The Office of Human Resources has partnered with Bright Horizons to help you better manage your work, family and personal responsibilities. Amidst the uncertainty of an unusual fall season, Bright Horizons continues to offer Brandeis eligible employees, Family Solutions, Additional Family Supports and a Resource Room on the Brandeis Portal.

One of the features available is Back-Up Care, which provides access to back-up care for your children, adult and elder family members during a lapse or breakdown in normal care arrangements. During the month of October Bright Horizons is waiving the copays for Back-Up Care. For additional information visit the Office of Human Resources Dependent Care Resource and Referral webpage.

To find support now please visit:

• Additional Family Support
• Sittercity Registration & Virtual Sitting
• Bright Horizons Benefits

On Sept. 12, Workday was updated with several new and improved features as part of their bi-annual release. In this update, Workday made improvements to the user experience including access to your most recent searches using the search field which will help you quickly access your commonly searched items. Other improvements include new icons to distinguish between reports and tasks, and error text displayed in red. A new exciting feature called Quick Access allows you to create 10 shortcuts to your most common tasks and reports in Workday, as well as highlighting the applications you use most frequently use in Workday. Learn how to set up your Quick Access shortcuts. Please visit the Workday@Brandeis website for additional resources including videos, job aids, and FAQs. For assistance using Workday, contact the Help Desk at help@brandeis.edu.

As communicated in the last issue of InBrief, benefit eligible staff will receive an additional five (5) discretionary days off to be used on days agreed upon by the employee and the employee’s supervisor. The tracking and reporting of this paid time off will be through Workday, which continues to be configured and tested. Until the Workday configuration is complete, if you want to take time off using discretionary days, we ask that you track separately off-line in consultation with your manager.

More details and guidance will follow once the system enhancements are completed. If you have questions or need guidance, please contact the Office of Human Resources at 781-736-4474 or humanresources@brandeis.edu.

For those of you who are eligible to vote in the upcoming US November elections or are interested in understanding more about the US electoral process, we are pleased to share the Brandeis VoteDeis website, a portal to information you need to register and to vote – in-person, by mail, or absentee – on November 3. This website was developed by a non-partisan Brandeis coalition supporting voter registration and voting. On this website you can find answers to your questions on how to register to vote, and when and where to vote.

The VoteDeis site also features information on upcoming on-campus and online voting-related events, and a series of “Why I Vote” videos by President Ron Liebowitz, students, professors, staff members, and alumni.

Brandeis is proud to be one of 237 universities and colleges whose presidents have signed on to the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge to increase nonpartisan student civic learning, political engagement, and – especially – voter participation.

Please explore and share our Brandeis VoteDeis website. If you are eligible to vote, we urge you to MAKE A PLAN to register and to vote, and to help your family and friends do the same.

The Brandeis community is rich with religious diversity. Learn about upcoming holidays observed by members of the community. The month of September is especially important in Judaism, with four important holidays (often referred to collectively as the High Holidays) beginning at the end of September and continuing into early October. Information on the High Holidays is available on the Spiritual Life Guide to Observances webpage. For information on how the High Holidays will be observed on campus this year, please visit the Brandeis Hillel website.

Interested in learning how to stay secure while working from home? Join ITS for a security awareness webinar on Wednesday, Oct. 14 from 11 a.m. to noon. The session will highlight how to secure your devices while working remotely - both your work or personal machines. The event coincides with National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. This year’s theme is "Do Your Part: #BeCyberSmart" with a focus on everyone playing a critical role in maintaining a secure computing environment for yourself, your family, and the university. Join the ITS Security team to learn simple tips and tricks. Register to attend the upcoming webinar. Please send any questions you have ahead of time to security@brandeis.edu.

If you missed the Spring security session, watch the webinar recording to learn more about protecting your Zoom meetings, identifying phishing emails, and how to stay safe and secure from cyber-attacks. Visit the ITS website for helpful resources including security tools, creating secure passwords or staying digitally safe.

Please join the Office of Human Resources and Tufts Health Plan each Wednesday, 12:15 -1 p.m., for a new live webinar focused on maintaining your well-being this fall sponsored by Tufts Health Plan. This series is open to all employees. Upcoming webinars:

• Sept. 23, Finding Balance between Work and Life
• Sept. 30, Don't let Pain Hold You Back
• Oct. 7, All Levels Yoga Flow

Please visit Human Resources website to view more information and registration details.

Representative from Fidelity Investments and TIAA and are ready to help you manage your retirement savings goals, review investment choices and build a plan that is easy to put into action.

For more details and to schedule an appointment please visit the Human Resources Retirement Savings Plan webpage.

The Department of Student Rights and Community Standards is currently recruiting students to serve on the Student Conduct Board. The department is seeking students who are passionate about engaging community members in important conversations, eager to provide feedback and create proactive opportunities to support other students, and who are reflective of the Brandeis student population. The Student Conduct Board office hours and meetings will be entirely remote this semester.

If you know any students who you believe would be a good fit for the board, please review the position description and submit the nomination form by Wednesday, Sept. 23. The application deadline for students is 5 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 25. If you have any questions, please contact Benjamin Woupio, Assistant Director of Student Rights and Community Standards.

Calling all Brandeis students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Contribute to a one-of-a-kind collaborative project that will be bound in a book and shared as a PDF.

Submit a piece of mail art with the prompt “We Are Together.” Your submission can be anything and it just needs to fit inside an envelope. Deadline for postmark is Nov. 3. There is also a drop-off box in Goldman-Schwartz Art Studios.

What is mail art? Mail art began in the 1960s when artists sent postcards inscribed with poems or drawings through the post rather than exhibiting or selling them through conventional commercial channels. Examples: I Is an Other: The Mail Art of Ray Johnson and Mark Mothersbaugh's Postcards for Democracy project.

Questions? Contact salmeida@brandeis.edu. For details about how to submit, visit the Department of Fine Arts Call for Mail Art webpage.

BJ's is extending its offering for membership discounts for new and renewing members to Sept. 22.

New Members Only Offer is:

• $25/12 months for BJ's Inner Circle (regular $55/12 months)

• $50/12 months for BJ's Perks Rewards (regular $110/12 months)

Renewing Members Only Offer is:

• $40/13 months for BJ's Inner Circle (regular $55/13 months)

• $80/13 months for BJ's Perks Rewards (regular $110/13 months)

Please contact Renee Relerford for an application. Applications are due by Sept. 22.

Effective Sept. 27, Zoom users will be required to have a Passcode or Waiting Room enabled for all meetings. This is the latest in security improvements to ensure your Zoom meeting remains secure against unwanted participants. You will have the ability to control your meeting security selections by choosing either a Passcode (previously referred to as password) or enabling the Waiting Room feature. If neither security option is enabled on Sept. 27, Zoom will automatically enable a Waiting Room for your meetings. You will have the option of enabling a meeting password and updating the meeting link to avoid the waiting room feature from becoming enabled. To learn more about these changes, review this Zoom FAQ article.

ITS strongly recommends users check to make sure they’re using the latest version of Zoom. The update applies only to the installed application on your computer, not the web login. For some users, Zoom may automatically prompt you to update. To apply the update manually: open the Zoom desktop application, click on the user icon on the top right then select 'Check for Updates' from the drop-down menu. If new updates are available, you will be prompted with an 'Update Available' message; click 'Update' to install. Visit the Zoom website to learn about updates for Windows and Mac.

To learn more about protecting your Zoom meetings, visit the ITS website. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk at help@brandeis.edu or 781-736-4638.

This semester, the Brandeis Counseling Center (BCC) will be following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Psychological Association by continuing to care for Brandeis students through telehealth services whenever possible. BCC will provide counseling, group therapy, and psychiatry over a confidential Zoom platform. Telehealth allows for accessible and effective care during this pandemic, as we protect our students, ourselves and our community from COVID-19 transmission. 

Students who are interested in working with the BCC for individual or group therapy should contact the center by calling the front desk at 781-736-3730 (Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET). If a student has an urgent need after 5 p.m. ET or on the weekend, they can call the front desk and be connected to an on-call clinician.

The counseling center is in the process of evaluating the possibility of providing treatment for students outside of Massachusetts. The center is encouraging students, regardless of location, to contact them. Currently BCC offers phone consultations so that they can understand the student’s needs and provide them with local resources. BCC will remain in contact to help the student successfully connect with referrals. The center is also in the process of developing workshops and programming that will be available to students outside of Massachusetts. 

BCC will continue to provide urgent care via Zoom at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. ET Monday-Friday. Students should call the front desk for an urgent care appointment. If you are with a student in crisis and you wish to help them arrange an urgent appointment, please do not walk them to the Counseling Center. Instead, encourage them to contact BCC by phone so that they can schedule to see them via telehealth.

Every day, there are events in the news that remind us how important it is to receive timely information about emergency situations. For those who live and work at Brandeis University, registering to receive updates from the Brandeis Emergency Notification System (BENS) is one important way to get such messages. This system is used not only to inform the Brandeis community of an emergency situation affecting campus, but also to inform the community about severe weather delays and closures.

Using the BENS system for delays and closures notifies students, faculty and staff that the university’s schedule is affected by severe weather events more quickly. As in the past, some employees may be required to report to work in severe weather. If you have questions about whether you need to report to work during a weather issue, please contact your supervisor for clarification.

University email addresses will automatically be notified in the event of an emergency or severe weather. To receive notifications via text message or a non-Brandeis email address, you must provide us with your mobile phone number, and check the box authorizing Brandeis to send texts, and personal email address. Go to go.brandeis.edu/alerts for complete information and instructions.

ITS is pleased to announce the availability of Webex to all Brandeis faculty, staff, and students. Webex is available for free to the community as an alternative web conferencing tool; Zoom will continue to be the primary method for remote instruction. Webex is a collaborative meeting tool - similar to Zoom - where you can meet, collaborate, present, and share content remotely. Features of Webex include access to online whiteboards to make annotations and joining on the go with your mobile device.

Visit the ITS website to get started using Webex. For questions or more information about video conferencing at Brandeis, please contact the Help Desk.

During fall semester 2020, there will be eight tents located across campus available for use by the internal Brandeis community. Tents are set as unenclosed spaces with tops and pathways, but no sides, and with lighting but no teaching technology unless arrangements are made.

Class requests under tents are managed through the Office of the Registrar. Event requests will be managed by Conference and Events Services (CES). Tents will be available for various uses from 7 a.m.-10 p.m., Monday-Sunday between now and when students leave campus at Thanksgiving.

For more information please visit the Tent FAQ webpage.

The “Exploring Waltham: Resources for Research, Teaching, and Learning” Library Guide is an online repository designed for students, faculty, and staff who want to learn more about and engage with the City of Waltham. The site showcases a collection of literature, search engines, sociodemographic data, geospatial data, maps, videos, student and faculty projects, and other resources about Waltham and its surrounding areas. We hope that this Library Guide will serve as a springboard to spark further community-oriented projects and research in the future, as well as be used as tool for both learning and teaching at Brandeis and beyond.

For suggestions or questions please contact Sara Shostak or Wendy Cadge.

Facilities Services is providing cleaning kits to departments for self-cleaning of dedicated spaces like offices/workstations and department shared spaces like equipment areas and kitchens. Those supplies can be replenished through the Facilities work orders system.

Custodial staff are supplying and refilling cleaning supplies such as sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizers located in common spaces (classrooms, conference rooms, lobbies, atria, etc.).

Per university policy, all staff, faculty and students must provide their own masks. The university only supplies masks to essential frontline workers. 



In case of circumstances where an individual temporarily does not have a mask, such as forgetting to wear one or losing it, you may pick up a free disposable mask at the Information Booth located at the campus entry. Masks are also available for purchase at the Brandeis Bookstore and Hoot C-Store.

To ensure quality and good pricing Procurement Services is assisting in sourcing masks and other PPE, as required for certain work, for departments, labs and studios.

Please visit the Health and Safety: A Personal and Shared Responsibility web page for information on face masks and more.

All offices have been equipped with a door hanger that says "Full Service" or "Vacuum" along with instructions. Please put the door hanger on the outside of your door handle/knob with the service you would like performed facing out. Within 24 hours of seeing the sign the custodial staff will perform the desired service. After the service is completed the custodian will sanitize the door hanger and place it on the occupant’s desk chair. If you did not receive a hanger or misplaced it, please submit a work order to request one. 

A "Full Services" cleaning of the office including: high dust, sanitizing vertical & horizontal surfaces including touch points and vacuuming or sweeping/mopping. “Full Service” cleaning will only be provided once per week.  If the "Vacuum" sign is on the door the custodial staff will simply vacuum the office.

Occupants are responsible to bring all trash and recycling to a public area or hallway bin. The public area and hallway bins will be emptied daily by the custodial staff.

Please visit the Campus Health and Safety webpage to see multiple preventative measures the university is taking to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Waltham Mutual Aid is a community network which aims to help Waltham community members cope with the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak and the likely impending economic recession, based on the mutual aid structure historically set forth by black and brown communities. As a fully grassroots, volunteer-run organization, Waltham Mutual Aid works to facilitate the reallocation of resources in the Waltham community by connecting those who can give with those who are in need of support. Brandeis Waltham Group, in partnership with the Waltham Mutual Aid fund, is organizing a virtual supply drive for Waltham residents impacted by COVID-19. Waltham residents are in need of groceries, hygiene products, household items, etc. The Waltham groups hope to provide the Waltham community with all of the items on this registry. Please consider purchasing items from this Amazon registry; each item you purchase will be sent directly to Waltham Mutual Aid, which will distribute amongst those in need. Registration is open until Oct. 1. Thank you so much for your support. Please email wgsummerfundraising@gmail.com with any questions.

The International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) invites you to participate in this year's Open Doors Host Program as a host. Open Doors offers incoming international first-year students the opportunity to pair up with a "host" (Brandeis continuing students, staff, faculty, alumni, or other Brandeis affiliates) to learn more about U.S. culture, the Brandeis community, and the Waltham/Boston area.

Please note, Open Doors is not a homestay program. Rather, it is an opportunity to gain insight into another culture and to build a friendship.

It’s more important than ever to help our incoming international students feel connected to the Brandeis community during these difficult times, whether they’re attending courses in person or virtually. As a host, you will receive your new student's information shortly after signing up to begin making a connection with them. There will be a virtual orientation in September for hosts and students to formally meet. It is okay for hosts to not be present at Brandeis during the fall semester.

Throughout the fall semester, the ISSO will reach out with ideas for activities that you and your student can do together. If you are both in Waltham, you could participate in safe, socially distanced activities such as taking a walk in the local area, exploring Boston together, exchanging your cultures and languages, or simply checking in with your student via email to cheer them on as they settle into their new home at Brandeis. If you or your students are physically distant, ISSO will be sharing ideas for virtual activities you can take part in. The commitment is only for the Fall 2020 semester and contact with your new student after that is optional, although we encourage you to keep in touch with your student.

If you are interested in joining the program as a host, please see the Host FAQs page and sign up as soon as possible. ISSO will match hosts and new students on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Please contact the ISSO if you have any questions.

How is the COVID pandemic affecting you? How has it changed your daily life? During COVID, have you wondered how peoples' lives changed during the 1918 influenza? Future Waltham citizens will be wondering what life amid a pandemic was like for us, and we want to add your stories to the record. The Waltham Public Library is collecting stories, photos, artwork and other entries that show how the people of Waltham are living life during a pandemic and how daily lives have changed during these times.

Your stories matter. Contribute and submit them here or by email. If you have questions, please email Emory Peng, Waltham Group Coordinator.

Looking to hone some new skills? The Library is offering an exciting slate of workshops over Zoom. Consider signing up for a workshops. For a complete list of workshops being offered please visit the Library website.

Brandeis students, staff, and faculty are all welcome.