(COVID-19): Campus Health Updates
Section 1
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Registrar's Office FAQ Page | Official University FAQ Page
6/24/2020 - Daily COVID-19 Graduate Division Update
Dear Grad Students and Postdocs,
It’s been quite an eventful start to summer quarter. We are now in our third week of the beginnings of the research ramp-up, and those of you taking summer classes are now fully into those. We’ve also had really enormous COVID spikes across the US and in some other parts of the world. I hope you are all staying as safe and healthy as you can during these challenging times. We don’t have a huge amount to update you on but wanted to make sure that a few key things get to you.
International Students, Post-Docs, and Visas
On Monday, June 22nd, 2020, President Trump signed a new Executive Order, “Presidential Proclamation Suspending Entry of Aliens Who Present a Risk to the U.S. Labor Market Following the Coronavirus Outbreak.This order took effect today.
This proclamation does NOT impact F-1 or J-1 students (including the OPT/STEM OPT program) or the J Research Scholar, Short Term Scholar, and Specialist categories.
This proclamation does not apply to:
- Individuals in the United States on the effective date of the proclamation. This includes persons who currently hold H-1B status or are awaiting approval of H-1B change of status or extension of status petitions.
- Any lawful permanent residents,
- Spouse or children of U.S. citizens
- Individuals seeking to enter the U.S. to provide temporary labor or essential services to the U.S. food supply chain
- Any individual whose entry would be in the national interest
The International Center is closely monitoring continuing issues impacting our international student, scholar, and employee populations. Please check the Immigration Policy Updates on the International Center website for the latest information.
Should you have specific questions about your case please contact the International Center internationalcenter@uci.edu. Should you need any letters attesting to your academic record, as always, please email grad@uci.edu
Upcoming Events
UCI Office of Global Engagement is hosting an immigration update intended as a resource for faculty, staff, and students TOMORROW June 25 at 1PM. Register here.
Speakers include:
Moderator- Victoria Jones, Chief Global Affairs Officer
- Louis Bronstein, Assistant Director of Federal Government Relations, UCI
- Gillian Hayes, Vice Provost, Graduate Education and Dean, Graduate Division, UCI
- Simonas Jarusauskas, Assistant Director, Scholar Services, UCI International Center
- Stephen Lee, Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development, UCI
- Diane O'Dowd, Vice Provost for Academic Personnel, UCI
- David Ware, Immigration Attorney, Ware Immigration
Unfortunately, at the same time, Grad Division is also hosting an event, Special COVID-19 Focus – UCI in Action, with one of our awesome post-doc alumni and a UCI professor, both doing some great work right now on COVID.
12:40 PM |Fast 15 with Professor Jim Smith on the science behind the UCI Face Mask Project: Learn more about this timely research on DIY face-masks and get those questions answered by the expert!
1:00 PM |UCI Postdoctoral Scholar Alum Tepring Piquado, Ph.D. on Participating on the Road to Recovery: One alumna shares her pursuit to find meaning and connection, as the world was asked to remain at home due to COVID. She’ll share how a little confidence and the desire to help, lead her to volunteering with an incident management team. By the end of the conversation, she hopes you’re inspired to engage and create your next opportunity.
Register here.
Don’t worry! You should be able to get access to recordings after. So you won’t miss out either way.
Dean’s Office Hours
As always, come see us in Office Hours. I or someone from my Graduate Division staff will be here Monday through Friday to answer any specific questions you may have. See the upcoming schedule below.
Upcoming Dean’s Virtual Office Hours:https://uci.zoom.us/j/7277477057
- Thursday, June 25 9:00am – 9:30am
- Friday, June 26 8:30am – 9:00am
- Monday, June 29 1:00pm-1:30pm
- Tuesday June 30 9:00am-9:30am
- Wednesday July 1 High Noon
- Thursday July 2 9:00am-9:30am
In Closing
I’ve been seeing a lot of fatigue in everyone lately, including myself. We keep thinking, how much longer can we do this? How many more things can happen to make us feel unwelcome or unsafe or unable to thrive? Will things ever feel normal again? The answer is almost certainly that you can and will thrive, no matter what this world is throwing at you. Of course, we in Graduate Division are committed to doing everything we can to get those boulders out of your way. When we can’t though, we know you can do it anyway. These are in many ways unprecedented times, but humanity has certainly survived worse. You can and will succeed. This morning during office hours, I had the pleasure of chatting with a student who is defending in just less than two months. I happily put that date in my calendar, and while scrolling through it saw two more defenses in there for students who had shared their dates with me previously. Yes, this time is hard, but yes, you are doing it. Bit by bit, every day, you chip away. We at Graduate Division are so grateful to be a part of that.
We also see you giving back. It is absolutely incredible to see nearly 500 graduate students eagerly sign up to support our larger community and grow your skills by serving as DTEI fellows this summer or Contact Tracing fellows throughout the year. You embody the Anteater spirit of community.
Now, if anyone needs a little cheering up, please enjoy the Claire Trevor School of the Arts community who definitely definitely want to dance with somebody: https://www.facebook.com/UCIrvineGD/videos/633810164154284
Sending you strength for justice, peace, and a thriving end of June!
On behalf of all of Graduate Division,
Gillian
Gillian Hayes
Kleist Professor of Informatics
Vice Provost for Graduate Education
Dean of the Graduate Division