(COVID-19): Campus Health Updates
Section 1
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Registrar's Office FAQ Page | Official University FAQ Page
4/9/2020 - Daily COVID-19 Graduate Division Update
Happy Thursday Graduate Students and Postdocs!
I hope all of you are doing well on this rainy Thursday. We certainly don’t get a lot of them in what usually is sunny Southern California. Definitely take some time to curl up next to the fireplace (or the virtual fireplace app...it will at least remind you of a fire)....click here to download ) and read a good book, snuggle your babies and/or furbabies, play a board game, or watch a show that you’ve been excited to watch. It’s important to allow yourself space to escape and enjoy some downtime. Remember to shut it down. That’s the only way you’ll be able to recharge and be a better version of yourself tomorrow.
Division of Continuing Education Launches New Online Lecture Series
UCI’s Division of Continuing Education has launched a new FREE webinar series that will address different topics related to our new physically distanced lives. These will be held every Tuesday in April beginning next Tuesday. Take a look below and sign up!
Collaboration in a Quarantine: Working together even when you're all alone
April 14, 2020
11 am - Noon
Can we still be in this together, when we are working all alone from home? Learn about tools to help your team collaborate more effectively and enhance team relationships, the most common causes of team conflict and how to prevent them, and how to increase productivity by tapping into your team's core motivations and values.
Bringing your Whole Self to (Remote) Work
April 21, 2020
11 am - Noon
Authenticity in the workplace is more than being real. It is revealing who you really are by ditching the act, becoming vulnerable, and learning how to relate to others on a human level. Ryan will share his journey, and show you that what has gone wrong in the past, is actually the foundation for your success
Strategic Planning in a VUCA Business Environment
April 28, 2020
11 am - Noon
Today's environment is reshaping the business world. You will be introduced to a strategic planning framework and a set of supporting collaborative practices that management teams, boards, and other stakeholders may utilize for strategic planning in the current VUCA business landscape (volatile, uncertain, chaotic, and ambiguous).
Tips on How to Properly Wear Face Coverings
Many of you received a message from Vice Chancellor Willie L. Banks Jr. last night, but in case you missed it, below are some suggested guidelines on how to wear and even properly construct a face covering.
The California Department of Health and the Orange County Healthcare Authority have both suggested individuals who must leave their housing units to perform essential activities should wear face coverings. Here’s how you can make your own.
****Reminders****
Hardship/Emergency Support Funds Available
We are all doing our best to adapt to the changes that COVID-19 has brought to our way of living. There are undoubtedly additional hardships facing our community during this time. These hardships may occur in different ways and affect some of our students and postdocs differently than others.
For those of you who find yourself in financial distress, please fill out the Request for Hardship/Emergency Support Form for small grants to support emergency needs. While we can’t guarantee support to everyone, we will strive to assist you with the resources we have available. Please note that this includes childcare challenges for those who are having them given that we cannot reimburse childcare expenses with current centers nearly all closed.
2020-21 Applications for Continuing Student Fellowships Are Open
We have shifted some fellowship funds around and hope to be able to support a good number of students, particularly for this summer when you most need it. The following three student fellowships are now open and accepting applications. Please check with your school or program for their internal deadline and note any changes in awards from previous years that have been put in place in response to COVID-19 and an effort to get you through the next several months. More information about each fellowship is available at https://grad.uci.edu/funding/index.php
Faculty Mentor Program (FMP)
President's Dissertation Year Fellowship (PDY)
Graduate Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship (GDDF)
Please Note:
FMP and PDY fellowships are only available to Ph.D. students
GDDF is available to PhD and MFA students
For more specific questions please contact:
FMP/PDY: Daniel Fabrega dfabrega@uci.edu
GDDF: Claudia Campos, cfcampos@uci.edu
Internet Access Assistance
With many of us now working remotely, there is now higher demand being placed on our graduate students’ home networks. In an effort to help aid the performance of your internet speed, we have the following options to offer at no cost to you:
On-campus housing
For those of you located on-campus and utilizing these networks, you may see an improvement by avoiding the use of your wifi and alternatively connecting directly to your router with an ethernet cable. Please use the following request form to determine your needs and request an adapter and/or longer cable: Ethernet Adapter Request Form. Be sure to measure how far you need to go. We can get some seriously long cables if you really need them, though PLEASE tape them down if you run cable all over your apartment. I once took out a good chunk of a major mountain west telco’s website tripping over a cable in a datacenter. #TrueStory
Off-campus housing
UCI has a limited number of Internet Hotspots that will be loaned out to our graduate students free of charge for those living off-campus. Priority will be given to those who do not currently have internet access at their residence. To determine if you qualify for the hotspot, please complete the following form: Off-Campus Hotspot Request Form
Please note, while we will do our best to provide these supplies, availability isn't necessarily guaranteed, and so as always please reserve these supplies for those who need them.
Travel Assistance
- AGS has emergency travel funding available: https://www.ags.uci.edu/services/travel/
- The Central Travel Office and Risk Services will host an encore Q&A on COVID-19 and Travel on April 9th at 11AM. Travel reimbursement questions: travel-accounting@uci.edu
UCI IN THE NEWS - COVID-19 Article List
- Jurist, April 9, 2020 Diploma Privilege Is the Only Ethical and Humane Path to Licensure During the COVID-19 Crisis
- My News LA, April 9, 2020 Orange County Weighs Order on Face Coverings as COVID-19 Cases Increase
- FiveThirtyEight, April 9, 2020 Big Data Is Helping Us Fight The Coronavirus – But At What Cost To Our Privacy?
- Quartz, April 9, 2020 Doctors fighting coronavirus face a ventilator Catch-22
- MIT Technology Review, April 9, 2020 America might survive coronavirus. But will the election?
- NBC News, April 8, 2020 Coronavirus: 9 ways to help doctors, nurses and hospital workers right now
- The New York Times, April 8, 2020 Trump Is Pushing a False Argument on Vote-by-Mail Fraud. Here Are the Facts.
- The Washington Post, April 8, 2020 Supreme Court rules for Republicans over Wisconsin vote, highlighting partisan divide before November poll
- Forbes, April 8, 2020 Why CIOs Must Think Like Hackers In The Covid-19 Crisis�And After It
- Law Review, April 8, 2020 Legal community has mixed reactions to ABA resolution on limited law practice for recent grads
- CNET, April 8, 2020 Coronavirus app could trace your contacts without sacrificing your privacy
In Closing
Today is four weeks exactly since my kids’ school sent them home for what turns out to be the whole rest of the school year. Saturday is four weeks from when we took UCI online. Sometimes it feels like four years. Sometimes, it feels like yesterday. As cliche as it may be, we really are learning to adjust to this “new normal.”
“Life’s not about waiting for the storm to pass…
It’s about Learning To Dance In The Rain.”
– Vivian Greene
This storm will pass. One way or another, we will develop a vaccine. We will develop treatments. The emergency will end. Even so, we are all changed. So, I hope you are learning to dance in the rain.
HUGE Thank you to those of you sending me your defense dates (I love to put them in my calendar and root for you at a distance), screenshots of your router speeds (I really do like to nerd out and figure out what the heck is wrong with these systems), funny stories from Zoom/Hangouts/Skype/Piazza, and all of your good news. We in Grad Division took these jobs because we love our students and postdocs. Being away from you is heartbreaking. So, you reaching out makes us so happy. Thank you and keep it up!
Hoping to see you in person on a fine sunny day soon!
On behalf of all of Graduate Division,
Gillian
Gillian Hayes
Kleist Professor of Informatics
Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Dean of the Graduate Division