1. Go to Campus Passport LINK:
2. Select Preferences
3. Select yes from the drop-down menu indicating you have received all required doses of COVID-19 vaccine
4. Once you have indicated yes you will be asked to upload an image of your immunization card.

The information will be reviewed by a Brandeis medical provider, and upon approval, vaccinated community members will notice a COVID-19 vaccine sticker appear in their Passport.

The Office of Human Resources is offering two workshops for returning to the workplace:

• For Managers: Supporting Employees’ Return to the Workplace
  Thursday, June 24, 10-11 a.m.
• For Employees: Support for Returning to the Workplace
  Thursday, July 15, 10-11 a.m.

Please visit the links for more information and registration. For questions please email Cynthia Farquhar.

As the University continues its planning for the fall 2021, it is important for our faculty, staff and managers to be aware of the limitations and regulations regarding remote work. Critical to the process are the governmental regulations on where that remote work may be conducted from.

Brandeis is only registered to do business in the United States. Hiring employees who currently reside (are domiciled) within a country’s borders is considered doing business in that country. This means that we are not registered to have employees who reside outside of the United States and working for Brandeis. As such, Brandeis has always taken the position that we do not hire or retain employees who work in another country.

For additional information please visit the Fall Planning 2021 website. Please contact Cherie Sadeli if you have any questions or need clarification.

The sessions will provide managers with information about fall 2021 planning and provide an opportunity to ask questions and address any concerns with key members of the Office of Human Resources and the Office of Campus Planning and Operations. The sessions will be offered as follows:

• Monday, May 10, 10-11 a.m. register
• Monday, May 17, 3-4 p.m. register
• Thursday, May 20, 12-1 p.m. register
• Tuesday, May 25, 2-3 p.m. register

For more information please visit Fall 2021 Planning or contact us at farquhar@brandeis.edu.

As announced in President Liebowitz’ letter “Update on FY’22 Budget” on April 27, 2021, the university matching retirement contribution will be reinstated for faculty and staff on July 1.

Your previously elected 403(b) Employee Basic contribution (3% nonexempt or 5% exempt) will automatically be reinstated if you discontinued it during the suspension period. This ensures your university matching contribution will resume on July 1.

Please visit HR website for additional information and a related Question & Answer section.

May holds three major holidays celebrated by faith communities at Brandeis. Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr on May 13, Jews celebrate Shavuot on May 18, and Christians celebrate Pentecost on May 23.

Eid al-Fitr is one of two major holidays celebrated by Muslims around the world and commemorates the end of the holy month of Ramadan in which Muslims fast daily from before dawn until sunset. It is commemorated by a large community-wide prayer service in the morning followed by sharing meals and conversation with friends and family. A special mandatory charity called Zakat al-Fitr is collected before the prayer and distributed to the poor and needy to ensure all can participate in the festivities. Eid al-Fitr is the Arabic name for the holiday, though it goes by many other names in other languages, differing from culture to culture.

Coming seven weeks (50 days) after Passover, Shavuot marks the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, as well as the end of the grain harvest in ancient times. Shavuot is one of the shalosh regalim, the three pilgrimage festivals which include Shavuot, Sukkot, and Passover. Many Jewish communities celebrate Shavuot by staying up late into the night learning Torah and eating (sweet) dairy foods.

Similarly, Pentecost takes place 50 days after Easter. It is celebrated as the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit on the community, after Jesus ascended into heaven. The story from the Acts of the Apostles describes this gift of the Spirit as a moment that unites all peoples. While the early followers of Jesus were from different places around the Mediterranean, spoke different languages and had different cultures, the Spirit made them one people. It is, in a sense, the "birthday" of the church. In many Christian traditions, red is the color of the day as it signifies the "fire" and the "power" of the Spirit in their lives.

Representatives from units across campus are collaborating to launch a data governance program for Brandeis. A data governance program provides an organized framework for how people use and make decisions about data including the following: know what data represents, know where data is stored, and know how data should be used. Over the upcoming months, data trustees from our core Brandeis domains will be reviewing and expanding our policies and protocols, with objectives and guiding principles geared toward ensuring data accessibility, accuracy, consistency, security, and confidence. Everyone on campus will have a role in data governance, and the program will include workshops and outreach so members of the Brandeis community can learn more. The Data Governance Program website will be updated as the program is built out over the upcoming weeks and months. Stay tuned! Please contact Anne Marando with any questions.

The Brandeis Department of Facilities Services has planned a partial electrical outage for Monday, May 10 at 6:30 a.m. This switching shall take no more than 15-30 minutes to be completed.

The following is the list of buildings that will be affected: Central Heating Plant, Stoneman, Landsman, Mailman, Golding Health Center, Administration, Spingold, Goldman Schwartz, Rose Art, Slosberg, Rabb, Farber Library, Pearlman, and Kutz. Residence Halls - Cable, Reitman, Gordon, Scheffres, Zivs 127, 128, 129, 130, and Skyline

This outage is to return buildings that were affected by the outage that occurred on Saturday, April 17 to their primary electrical line. This outage was due to a failure in a Brandeis-owned switch at the 5kV substation near Slosberg. To minimize disruption and return power to these buildings the line was switched to a secondary electrical line while the repairs were made. The repairs have been completed and we need to return the buildings to the primary feed before the Summer demand of power for the cooling season. In order to do this power will need to be shut down to these same buildings temporarily to switch them. This switching shall take no more than 15-30 minutes to be completed. During this time emergency generators will supply power to the buildings that have generators.

This outage is planned for a time least impactful to campus operations, Monday, May 10 at 6:30 a.m. Our High Voltage Contractor, as well as our electrical staff, will complete the switching and monitor this switch over. Please contact Matthew McPhee as soon as possible if you have any questions or concerns.

Due to planned renovations from May 10 through 28, the Public Safety Dispatch Center will be temporarily relocated to the Parking Office which is the window directly across the hall. This does not impact public safety or parking services to the community. You can continue to reach Public Safety at 781-736-5000 (non-emergency) or 781-736-3333 (emergency).

Starting April 20, students began using Workday to manage personal biographical and demographic data (e.g., names, pronouns, address, emergency contact info, and BENS contact data). A friendly reminder that students should continue to use Sage to review academic information and for all academic-related activities for the spring and summer semesters. The Registrar's Office will be reaching out in June when students' academic information is ready to be reviewed in Workday. Additional fall semester functionality (e.g., registration, advising) will be rolled out incrementally between May and September. See the upcoming schedule of activities to see when academic-related tasks will be available in Workday.

The Workday Student project team will be holding 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, May 7, 10 - 11 a.m.
  • Thursday, May 27, 2 - 3 p.m.
• Academic advising (dashboard, academic plans, academic progress)
  • Wednesday, May 26, 2 - 3 p.m.

Visit the Workday Student website to view helpful resources. More information about student drop-in sessions and training information will be shared in the upcoming weeks - stay tuned! Contact workday-help@brandeis.edu or call 781-736-9675 with any questions.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently announced a program to help those struggling to pay for internet amid the pandemic, stating that a household is eligible to receive the benefit if one member of the household received a federal Pell Grant during the current award year (20-21), among other possible criteria for eligibility. Under the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program, eligible households can receive up to $50 per month to help pay for broadband internet service. Eligible students can begin applying for, and enrolling in, the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program on May 12, 2021. The program will end when the fund runs out of money, or six months after the Department of Health and Human Services declares an end to the COVID-19 health emergency, whichever is sooner. To apply for this benefit, please visit the Emergency Broadband website.

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.

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.