Academic Affairs - Return To Campus

Dear Colleagues,

As a vibrant, student-centered and largely residential university, many of our students, as well as academic and staff employees are looking forward to being part of our in-person campus community again. Of course, transitioning from primarily remote operations to a predominantly in-person campus experience after nearly 18 months will require thoughtful and coordinated planning. Thus, I am writing to provide some updated information and expectations to help guide us through this process.

Recently, we announced the Fall ‘21 Classroom Guidance for In-Person Instruction based on modeling by our public health team, led by Dr. Natasha Martin, which shows that our 82% vaccination rate for on-campus students and employees, combined with existing wastewater monitoring and other safety measures, reduce the possibility of on-campus outbreaks to negligible levels.

While each Vice Chancellor area is responsible for providing specific guidance to their units regarding employees’ return to campus, we are all following the same basic principles in order to foster an equitable and welcoming workplace that meets the university’s operational needs.

Here is the approach in a nutshell:

UC San Diego is a residential campus committed to in-person education, research and patient care. We strive to be intentional about fostering a workplace where employees thrive professionally and personally. We focus on first and foremost supporting the mission of the university: to transform California and a diverse global society by generating and disseminating knowledge and creative works, and by engaging in public service. We recognize the critical role played by all employees in achieving this mission, and we will thoughtfully consider workplace flexibility options that are consistent with operational needs. We appreciate that such needs are local, which means that we will empower and support supervisors in making such decisions. Finally, we are a learning organization so we will continuously review and adapt such arrangements.

Within Academic Affairs, we have an array of academic and administrative units and a diverse staff with unique operational and personnel needs. In addition, we have learned a lot about digital technologies, collaboration, and communication tools during the pandemic. As you work through your unit's plan, I encourage you to continue to make use of technology solutions such as virtual meeting platforms where they add value and efficiency and retain practices that support the health and well-being of employees.

As we plan for a return to in-person instruction and operations, I share general expectations and guidance here, and give each of my direct reports a measure of flexibility in how they apply these to the specific situations in their units. I ask that each of them share this guidance with their teams and ensure that the plans developed in their units are congruent with the guidance and equitably implemented.

Conceptual Guidance:

As a residential, student-centered, research-focused, service-oriented, public university, we are returning to in-person operations for the fall quarter. This is consistent with the science-based guidance from our public health and infectious disease experts and from government public health offices. To fulfill our commitments to students and to sustain a robust university culture that supports the success of all students and employees, we will start from the presumption that most Academic Affairs employees will be working in-person, and on campus, to some degree again in the fall.

There may be situations in which judicious use of remote work hours and/or flexible schedules will allow us to support students and university operations more effectively. Where appropriate to the unit's business requirements, supervisors may allow an amount of remote work tailored to the unique circumstances of the unit, while also providing full coverage for in-person, on-campus customer-facing services and facilitating in-person meetings to support team cohesion. In some cases, employees working within the same unit may have different degrees of flexibility depending on job function and responsibility. Supervisors should monitor and evaluate the status of their operation throughout the fall, to determine whether adjustments are needed prior to the start of winter quarter.

The guidance provided here is specific to staff employees. A separate communication regarding academic appointees will be distributed in the coming weeks.

Thank you for your continued commitment to our university’s mission as we transition back to campus after a prolonged period of mostly remote operations. Specific procedural guidance from the EVC Resource Administration office is forthcoming. Please reach out to evc-staffhr@ucsd.edu or hr@ucsd.edu for additional information or assistance as you develop your units’ return to campus plans.

With best regards,

Elizabeth H. Simmons
Executive Vice Chancellor