Department Operations for Fall
Dear faculty, staff and students,
As you may know, all departments are anticipating a return to campus in the next few weeks. Our plan to return to campus on September 13th was filed several weeks ago, but we are still awaiting approval from administration. We wanted to let you know about several changes in departmental operations. First, in order to reach the recommended staff density of 50% to 75% per day, each member of our staff will work in the office three days a week and work remotely two days a week. We will stagger schedules so that each individual area (undergraduate student counseling, graduate student counseling, personnel and hiring, etc.) will have at least one person physically present in the office each day, with an average of six staff in the office each day. Each staff member working remotely will still of course be available via email for questions or assistance. (Please check the staff section for their individual availabilities.) Even though there will be staff on site, we respectfully request for physical distancing to be respected, and for most meetings to be held via Zoom. If you need to see someone in person, please make an appointment with them so that we can avoid lines outside the person’s space. We want to protect everyone and follow the CDC guidelines, which mandate social distancing and wearing a mask while indoors. Please understand that many staff have young children at home who cannot be vaccinated, and thus we want to be very conscientious about protecting ourselves. We all need to work together to protect our own health and the health of our community.
Due to budget cuts and concerns with health and safety, the department will no longer be providing coffee pods or water from water coolers. We have installed a filter to the sink in the kitchen so that anyone can get filtered water this way. We will leave wipes in the area to assure that you can safely touch the filter. You can warm the water for tea in the microwave.
We received new copiers during the pandemic, so using them is slightly different. Barbara Wakasa can help you learn how to use the new copier to make copies, scan, or do something else.
The university has removed individual office trash cans and has placed large shared bins in the hallways for everyone to use. Each person is expected to put their trash in the shared bins when on site. If you have questions about the various bins, please talk to Belinda.
We are all very excited about returning to work in person, and seeing everyone again. We have missed being part of the Political Science team. We will have the staff schedules posted on the website for your reference next week, and if you have questions or concerns about anything operational, please let me or Michael know. We can’t wait to see you!
Best,
Stephanie Jeffers (CAO) and Michael Chwe (Chair)
