Please note that access to the ERC is now only via key card, as it usually is on evenings and weekends. Also, no visitors or minors are allowed in the building.
March 17, 2020
Dear Colleagues,
As the University rapidly responds to the many challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic, President Zimmer and Provost Lee emphasize the urgent need to enable staff, faculty, students, and other members of the UChicago community to move to remote working arrangements. This step is taken to limit the spread of COVID-19 by reducing contact between people, and I reiterate their direction to swiftly implement these steps.
As announced today by Eric Heath, Associate VP for Safety and Security, the Physical Sciences Division, in coordination with those units with whom we share buildings, will lock most PSD buildings and implement UCID access beginning this evening, March 17, 2020. This step will better secure our spaces and further support members of the campus community in workplace flexibility. If you currently have access to a building, that will not change. Should you encounter access issues beginning tomorrow, please contact Campus Security Systems at dss-support@uchicago.edu, and cc Jim Passolano (jpassola@uchicago.edu).
As we move to remote arrangements, it is important to establish the capacity to be fully functional in our roles. Succeeding in this environment requires establishing appropriate access to administrative systems and research data, and implementing strong plans for communicating with colleagues, co-workers, and students. UChicago IT Services has information on resources to help in these areas (https://its.uchicago.edu/workingremote/).
If you are encountering technical or logistical problems with moving to remote working arrangements, please also email Sharon Bryant (sbryant1@uchicago.edu) immediately. She will work with division colleagues to resolve those issues as quickly as possible.
If you have not yet downloaded the UChicago Safety and Security app (https://safety-security.uchicago.edu/services/uchicago_safe_mobile_safety_app/ ), I encourage you to do so now. This free app provides important campus updates and information, and can serve as a mobile blue light location with an automatic call to UCPD, if needed.
I appreciate that these measures, as well as the efforts you have underway to rapidly ramp down research, may feel counter to how we define ourselves as faculty, students, staff, and colleagues. The unprecedented global situation requires us to recognize that the health and well-being of each member of our community is of utmost important and to act in accordance with that understanding.
I will continue to share updates and information as quickly as possible.
Thank you,
Angela
____________________________
Angela V. Olinto
Dean of the Division of the Physical Sciences
Albert A. Michelson Distinguished Service Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics
The University of Chicago
Office: (773)702-7950
Sharon Bryant: (773)795-3665
aolinto@uchicago.edu