New Office of Faculty Website Now Online

Emory College’s Office of Faculty is pleased to announce the launch of its new website. The site features refreshed design, new space to highlight faculty achievements, research and teaching, as well as a search function for all calendar events and a Resources A-Z for forms, policies, and other resources. Please send any feedback about the site to dean_of_faculty@emory.edu.

Online Teaching Support

Fall Teaching Survey Results

Thank you to all of the fall 2020 instructors who provided feedback via the ECAS Online Teaching survey last week. A preliminary summary of which instructional strategies and activities that were most effective this semester is available here. Your survey responses are informing our development of support and resources for the spring semester.

Save the Date: Emory College Spring Online Teaching Retreat

Emory College Online will host a series of virtual conversations about lessons learned from fall 2020, including what worked well in the online classroom (and what didn’t) and faculty-led demonstrations of useful technologies and instructional strategies. We will offer hour-long sessions between 10 a.m.-noon and 1 p.m.-3 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, January 12-14.

Topics covered will include teaching hardware/Zoom set-up, asynchronous assignments, building an empathetic classroom, synchronous student engagement, student research assignments, and more. You are welcome to attend individual sessions or the entire series. A full schedule and links will be available in early January. Please contact emorycollegeonline@emory.edu with any questions.

Fall 2020 Course Evaluation Results

The last of the Fall 2020 course evaluations will close to submissions at 11:59 p.m. today. The College’s target deadline for data validation and delivery of results is Friday, Jan. 8. Full reports for all sections that achieved 50% response or better will be directly accessible by instructors (via Canvas) and department staff (via EvaluationKIT). 

The target date for all other deliverables—in particular T&P summary sheets and qualitative excerpts for sub-threshold sections—is Friday, Jan. 15. These materials will be delivered exclusively to department staff (via OneDrive and, for this last term, via Box) for further dissemination to instructors. Questions can be submitted to ec-courseevals@emory.edu. 

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.

Classroom Visits for In-Person Teaching

Emory College Classroom Technology Services team (EC CTS) encourages faculty members who are teaching an in-person class in the spring term to visit their reserved classroom prior to the first day of classes. Changes and improvements have been made to audiovisual systems that are expected to make the classrooms easier to use.

To schedule a time to visit the classroom in-person or to take a virtual tour via Zoom, please submit a request by email at echelp@emory.edu or phone at 404-727-6853. Please note that requests will be scheduled based on availability.

Leaves of Absence

Faculty intending to take a leave of absence in 2021-22 need to complete their individual leave requests through a Qualtrics survey by January 31, 2021.

This survey is to be used for all leaves of absence during 2021-2022 – pre-tenure, regular, special, parental, medical, sabbatical, and post-tenure – including those that are externally funded or unpaid. The guidelines for leave applications are available on the Office of Faculty website.  

Temporary Faculty Requests

Requests for temporary faculty for the 2021-2022 academic year are due Monday, February 15, 2021. The request survey can be found here. 

The College asks that no more than 20 percent of faculty in any given department be on leave in any given year. This figure is a benchmark intended to aid departments in planning and in maintaining balance between the research needs of their faculty and the curricular needs of both undergraduate and graduate programs. With the expectation that roughly 75% of the curriculum will be offered in-person this fall, the resources for in-person teaching requests will be given preference. If you have questions, please send them to Dean_of_Faculty@emory.edu.

Don't forget to vote!

Registered Georgia voters may participate in the two US Senate run-off races and the election of one statewide seat on the five-member Public Service Commission. Use the Georgia Secretary of State’s My Voter Page to learn more about your early voting options and polling place for Election Day.

• Early voting is available now through December 31 at select locations in each county, weekdays except December 24–25, plus Saturday, December 26.
• Vote on Election Day, January 5, at your assigned polling place. This is also the deadline for returning absentee ballots.
• Contact emoryvotes@emory.edu with 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.

Winter Recess Heating Turndown

Emory has set a goal to reduce energy use per square foot by 50% from 2015 levels by 2025 and achieve net neutral greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. As part of the campus strategy to help reach these sustainability goals, and consistent with efforts over the past several years, Emory will again reduce energy usage by turning down heat in buildings that are unoccupied for extended periods of time over Emory’s winter recess. Building occupants are also asked to turn off interior lights, computers, and other office equipment before leaving for winter recess. 

From December 24, 2020 – January 3, 2021, the heating systems in designated buildings will maintain a minimum temperature of 55^oF, which will reduce energy usage while still protecting building contents. Please review the list of excluded buildings and Frequently Asked Questions for more detail. If you would like to change the status of your building, please contact the Campus Services Work Management Center at cscsc@emory.edu or (404) 727-7463 by December 18.

COVID-19 Vaccine Town Hall Dec. 17

With the first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine arriving in Georgia this week, Emory University will host a virtual town hall from Noon-12:45 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 17 via Zoom with President Greg Fenves as well as key Emory health and medical leaders and experts on this important topic to share information and answer questions.

Based on CDC guidelines, the initial phase of vaccine rollout will prioritize high-risk health care workers and residents of nursing homes and long-term care facilities. If you have questions, please submit them here. The live town hall has limited capacity. The session will be recorded and posted on the Emory Forward website if you are not able to join.

Reminder: 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 initiated through the application process found on the Emory Forward site: Academic and Related | Emory University | Atlanta GA.

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. If you have additional questions please contact Laura via ECAS_Connections@emory.edu.

Emory Forward

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