As communicated previously, the vacation carryover process that typically occurs at year-end has been delayed until Aug. 31, 2021.

As of Jan. 4 hours that would have been subject to the carryover limit on Dec. 31 have been moved to a Vacation Carryover Exception time off category in WorkDay. Employees who had vacation time in excess of normal carry over limits may view their Vacation Carryover Exception time in WorkDay under Absence > Time Off Balance. This time is also now reflected on the pay slip accrual summary as of Jan.15. Vacation Carryover Exception time must be used by Aug. 31, 2021. Employees should use the Vacation Carry Over Exception time prior to using regular vacation to avoid losing this time.

President Liebowitz has approved the following President's Discretionary Days this calendar year.

• Friday, May 28 — the university closes at 2 p.m. in advance of the Memorial Day holiday.
• Friday, July 2 — university closes at 2 p.m. in advance of July 4 holiday
• Monday, Dec. 27, through Friday, Dec. 31. This is in addition to the existing Christmas holiday of Friday, Dec. 24.

Staff members who are required to work these holidays are entitled to take other days off and should check with their supervisors regarding scheduling.

For a complete list of staff holidays please visit the Human Resources website.

As Rabbi Seth Winberg wrote to students this past semester, Brandeis is working to meet the dietary, observance and community needs of the Brandeis Community over the Passover holiday this spring semester. Brandeis will partner with Catering By Andrew, a top Boston area kosher caterer, for kosher-for-Passover food on campus for the entire Passover holiday starting March 27 through April 4.

For staff and faculty who will keep kosher for Passover throughout the week:

• Ordering Kosher for Passover meals will be possible through Dining Services e-Commerce site
• The Faculty Club will be dedicated to kosher-for-Passover meal service from March 27 through April 4, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner for those who sign up in advance.
• Regular Dining Operations will continue in Usdan and Sherman

Dining Services look forward to creating a meaningful Passover experience. To best assist, kindly take a moment to engage in our PassoverSurvey.

The financial aid renewal application deadline for the 2021-2022 academic year is March 1. Students receiving need-based scholarship funds must submit the 2021-2022 CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE , the 2021-2022 Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and copies of 2019 student and parent Federal Income Tax Returns. Students who wish to apply only for federal sources of financial aid need only complete the FAFSA (taxes will be requested upon receipt of this application only if necessary). An e-mail detailing the renewal process was sent to students and parents in early December.

The Office of Student Financial Services is currently operating remotely. If you have questions about financial aid, billing or student employment/I-9's, please contact us at 781-736-3700 or sfs@brandeis.edu from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., M-F. The lobby is now open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for in-person I-9 completion/financial aid document appointments. Please schedule your lobby appointment here.

Sign up for one of our new one-on-one financial literacy sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The Office of Student Financial Services hopes that you will take advantage of this great opportunity to ask questions about budgeting, managing debt, understanding your paycheck, W-2’s etc. Please click here to book a 20-minute appointment today.

As of Jan. 1, nonexempt employees will be limited to accruing up to 12 days of sick time vs. accumulating time above this limit. Existing time above these limits has been moved to a Long Term Sick Bank that will be available for certain leaves and applicable elimination periods to supplement pay that is less than 100% of one’s pay. The Long Term Sick Bank balance can be reviewed in WorkDay under Absence > Time Off Balance.

You may have heard the news about the merger of Tufts Health Plan and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Please note that Brandeis employees enrolled in our Tufts Health Plan coverage won’t notice any changes to their coverage or administration of their health plan for the foreseeable future. Employees covered by Tufts Health plan will have their coverage remain in place and there is no immediate change to coverage, programs or services offered by Tufts. Covered employees may also continue using their existing member ID card. Moving forward, Tufts and Brandeis will communicate with you directly about any changes that will occur as a result of the merger.

ITS, Digital Communications, and Student Accessibility Support are excited to announce that your Brandeis Zoom account now has live captions and subtitles! Meeting hosts can enable the live transcription feature to make their Zoom meetings more accessible for all participants. It is strongly recommended that meeting host(s) enable the live auto transcription for all meetings or classes hosted on Zoom.

The new feature uses automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology to generate text as the participants speak and displays the text in the video window during the meeting. The meeting host can enable the new feature at the beginning of a Zoom meeting by clicking on the “Live Transcript” button on the meeting toolbar and selecting “Enable Auto-Transcription”. This will start the service and participants will see a notification on their screen that the transcript is available. Participants can then choose whether to view or hide the transcript and/or subtitles based on their personal preference. Transcripts should be reviewed and edited for accuracy after the event before sharing the meeting recording publicly.

Please check for updates on the Zoom application to take advantage of this new feature. To learn more including instructions and helpful tips, visit the Zoom Live Transcription webpage. For questions, contact the Technology Help Desk.

Spring is around the corner and so is the next milestone of the Workday Student project. Workday Student will replace Sage as a phased implementation through August 2021. The new system will integrate seamlessly with the current Workday (HR and Finance) system, providing a comprehensive, single system of record for the Brandeis community. The next milestone, scheduled for late spring, will introduce class registration and advising functionality. Students will begin using Workday to view class schedules and register for fall 2021 classes; faculty and academic services staff will begin using the new advising functions.

The project team will be ramping up readiness efforts to prepare the community for the upcoming transition including training sessions, video tutorials and drop-in office hours. More information will be provided in the upcoming weeks. Visit the Workday Student project website to learn more including project overview, upcoming milestones and functionality. Please contact workday@brandeis.edu with any questions.

February holds two important religious celebrations on the Brandeis campus. Ash Wednesday begins the 40 days of Lent for Christians, leading up to the celebration of Easter. On Ash Wednesday many Christians observe the tradition of placing ashes in a cross on the forehead, which may be accompanied by the words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return” or “Repent and believe in the Good News.” The ashes serve as a reminder of mortality, and a start to the Lenten season of reflection, turning toward God, and letting go of things that are no longer helpful to society or ourselves. Ash Wednesday services on campus this year will be listed in the Spiritual Life calendar.

Purim commemorates the survival of the Jews of Persia in the 5th century BCE following a plot that would have annihilated the population. Jews celebrate Purim by reading from the Book of Esther, giving tzedakah or charity, exchanging gifts, and attending festive meals. To learn about campus celebrations this year look at Hillel’s Upcoming Events page.

The Brandeis community is rich with religious diversity. You can learn about upcoming holidays observed by community members on the Spiritual Life Guide to Observances webpage.   

Treat your favorite teenager to an eye-opening experience that will expand their horizons.

• Precollege Programs will challenge your talented high school students to stretch their learning and pursue their passions. This summer, the program will run Global Health; Race, Inequality & Social Justice; and App Design. Precollege Programs will also offer their signature Genesis program for teens aiming to explore their Judaism and their academic interests through the lens of Jewish wisdom.
• For summer 2021, courses will be offered online – and synchronous. Your teen will be part of a live-time learning community, with true connection and contact to Brandeis faculty and researchers, graduate and undergraduate students.
• Course prices range from $950 (for one-week courses) to $1250 for Genesis’ three-week program. Brandeis staff get a one-third discount.

Applications are due by June 1, so don’t delay.

University Records Management (URM) would like to remind you that both electronic and paper materials used/created at home need the same protections as Brandeis records used/created on-campus. As you work from home, be sure to consider how you are keeping, filing, and disposing of PII, sensitive, and/or confidential information. Contact URM at records@brandeis.edu with any questions or for more information.

The Library's spring semester workshop schedule includes virtual tours of the MakerLab, Automation and Digital Scholarship Lab, Data Services Drop-ins, Python: Subset or Combine Data with Pandas, Researching in the Archives, Version Control with Git, Brandeis History and its archives, and R Programming: Intro to Tidyverse. Sign up to learn more.

Please join the Brandeis Gender and Sexuality Center for an informational session for LGBTQ+ people and friends interested in becoming parents or growing their families. Learn about emotional support in the family-building process and Fenway’s Alternative Insemination Program. Facilitated by Elly Humphrey, LMHC, Behavioral Health Specialist at Fenway Health. All faculty and staff are welcome.

Register for Zoom session at www.eepurl.com/hbmZP5 (The Queeries Newsletter) or email GSC Director Julián Cancino.

Add to calendar

Brandeis community members are encouraged to provide input to the search process for Brandeis' next director of public safety/chief of police – e.g., suggestions for the job description, ideas for recruitment, recommendations for candidates, etc. – via the Search Input Form on the Search Process website.

Due to an unprecedented use of Zoom and exponential growth of cloud recording storage, the retention period for Zoom cloud recordings will change starting with Spring 2021 semester. Effective Feb. 1, 2021, Zoom cloud recordings will be retained for 180 days. Any recordings older than 180 days (from the recording date) will be deleted from Zoom’s cloud storage service. The upcoming change will optimize the allotted Zoom cloud storage space for Brandeis Zoom users.

ITS is asking all Zoom users to voluntarily manage their cloud recordings to help storage space. Recordings that need to be permanently retained should be downloaded to a local hard drive or uploaded to cloud storage such as Box. Learn more about managing cloud recordings and how to download a Zoom recording.

Alternatively, users can manually upload media content to Echo360. For academic-related content, instructors can upload directly to Echo360 from within a LATTE course. Users who have an account on both Zoom and the Echo360 platform can take advantage of Zoom cloud recordings that are automatically copied to Echo360. Recordings will remain on the Echo360 platform for 18 months. Visit echo360.org to log in to your account and view recordings. While the Zoom cloud retention period is being reduced, users are encouraged to utilize Echo360 for hosting media content for an extended period of time.

ITS is working with various academic and administrative committees including IT Governance to ensure the community is aware of the upcoming change and provide assistance as needed. For questions or additional information, please contact the Technology Help Desk.