(COVID-19): Campus Health Updates

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3/19/2020 - Daily COVID-19 Graduate Division Update 

 

Hello Graduate Students, Post-Docs, Associate Deans, and Grad Advisors,

Do you feel like you just don’t have enough email in your inbox right now? Would you especially like a thoughtful email about what we are doing for COVID-19 to sit alongside the ones from every company you have ever bought anything from? Are you worried that while managing your research, teaching, family, and health you just don’t have enough to read? 

NEVER FEAR! 

We, at Graduate Division, are here for you!

Starting today, we will be sending you a daily update letting you know what we know, helping to clarify any messages that might have been confusing from the day before, repeating things that are essential from other people’s emails that you might have missed, and so on. 

DEAN VIRTUAL OFFICE HOURS

We know this is an uneasy time, especially with information changing minute-by-minute. We also know that despite the flood of ridiculous emails you get each day, you’ll still have questions! 

Guess what? That’s okay! 

Dean Hayes will be available for virtual office hours for 30 minutes every day, Monday - Friday for as long as needed to answer any questions or concerns. All graduate students and postdocs are welcome! All you need to do is click this link and you’ll be in: https://uci.zoom.us/j/7277477057. Below are the Dean’s Office Hours for the next two weeks. All times are Pacific Daylight Time.

Monday, March 23:        9:00am – 9:30am

Tuesday, March 24:      4pm – 4:30pm

Wednesday, March 25:  9:00 am – 9:30am

Thursday, March 26:    1pm – 1:30pm

Friday, March 27:          No office hours

Monday, March 30:      9:00am – 9:30am

Tuesday, March 31:      1pm – 1:30pm

Wednesday, April 1:      10am – 10:30am

Thursday, April 2:          12:30pm – 1:00pm

Friday, April 3:              10am – 10:30am

GRADUATE & POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLAR RESOURCE CENTER UPDATES

We’re still here to serve you! One-on-one appointments will continue to take place, including writing appointments and career-advising drop-ins via Zoom. Writing appointments will be available all Spring quarter via AppointmentPlus beginning March 30. There are still two writing appointments available for tomorrow (Friday, March 20) to round out Winter quarter.

Career advising appointments are available from the Division of Career Pathways by visiting uci.joinhandshake.com and selecting the appropriate appointment type for your needs.

If you are a Postdoctoral Scholar and are looking for career advising, please contact Kayleigh Anderson-Natale at kayleiga@uci.edu.

GPSRC will be closed for Spring Break, March 23-27.

Spring Communication Certificate Programs

 All programs will be held via Zoom. Students will jump into a live virtual class hosted by Bri McWhorter, MFA from UCI, founder and CEO of Activate to Captivate. Click below to register for these programs.

Excellence in Engineering Communications

Tuesdays, April 7 to May 26 from 9:00 – 11:00 AM

Succeeding as an Engineer depends on your ability to communicate your research and ideas. Free for graduate students in the School of Engineering, this 8-week class helps prepare you for success in industry and academia. Don't miss this opportunity to add a certificate to your CV.

Register here.

Public Speaking: Activate to Captivate

Tuesdays, April 7 to May 26 from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM                                                  

Public Speaking: Activate to Captivate is an 8-week communication certificate program for postdocs and graduate students. Participants will learn and practice strategies to craft a dynamic and compelling presentation including:

·         Overcoming anxiety

·         Commanding a room

·         Communicating effectively with an audience of any size

Register here.

HOUSING:

A message went out last night from Interim Provost Stern’s office that may have been confusing to graduate students. We are VERY sorry about the confusion. To confirm, the CAMPUS-WIDE commitment to housing right now is:

1. Social Distancing: We have a public health emergency. Individuals should act as if they have the virus (even if they don’t) and try to avoid spreading it.
2. High density dormitory-style residences are not good for social distancing. Housing is working hard to move as many people out of these conditions as possible. However, this by and large only affects undergraduate students.
3. Family style residences: The vast majority of graduate students who live in on-campus housing are in family-style residences with kitchens, bathrooms, and common spaces that are only accessible to a few. These are a much lower public health risk than high density dormitory style housing. You are encouraged to stay in these units should you want to, particularly in the case where going elsewhere might require substantial travel, which would be risky in its own way. However, you MUST use social distancing in these spaces. Please minimize face-to-face interactions outside of your unit. If you are practicing good social distancing, and your roommate is not, please alert your housing manager and student conduct. We do not want anyone to be at risk.

Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor, Hal S. Stern has issued a directive to extend the deadline for the Spring 2020 housing survey deadline to Friday, March 20 by 5 p.m. Students who have indicated that they are staying, but would like to adjust their plans to return home or move off-campus, can update their survey response. ACC Apartment Communities has agreed to allow UCI students to terminate their lease early without a cancelation penalty or rent being charged once students have left the unit.

FINANCIAL AID UPDATE FOR CAMPUS HOUSING RESIDENTS:
Students receiving financial aid and residing in on-campus housing received an email from the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships that the U.S. Department of Education has informed campuses that aid packages will remain unaffected for students who depart student housing for the Spring quarter.

The Financial Aid and Scholarships Office, with guidance from the Department of Education, is working to address concerns from those directly or indirectly affected by COVID-19, and has published an FAQ document.

DISABILITY SERVICES:

The campus commitment to accessibility remains intact regardless of any crises.  All DSC staff are currently working remotely during business hours. You can, however, reach the team by email and/or by dialing their office telephone numbers. The office phones are forwarded to our DSC cell phones. This is particularly important as UCI moves forward with fireside chats. Lisha Yi will still be working with you for real time captioning as needed and for providing sign language interpreters. During this challenging time it is even more important that everything is accessible. Thank you for all that you are doing. And, please do not hesitate to contact DSC at any time if you have questions or need assistance. They are putting together accessibility guidance for faculty, TAs, and readers to be on their website next week before Cesar Chavez Day. Feel free to contact the DSC office at dsc@uci.edu or 949-824-7494 Monday - Friday from 8 pm - 5 pm with any questions or concerns. 

PAYMENT OF TUITION AND FEES FOR SPRING QUARTER:

Every quarter, there are always some students whose fees are late but who should have them paid by an external agency, a school or department, or some other entity other than themselves. Due to the particular risk of losing GSHIP in this case, the Registrar protected 700+ students from being dropped from classes this week. We are running daily reports between Graduate Division and the Registar to track these students down, contact schools when we believe they can help us to fix it, and so on. We encourage every student to check their Zot Account and make sure their fees are paid. If they are not, and you are an ASE (TA or Reader) or GSR, please reach out to your department to follow up. You can copy grad@uci.edu on any messages as well so that we can track. If your fees are not paid, and you expect that they should have been paid by an external fellowship, through financial aid/loans, or some other mechanism, please reach out to grad@uci.edu directly as soon as possible. We are monitoring and fixing on our end, but you flagging on your end never hurts.

FORM FEE WAIVERS FOR SPRING AND SUMMER:

As mentioned before, Graduate Division will accept scanned documents and digital signatures for all forms related to enrolled services and exceptions until further notice. In addition to accepting forms electronically, fees linked to the following forms and student status updates will be waived through Spring and Summer quarters to facilitate you filing digitally and to provide additional time into the summer for major exams.

• Filing Fee
• Summer Filing Fee
• Master’s Thesis Signature Page/Report on the Final Examination for the Master’s Degree
• Ph.D. Form I-Advancement to Candidacy
• Readmission Petition for Graduate Students

RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY

Worldwide, research communities are grappling with the impact on research productivity from social distancing, including but not limited to:

• Cancellation of conferences
• Disruption of fieldwork
• Disruption of lab-based experiments
• Challenges to deadlines for funding agencies
• Access to research resources, in the forms of equipment, human subject pools, and more
• Limits to scholarship in high touch fields, such as the arts or clinical domains

Please know that the University of California, which grants the most terminal degrees of any system in the United States, is working with federal agencies and major scholarly communities to address these challenges. Graduate Division and the UC-wide Council of Graduate Deans, are working closely with school deans and others to understand the impacts on time to degree, major exams, and capstone projects for graduate students alongside milestones for promotion for post-docs. We are in a time of great uncertainty, and there are few answers yet, but these issues are very much on our radar.

BUILDING CLOSURES

The Capital Planning Office has prepared a list of buildings that will be closed because of the modified campus operations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All closures are effective immediately unless noted otherwise. This list does not reflect spaces that are open.

FAQ FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS AND SCHOLARS

The International Center has published an FAQ to address travel, visa and other questions coming into the center. Please check these questions closely and monitor this page, as the information gets updated regularly. The most common question we receive in Graduate Division is “can I stay with my current visa?” and the answer is yes!

LIBRARIES

UCI libraries are physically closed until further notice. Check the library webpage, which provides links to all library services and collections that can be accessed remotely and includes 24/7 chat research help.

COMMUNITY AND NEWS

Orange County - Public Order is NOT an order to shelter in place

Yesterday’s order from County Health Officer Dr. Nichole Quick is NOT an order to shelter in place (link to PDF). It is not a lockdown. It is important for all Orange County businesses to remain open while practicing social distancing consistent with the Governor’s guidance.

Newsom, ‘I don’t think the schools are going to open again’

California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a press conference on Tuesday that schools will likely stay closed for the rest of the academic year. He also requested a waiver from the U.S. Department of Education to pause standardized testing.

All four-year public universities in California have moved classes online

Together the CSU and UC systems enroll about 650,000 undergraduates who are now taking most classes online.

UCI IN THE NEWS - COVID-19 Article List

Vox, March 18, 2020

We are not ready to hold an election during a pandemic. Just look at Ohio.

The New York Times, March 18, 2020 (Opinion)

Opinion: No Stimulus Without Election Protection

Inverse, March 17, 2020

How to keep up with coronavirus news without losing your mind

Campus Technology, March 17, 2020

UC Irvine Launches Online Learning Research Center

KUCI - Ask a Leader, March 17, 2020 (Audio)

COVID-19: In Medical and in Psycho-social Terms

The Huffington Post, March 17, 2020

Experts Urge States To Expand Voting By Mail Before Pandemic Derails Democracy

Daily Pilot, March 17, 2020 (Opinion)

Column: Try to maintain some of your children’s routines during this time of crisis

Slate, March 17, 2020

You Shouldn’t Have to Give Google Your Data to Access a COVID-19 Test

IN CLOSING:

“The struggle you are in today is developing the strength you need tomorrow.” - Robert Tew

Remember, graduate students and post-docs are the future of our scholarly endeavours in the academy, the arts, government, industry, and more. One day, many years or decades from now, when you are claiming your Nobel or Pullitzer or being recognized as the new Poet Laureate or torturing your grandchildren with just one more story, you will tell an inspirational tale of how this time made you strong enough for the rest.

Your stress is real. Your anxiety is real. But you can do it! I speak for everyone in Graduate Division when I say WE are here for YOU!

On behalf of all of us at Graduate Division,

Gillian Hayes
Kleist Professor of Informatics
Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Dean of the Graduate Division