Spring Semester Campus Access Onboarding Requirements

All members of the Emory community who plan to be on campus spring semester—for any amount of time—must complete the University’s onboarding process, including a new attestation requirement concerning a flu shot. 

If you were previously approved to return to campus, please review the spring onboarding steps to ensure completion of the onboarding process. The Spring 2021 Onboarding Portal will indicate the new items that are now required for the new term. 

COVID-19 Screening Test and Symptom Assessments

Emory is committed to creating a safe environment for our community as we return to campus. Emory faculty and staff have access to COVID-19 asymptomatic screening tests as needed; however, testing is not required for return to campus this spring. Please click here to schedule your on-campus appointment.

COVID-19 Vaccine Update

Detailed information on the status of vaccine availability was sent to the Emory community on Tuesday. As noted, Emory Healthcare and Emory University’s vaccine rollout is a dynamic process directed by the state of Georgia and subject to modification. Of note: 

• The University is currently in phase 1A+ of this process, which was recently expanded to include adults 65+.Emory community members in this category who are in the Emory Healthcare system have been notified of their eligibility.
• Phase 1B includes essential workers and the state includes educators among this group. The University is working to better understand if and how this designation applies to Emory’s community in advance of this group’s eligibility.  
• Based on phased rollout and vaccine availability, members of Emory University will receive an email message from Emory Healthcare via the HOME system. HOME is a web-based tool/portal that allows Emory employees to easily manage occupational health requirements and make appointments. Please note: Emails from the HOME system are labeled: [External] from noreplywebchart@med-web.com 

Emory will continue to alert eligible members of our community of their status. You are encouraged to get vaccinated through Emory Healthcare or elsewhere based on availability.

To expedite response, please direct vaccination questions you may have to campusresponse@emory.edu.

Faculty Promotion Deadlines

The Office of Faculty (dean_of_faculty@emory.edu) should be notified by Friday, January 15 about any tenure-track faculty members who plan to be reviewed for promotion to full Professor during 2021-22. For more information, see the Principles and Procedures for Promotion and Tenure.

Likewise, please notify the Office of Faculty (dean_of_faculty@emory.edu) by Friday, January 15, about any lecture-track faculty members who plan to be reviewed for promotion to Professor of Pedagogy during 2021-22. For more information, see the Policy for Appointment and Review of Lecture-Track Faculty.

Spring Semester Senate Recommendation Reminders, Rest Days, and Calendar

As communicated in December, Emory College, with endorsement from the College Faculty Senate, has put in place several measures and strong recommendations to address student concerns and needs due to the stresses of a primarily online semester.

Spring Schedule

The spring schedule includes three required rest days as well as a recommended “no assignment week.” A full calendar of critical spring dates can be found on the OUE Website. 

No Assignment Week: The College Faculty Senate has strongly recommended that March 15-19 be designated a “no assignment week” for undergraduates in place of spring break. Regularly scheduled classes (apart from the Tuesday, March 16 rest day) will continue to meet. Faculty are encouraged to avoid giving exams or assigning any graded work that week. Course readings and other non-graded work required to prepare for class that week may continue to be assigned. 

It is essential that courses scheduled on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday continue to meet during the no-assignment week to fulfill accreditation standards and to discourage student travel; Tuesday is a rest day.

Rest Days: The College administration has previously announced the following rest days. On the three required rest days, no synchronous or in-person meetings may occur, and no asynchronous assignments may have deadlines.

• Wednesday, February 17
• Tuesday, March 16
• Wednesday, April 14 
  (NOTE: To ensure there are enough class meetings over the course of the semester, the classes taking place on Wednesday, April 14 will be rescheduled to Monday, April 12. Regular Monday classes will not take place on April 12.)

Online Teaching Support

Spring Online Teaching Retreat

The spring online teaching retreat, a series of faculty panel discussions in preparation for the spring semester, is ongoing this week. Sessions will focus on 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. You may access the full schedule with topics and faculty panelists in the ECO Faculty Hub. Connect to all sessions using this Zoom link (Meeting ID: 963 5174 8986; Passcode: 540991) 

Canvas Course Site Publication

Canvas course sites should be published by the beginning of the week prior to classes (“Week Zero”). While most content on your Canvas course site may remain unpublished for now, you should have basic course information, including a syllabus and Zoom connection information published within Canvas by early next week. Access more information about Week Zero and a checklist here. You may access the Emory College recommended Canvas structure and/or instructions for importing and using the Emory College Canvas template via the Emory College Online Teaching Hub. You may use this template as a starting place to build out your spring course site if needed.  

Other Emory Online Teaching Resources 

• Emory College Online Course Design Consultations: Schedule a 1:1 appointment with an Emory College Online fellow (or email emorycollegeonline@emory.edu with questions)  
• Teaching & Learning Technologies (Canvas) Training & Workshops: Schedule a 1:1 appointment with an Emory Canvas specialist
• Emory College Online Faculty Hub: Access recordings of workshops and panel discussions
• CFDE Pre-Semester Workshops 
• ECDS Best Practices/Tips for Remote Teaching 

Fall 2020 Course Evaluation Results

For Fall 2020, the final College-wide response rate on course evaluations was 69 percent. The availability of results was announced to both instructors and department staff on January 8 as scheduled. Instructors can access their results through Canvas, while those department staff set up with system access can obtain all reports for their department directly from EvaluationKIT. Full reports are available for any section obtaining a response rate of 50 percent or higher, while write-in comments will be delivered later this week for all sub-threshold sections. 

All additional deliverables—in particular the single-page T&P summary sheets—will be available via OneDrive and Box to department staff for redistribution on January 15. All evaluation-related questions can be submitted to ec-courseevals@emory.edu.

Classroom Visits for In-Person Teaching

The Emory College Classroom Technology Services team 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 approximately 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.

Laguines Named New CAPS-RAS Director

The CAPS RAS leadership team and partners are pleased to announce that Chryssi Laguines has been selected as the director of the College and Professional Schools (CAPS) RAS Unit. Laguines has successfully served in a number of leadership capacities at Emory, including her term as interim director of the CAPS RAS.  She brings leadership, pre-award, and post-award experience to the role.

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 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. 

Fox Center Response Forum Jan. 27

The Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry is pleased to announce the 2021 Response Forum, which will take place at 5 p.m., Wednesday, January 27 via Zoom.

This year's Fellows will be presenting on their research, as well as moderating the discussions. The Forum will begin with an opening welcome by FCHI Director Walter S. Melion, followed by an address by Calvin Warren, assistant professor African American Studies and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.  For more information, see the event flyer and descriptions of the discussions.

If you would like to attend, please contact the Fox Center with your top three choices of discussions at foxcenter@emory.edu or 404-727-6424.  Participants will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Emory Forward

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