote learning. Here’s how the new fall schedule will help us do that:
- Limited travel—The more everyone travels, the more chance they have of bringing COVID-19 back to our campus and spreading it. By not having everyone go home for Thanksgiving break and then come back for three weeks, we limit that possibility. We also removed long-weekend breaks to encourage students to stay on campus for the entire semester.
- Off campus during flu season peak—By ending the semester in November, we ensure that students will be off campus during the typical peak of flu season—a time when health experts believe there is likely to be a spike in COVID-19 cases around the country.
- No remote or weekend classes—Some other colleges decided to start one week earlier and finish at Thanksgiving. However, in order to do that, they chose to hold classes on the weekends or hold an additional week plus finals remotely after Thanksgiving break. We don’t believe either of those options is best for our students or faculty.
- Extended break to prepare for spring—This schedule will give professors an extended break that helps compensate for a shorter summer and allows them extra time to move their spring courses into Canvas.
I understand that this change creates a lot of extra work for many of you—especially professors and the Student Financial Services office. Thank you to everyone for being willing to go the extra mile to make this transition possible.
Other COVID-19 updates of note for employees
As the campus continues to transition toward having students on campus in the fall, here is some information you will find useful for the summer.
Returning to work on campus—All 12-month employees and student workers will be required to return to regular hours on campus starting July 6. Remote check-in for students and employees on the timeclock will be discontinued at this time.
Exceptions can be made for faculty and full-time staff in a high-risk category. To receive an exception, please contact your vice president who will coordinate with the Human Resources Office.
Please review our employee COVID-19 information page for information about how to deal with illness and when not to come to campus.
Preparing to start classes—With the accelerated schedule, all work orders for Information Systems and Plant Services projects that need to be completed before classes begin need to be submitted by July 17. Submit work orders at ucollege.edu/employees.
Hiring student workers this summer—Here are some guidelines for departments looking to bring student workers back to campus this summer:
- Please post summer job listings on the campus job board. This makes it much easier for students to find and apply for your position(s). Go to the job board and click the purple “Submit Job” button. Also, make sure your positions are removed from the board once they are filled by contacting Claudia Kaiser.
- You must be working from your office to supervise student workers on campus.
- Students need to be pre-registered for 12 hours of fall classes in order to work on campus in the summer.
- Union cannot hire student workers to work remotely because state tax filings outside of Nebraska is an issue.
- Students may apply to live in the residence hall once they have been hired for an on-campus job. You may be contacted by the deans to confirm employment for students who have filled the application to live on campus.
- There are some new summer bonus options for students who are not able to work on campus for the entire summer. Please make sure they fill out the form when they are hired, if they intend to qualify for a summer bonus.
Staying safe this fall—Union is committed to keeping students and employees safe and healthy, and the COVID-19 Taskforce continues to put plans into place to make sure that happens. Here is a preview:
- Cleaning—We are preparing systematic cleaning processes to ensure that everything—especially high traffic areas, door handles, bathrooms and other shared surface areas—is properly sanitized. We are also working on plans for cleaning stations in each classroom so students and teachers can sanitize high touch areas between classes.
- Distancing—We have reduced the capacity of all classrooms and other public areas (including the dining hall) so that everyone can be properly socially distant.
- Foot traffic flow—We will be designating many doors and hallways as “one way” in order to allow better distancing while moving between rooms and avoid traffic choke points.
- Quarantine spaces—We are working to set up a designated quarantine space in case students get sick so they can be isolated from the general population. We plan to support quarantined students through daily virtual visits with the campus nurse, meal delivery, laundry service, and transportation to medical appointments as needed.
- Facemasks—Please keep a facemask with you to campus to use when social distancing is not possible.
I’m excited to see plans coming together that will allow all of us to be together this fall. It may not be ideal, but thank you for your commitment to making this work for our students. Please watch for more updates as we finalize more details or check ucollege.edu/covid-19
Blessings to you,
Vinita Sauder
President, Union College
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