Brandeis Dining Services will expand significantly for the Fall semester to serve the increased number of students, staff, and faculty on campus, many returning for the first time in well over a year. Below is an outline of what to expect:

• The Sherman and Lower Usdan dining halls will return to full or near-full seating capacity, will restore use of reusable china and flatware, and will still allow for grab and go meals. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be served at both dining halls.
• The Faculty Club will re-open for weekday lunches, starting the first day of classes on August 26. The traditional salad bar and hot lunch buffet will return as a single priced offering as well as the option for takeout in a reusable green to-go container priced by weight. Reservation requests may be submitted to FCReservations@brandeis.edu or by calling 781-736-4280.
• The Farber Library cafe, Usdan Food Court, and Louis’ Deli will continue to operate exclusively on a mobile ordering platform called BITE that was first introduced during the pandemic and proved very popular with students because it eliminates the wait time for orders.
• The Stein will re-open its beer and wine service on Thursdays through Sundays, starting in late August.
• The Kutz Bakery will close and the baking operation (including kosher) will relocate to the dining halls. The closure will both improve operational efficiency and help us divert spending on equipment replacement in the current location.
• The Heller, Mandell, and Science Center Starbucks café locations will remain closed, reflecting the implementation of cost saving measures that supported the university’s goal for restoring merit increases and retirement contributions. Opportunities are now being investigated for increasing the number of vending machine locations (for food and drink, including coffee) on campus.

If you have any questions, please visit the dining webpage or contact campusoperations@brandeis.edu.

The Brandeis Emergency Fund was created to assist currently active, high-need, undergraduate and graduate students experiencing some kind of unexpected financial emergency when other resources are not available. Through a crowdfunding campaign led by Institutional Advancement, the Brandeis community rallied to support the urgent needs of our students during the height of the pandemic; alumni, friends, faculty, staff and families gave over $700,000 to help support the Emergency Fund. Thanks to these donations combined with University funds, nearly $1.2M was distributed to over 800 individual Brandeis students in need from January 2020 through June 2021.

As of July 1, the Brandeis Emergency Fund will be relying on a sustainable level of support, at a reduced funding amount than during the height of the pandemic. For updated information about eligibility criteria, examples of what can and cannot be covered, and the process by which to apply for emergency funds, please visit the Emergency Funding website.

The Department of Facilities Services will be performing its annual electrical shutdown Saturday, August 7 and Sunday, August 8 from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. each day. This work allows the Department of Facilities to exercise and test equipment that is vital to the electrical infrastructure supporting Brandeis University.

Please visit the Department of Facilities Services Webpage for more information and to see if your building is affected.

Are you an instructor wondering how you can allow remote participation or automatic recording for your fall classes? Media Technology Services (MTS) has been busy upgrading classrooms across the campus with Hybrid Flexible (HyFlex) technology to accommodate both remote participation and lecture capture. Over 70 classrooms across campus have been upgraded with new cameras and microphones to accommodate seamless participation with students who are both remote and in the classroom.

MTS will be offering group and individual training sessions to all staff leading up to semester start - information will be announced in the next InBrief. Visit the new HyFlex Classroom Technology webpage for more information and to view the complete list of upgraded classrooms. For questions or requests for classroom technology training, contact help@brandeis.edu.

With fall term registration well underway in Workday Student, here are some friendly reminders about the transition from Sage to Workday Student. Students can now use Workday to manage their student profile, view their academic record, view their student account balance and make payments, and more. Faculty and staff can now use Workday to view students’ academic records and to complete key activities such as waitlist management, view their teaching schedule and class rosters, and more. Sage will continue to be the system for academic activities for summer classes. Students will continue to use Sage to view official transcripts and for enrollment verification. 

Need help? Faculty and students can refer to the helpful Workday Student Training Activity Guides to see a list of resources broken down by common tasks. Staff can refer to online, self-directed courses in LATTE including Workday Student for Administrators and Workday Student for Advisors. The Workday Student team will be holding virtual Academic Support Hours (for faculty and staff only) - details coming in the next InBrief. Visit the Workday Student website to view the complete library of resources including job aids, instructional videos, and FAQs. For questions or help, please contact workday-help@brandeis.edu.

Google will be applying a security update to Google Drive that makes sharing links more secure. The update will change links (URLs) used for some Drive files shared in 2017 and prior - specifically, it will add a random resource key when sharing Google Drive files. This is similar to the random password added to a Zoom meeting link.

Between July 26 and August 25, Brandeis users who own or manage files impacted by this security update will receive a notification directly from Google. The email will provide instructions on steps to take and will include a link to view a list of impacted files you own or manage in Google Drive. Users will be able to apply or remove the security update for each file or via bulk action. When file links are updated, collaborators for a shared file may receive new file access requests

Effective Monday, Sept. 13, Google will begin enforcing the security update. Please note that this change, including the timing, is driven by Google. To avoid broken links, users should update Google Drive links on their websites and shared resources before Sept. 13. Visit the ITS website to see a preview of the Google email, guidelines from the Security Office for applying the update, and helpful FAQs. For questions, please contact help@brandeis.edu.

Mailing lists play a crucial role in day-to-day operations at Brandeis, so it’s important that we use a service that’s modern, secure, reliable and dynamic. Beginning Aug.15, any new mailing lists should be created using Google Groups. Due to an outdated platform and security risks, ITS will be deprecating the aging Brandeis mailing list service (lists.brandeis.edu) and transition to Google Groups over the course of the fall semester. There is no impact to existing mailing lists at this time, but ITS strongly recommends that lists owners and administrators review their lists to ensure the membership is up to date and to delete any lists that are no longer needed. ITS will be sharing more information in the upcoming months about the transition including migration of existing lists to Google Groups and schedule of activities. Visit the ITS website for more information about creating a Google Group. For questions about the upcoming change, please contact help@brandeis.edu.

In addition, the University is evaluating additional efficient ways for community members to build lists based on selected criteria. These dynamic lists would remain current with our community populations in Workday. We will keep you posted on this initiative throughout the fall.

The federal government requires that all HEERF Grant checks be cashed within 15 calendar days. The University has been advised that checks not cashed within this timeframe will need to be canceled and reissued to other eligible students. If you have received your check, and you have not yet cashed it, please do so immediately. If you have not received your check, and need it to be reissued, please contact SFS at sfs@brandeis.edu.

All members of Brandeis teaching community are welcome to attend the Library's upcoming workshops on instructional technology and teaching with technology:

• Teaching with Archives, Wed., Aug. 11, 10-10:30 a.m.
• Hybrid Teaching Tools: H5P, Wed., Aug. 4, 11 a.m.-noon
• Dive into the LATTE Shell!, Mon., Aug. 9, 2-2:50 p.m.
• Hybrid Teaching Tools: VoiceThread, Wed., Aug. 11, 11 a.m.-noon
• Hybrid Teaching Tools: Perusall, Wed., Aug. 18, 11 a.m.-noon
• Using the Jamboard software for Teaching, Wed., Aug. 18, 10-10:30 a.m.
• Dive into the LATTE Shell!, Thu., Aug. 19, 11-11:50 a.m.

All Brandeis students, faculty, and staff are welcome to the Library's upcoming workshops.

• The Beginnings of Brandeis: a History in Pictures, Tue., Aug. 10, 1-1:30 p.m.
• Intro to Arduino Electronics, Weekly on Tuesdays, 5-6:30 p.m.
• Advanced Arduino Electronics, Weekly on Tuesdays, 2-3 p.m.
• Brandeis MakerLab, Automation Lab and Digital Scholarship Lab Tour! Thu., Aug. 19, 9-10 a.m. 

University Events is responsible for coordinating events that take place on campus, from a small department meeting to commencement and everything in between. University Events is dedicated to help make your event the best possible. If you have any questions about planning your next meeting or event contact us at ueo@brandeis.edu.

All staff and faculty are invited to the Orientation Finale Event at the Museum of Science on August 29, 8-11 p.m. The whole museum is reserved for our new students, student leaders, and campus partners - including YOU! This event is a great opportunity to mix and mingle with our new students and returning student leaders in an informal, fun atmosphere. Partners, kids, and/or a friend are welcome as well.

If you would like to attend or for more information, please email Jenny Abdou by August 2.

If you are an undergraduate student, and your family financial situation has changed due to a job loss, lower wages, significant reduction in income or other financial impacts, please visit the Appeal for Reconsideration page of the SFS website for detailed information about the need-based financial aid appeal process OR call SFS at 781-736-3700 to schedule an appointment with a financial aid counselor.

Fall 2021 bills were released to students and families via the Nelnet Student Account Portal on July 12. Bills are due on August 6. Students can access their billing details by clicking the Nelnet Student Account Portal link found within the Student Account worklet in Workday. Students will need to complete the following steps to ensure account and bill access:

1. Set-up Nelnet account – Once inside the Nelnet Student Account Portal, students will need to set up their student profile. Refer to the Nelnet - Account Access job aid for detailed instructions.
2. Add access for parent or authorized parties - Any existing authorized users in the former TMS Student Account Center portal have not been activated in Workday Student or in the Nelnet student portal. Students will be required to use Nelnet to add Authorized Parties (e.g., parents, sponsors, etc.). Refer to the Nelnet - Add Authorized Payers job aid for detailed instructions. Students should not share their Nelnet log-in credentials with their parents. They must set up parents as Authorized Parties with their own log-in credentials.

Campus Planning and Operations is working on improving campus transportation and wants student input. Please complete this anonymous 10 minute survey by August 6 for a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card.

The survey will gauge how students use shuttles (i.e. BranVan, Joseph’s transportation busses, Boston/Cambridge shuttle, etc.,) and is an opportunity to provide feedback about shuttles and share experiences with university-sponsored transportation.

A student intern for Campus Planning and Operations will be the only person who will see survey responses and all data collected will be aggregated so as to preserve your anonymity. Your responses will help us provide punctual, reliable, and easy to use shuttle service for this upcoming year.

LATTE, the University learning management system, will undergo a software update on Thursday, Aug. 12 from 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. LATTE will be unavailable during this time. The maintenance window will include an upgrade to a recent release of Moodle, critical security patches, and a number of feature updates (e.g., QuickMail, Activity Chooser, H5P). In addition, the changes will apply overall system optimization to increase responsiveness, performance and ensure reliability and stability of the system. The new version will look and feel like the current version, and the upgrade includes some enhancements to functions that will be spotlighted in future communications to faculty and students. For questions, please email help@brandeis.edu.