As we mark the one-year anniversary of COVID’s impact on our campus, the Center for Spiritual Life is planning to hold space for students, staff and faculty so that we can remember those who have died in the past year. A memorial service for the Brandeis community will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 23 via Zoom.  

Our hope is that this memorial service offers a measure of comfort and consolation and strengthens our sense of community and solidarity. The core of this memorial service will be memories, photos, and stories submitted by the community.  All are invited to register in advance to attend this service.

Beginning earlier this week (Apr. 20), students began using Workday to manage personal information such as address, pronouns, emergency contacts, etc. Additional fall semester functionality (e.g., registration, advising) will be rolled out incrementally between April and September. A friendly reminder that students will continue to complete activities for spring and summer semesters in Sage. See the upcoming schedule of activities to see when academic-related tasks will be available in Workday.

Want to learn more about the system and what’s coming? Join the Workday Student project team at one of the following virtual drop-in sessions that will include a 20-min demonstration (focusing on the faculty experience) followed by 40-min Q&A. Registration is not required; join using this Zoom link on the specified date/time.

• Academic Management (courses, viewing roster, grading, registration)

  • Friday, Apr. 23, 9 - 10 a.m.

  • Friday, May 7, 10 - 11 a.m.

  • Thursday, May 27, 2 - 3 p.m.

• Academic advising (dashboard, academic plans, academic progress)

  • Friday, April 30, 10 - 11 a.m.

  • Wednesday, May 5, 10 - 11 a.m. 

  • Wednesday, May 26, 2 - 3 p.m.


Visit the Workday Student website to view helpful step-by-step job aids and additional resources. If you’re new to Workday, you can learn the Workday Basics (navigating the system, inbox vs. notifications, search feature, and common Workday icons.) Contact workday-help@brandeis.edu or call 781-736-96754 with any questions.

Brandeis celebrates its creative community during the 2021 Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts, taking place from Sunday, April 25 through Saturday, May 1. The Festival of the Arts honors its founder, the great American composer, conductor, and Brandeis faculty member Leonard Bernstein, and his incredible legacy as an artist, educator, activist, and humanitarian.

The theme of this year’s festival is “Art Finds a Way," reflects our community's determination and resilience during this challenging year. Whether on campus or online, Brandeisians have found a way to create new works of performing and visual arts and to host distinguished guest artists from around the world. Most events will take place online and are open to the public. Events that take place on campus are open to the Brandeis community only, in compliance with current health and safety protocol.

Highlights of the week include:

• Virtual Super Sunday: A two-hour video premiere of short performances and films by more than 100 Brandeis students and alumni, including Department of Music student ensembles and guest artists, a cappella and dance clubs, and filmmakers and multimedia artists.
• The Gifted Givers: a virtual catalog of 500 small works of art made by more than 60 generous students, staff, faculty and alumni to give to their fellow Brandeisians.
• Online performances of “The Lathe of Heaven,” adapted from the science fiction novel by Ursula K. Le Guin; and the Senior Thesis Festival of new works created by graduating Theater Arts majors; produced by the Department of Theater Arts.
• The online world premiere of four works written by Brandeis graduate composers for the Lydian String Quartet.
• The Create@Brandeis craft market, featuring handmade goods by Brandeis students and staff, at the Brandeis Booths in Fellows’ Garden.

You can find a complete listing of events on the Festival website and artist highlights on Facebook and Instagram. For more information, email arts@brandeis.edu.

The Festival of the Arts is sponsored by Brandeis Arts Engagement, part of the Division of Creative Arts. It is made possible through the generous support of Elaine Reuben ’63 and the Aaron Foundation Visiting Artist Fund for Theater, Music, and Fine Arts.

The application for Brandeis Precollege Programs is open. Brandeis Precollege will offer compelling and rigorous online academic programs to high school teens during summer 2021 – in live, synchronous sessions. The relevant, up-to-date courses give students an opportunity to experience what it’s like to work with Brandeis faculty and staff while they’re still in high school, as well as explore a new area of interest or dive deep into a passion. All programs - App Design; Genesis; Global Health and Social Justice; and Race, Inequality and Social Justice - will run in July. 

Upon acceptance, high school students who are dependents of Brandeis staff may be eligible for one-third tuition remission. Please contact precollege@brandeis.edu with questions.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday, June 1.

The Academic Technology Advisory Committee (ATAC) approved the University’s license of Overleaf, a collaborative LaTeX platform, and premium access is now available for students, faculty and staff! Overleaf is an online scientific writing and publishing tool designed to make the process of writing, editing, and producing scientific papers quicker for authors and collaborators. You can sign up (or sign in) for your Overleaf professional account using your Brandeis login credentials through the Overleaf for Brandeis portal. For additional information regarding academic technology tools, please contact library@brandeis.edu.

Do you know about all the different ways Brandeis students are contributing to new knowledge? You can learn all about it at the first annual Undergraduate Research and Creative Collaborations Symposium on April 30. More than 100 of our talented students will present their work online at this celebration, which will encompass all undergraduate academic divisions at the university. This will be the first event of its kind in the history of Brandeis, and we are counting on faculty and staff to come out and support our students. You can read more on the URCC website and register for the event online.

Employees are reminded that Vacation Carryover Exception Time and Special Time Off balances must be used by August 31 to avoid losing them.


Employees may view their Vacation Carryover Exception Time and Special Time Off balances in WorkDay under Absence > Time Off Balance. This time is also reflected on the payslip accrual summary in WorkDay. 


The Vacation Carryover Exception time and Special Time Off balances should be used as a first priority over regular vacation time and personal time balances leading up to August 31.

Please be aware of a scam that is affecting students, faculty and staff aimed at .edu email addresses. The scammers are targeting people by acting as the IRS, asking for information related to tax returns. It is one of the better planned scams using official language and the IRS official logo. For more information please read the IRS article.

If you have been personally targeted, please follow the instructions from the IRS on how to notify them and to obtain an official identity protection PIN ( IP PIN). The IRS has confirmed it will never ask for personal information via email.

Denim Day began more than 20 years ago, after the Italian Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction. The justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans, she must have helped remove them— implying consent. The following day, women in the Italian Parliament came to work wearing jeans to show solidarity. Since then, Denim Day has become an annual symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape.

The Brandeis community is invited to join in Denim Day this year on Wednesday, April 28.

Here are some ways to show solidarity on Denim Day with those who have experienced sexual violence:

Wear denim. Denim jeans, jackets, hats – any and all denim is encouraged.

Show your support on social media with the hashtag #DEISDenimDay. Share pictures of your denim and let survivors know that you support them. PARC will be reposting your messages of support all day.

To learn more about Denim Day, sexual violence, or resources available at Brandeis and in the community, please contact PARC via email or the 24-hour hotline: 781-736-3370.

Are you a staff member with a PhD? Would you be willing to talk with a current PhD student about your professional path? If so, please submit your name here. Your name and contact information will be shared with PhD students as they consider diverse career paths. The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences is gathering this information as part of the Connected PhD effort and support for students. Please contact Alyssa Canelli with any question.

The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is issuing a call for administrative units to host a Higher Ed Administrative Intern. As part of the Andrew W. Mellon Connected PhD Grant awarded to GSAS, this goal of this program is to provide opportunities for PhD students to gain administrative and project experience. Below are descriptions of the expectations for host units and our requirements for an internship proposal:

Requirements for the hosting unit:

• Commitment to provide meaningful supervision and professional development mentoring, including shadowing
• Availability of a project with a concrete deliverable component
• Ability for the position to pivot from on-campus to remote operations as needed
• Occasional participation in Fellow cohort meetings or discussions
• Completion of a supervision report and any other surveys required by the grant assessment needs

Submission instructions:

• Brief (1-2 paragraph) description of position and project
• 3-5 learning objectives of the position
• Supervisory structure
• Duration and hours (summer, summer and fall, fall only, fall and spring, etc; 6-10 hours per week, 10-12 hours, 12-15 hours, with a max of 20). Please mention any particular scheduling constraints or requirements.

If you'd like to propose a position, please submit a proposal by the priority deadline of April 23 to Alyssa Canelli and Emily Wheeler. They are also happy to field questions and consult on your ideas.

The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion invites you to subscribe to the ODEI mailing list. This is a great way for faculty and staff to learn about our future programs, events, trainings coming from the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Alternatively, you may send an email to odei@lists.brandeis.edu, with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.