Emory College Visitor Policy

The University’s current Visitor Policy requires that all visitors are onboarded through a LITS process. They must also receive the approval of the units involved. In Emory College, this approval is executed by Laura Papotto, Senior Director of HR and Faculty Operations. All visitor requests should be sent to her via ECAS_Connections@emory.edu.

The decision to grant visitor status is primarily based on whether or not a visitor’s activity could be performed remotely. The policy reflects the requirement for a metered, approved return for visitors. In some cases, supporting materials will need to be provided to Laura Papotto by the chair of the sponsoring faculty’s department. Full details on Emory College’s Visitor Policy are available here. 

Spring 2021 Flu Vaccine Requirement for Onboarding

Emory University is now requiring that all students, faculty and staff who will be on campus for the spring semester get a flu vaccine no later than December 15, 2020. It takes about two weeks for the body to develop immunity from the vaccine, so getting a flu vaccine prior to December 15 gives adequate time to develop flu antibodies prior to being on campus for spring semester. Visit the HR website for more information, including on campus flu shots for faculty and staff currently working on campus.

Please note that anyone who plans to be on campus in the spring will need to go through a campus onboarding process – even if you are currently approved to be on campus. That onboarding process is expected to launch early January and will include a renewed health assessment (the health screening questionnaire) requirement and a flu vaccine attestation.

If you receive your flu vaccine through an Emory healthcare provider that information should already be captured and will be noted when you go through the onboarding process. If your flu vaccine information is not already captured, you will be asked to certify that you have had a flu vaccine OR you will have the option of indicating you need to be exempt from getting a flu vaccine. Your spring campus clearance will still be approved without the flu vaccine if you request an exemption when completing the onboarding process. For questions, email ECAS_Connections@emory.edu.

Tenure Clock Extension for 2020-21 Hires

The Provost’s office recently announced that the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees has approved a blanket one-year tenure clock extension to all new faculty who joined Emory University in AY 2020-2021.

This extension recognizes the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 on faculty research and teaching and applies to all pre-tenure faculty in Emory College of Arts and Sciences who joined Emory in AY 2020-2021 or whose tenure clock began in August 2020. It is an opt-out approach whereby we will work with those faculty who would prefer not to receive the extension. This extension will in no way limit faculty from being granted further extensions for other reasons consistent with our current policies. If you have any further questions about this extension or its implications for your particular trajectory, please contact Dean of Faculty Deboleena Roy, dean_of_faculty@emory.edu.

Online Teaching Support

Fall 2020 Online Teaching Pulse Check

All faculty and instructors will receive a short fall teaching survey this week. Please take a few minutes to share your online teaching experience this semester. We will use this information to better understand successful online teaching approaches and to shape our online teaching support resources for faculty. Thank you for your feedback.

Consultations Available

Office for Undergraduate Education: Grade Deadlines, At-Risk Students

Grade Deadlines

Final grades for Fall 2020 degree candidates are due on Friday, December 18 at noon. All remaining grades are due on Tuesday, December 22 at noon.

Assistance Needed: Identifying At-risk Students

As we approach final exams, OUE has asked all faculty to help in identifying students who fall into any of the following categories:

1. Any student who you have identified as being on your roster, but has never attended your class this semester;
2. Any student who is registered for your class but stopped attending at some point during the semester;
3. Any student who might need academic support to finish the semester.

Early identification of these students allows OUE to offer the widest range of options to work with these students. If you have students who fall into any of the above categories, please complete the student of concern form. Our advising team will then initiate contact to support the student. Contact oue.advising@emory.edu with any questions.

Holiday and Winter Break Schedule

Emory University will officially be closed Thursday, Dec. 24 – Friday, Jan. 1 through official university holidays and winter recess days. In keeping with College practice, department chairs and other lead administrators may decide whether it is reasonable to also close their departments Monday, December 21-Wednesday, Dec. 23. However, as a reminder, Tuesday, December 22 at noon is the due date for faculty to submit fall 2020 grades. 

If you decide to close your department, it is expected that someone from your department will check departmental messages — phone and e-mail — at least daily, so that anyone trying to reach your department can receive timely assistance.

Should you decide to close your department, each member of your staff must either take vacation leave, or work from home, meaning, in particular, that they must be accessible, and responsive to any appropriate requests. Anyone who will not be available must take vacation time Monday, December 21-Wednesday, December 23. If you have questions about this practice email ECAS_Connections@emory.edu for assistance.

COVID-19 Testing: Winter Break

Emory University’s COVID-19 screening program for asymptomatic individuals has moved to a saliva-based testing platform, replacing the rapid antigen nasal swab. This new testing platform is highly sensitive, provides increased testing capacity for the Emory community, and employs a significantly more comfortable collection methodology. This collection method does not require you to wait on-site as results will be provided by email within 24-hours. To learn more about saliva-based collection process review the infographic and visit the Emory Forward website. For faculty and staff, testing remains optional and is only available to those who have completed the fall onboarding process. If you are asymptomatic, click here to schedule a test.

Winship Awards for LTF Due Dec. 7

Emory College is pleased to announce a competition for the Winship Awards for Senior Lecturers and Professors of Pedagogy. The Winship Awards, typically one or two per academic year, will provide a one-semester leave (i.e., a release from both teaching and service) and a $1,500 budget for professional expenses during the year of the award. Winners of the Winship Awards for Senior Lecturers may take their leaves during either semester of the 2021-2022 academic year.

For more information about the application process, please go to the Office of Faculty website. The deadline for applications is Monday, December 7.

Box File Migration to OneDrive

Emory University has made the decision to end its contract with the Box platform and transition all file storage to Microsoft OneDrive by April 2021 with most of the migration completed by the end of 2020.

LITS has identified resources to automate most of the migration process with limited impact to the individual user. The LITS team will work with each school and unit to analyze Box use and workflows, transition files and permissions to OneDrive, and provide training for use of the OneDrive platform. Most of the migration will be completed by the end of 2020 with full migration to OneDrive completed by April 2021. Access to Box will not be available after your school/unit has migrated to OneDrive.

In the interim, faculty and staff are asked to:

• Begin to delete unnecessary files out of Box to ease the migration process for our technical team. 
• Begin new projects within the OneDrive environment verses Box. 
• Visit the dedicated Box Migration website to learn more about this transition.
• Watch for emails from College IT leadership, who will relay critical information and provide support for the transition.

Emory Forward

For the latest Emory University COVID-19 guidelines and information, visit the Emory Forward website.