Please note that due to worldwide supply chain issues and a microchip shortage, many computer, tablet, and technology related orders have extended lead times. Please try to plan accordingly for any technology hardware orders as we are seeing extended delays in order fulfillment and shipping which can be up to 8 weeks or more. 

Procurement and ITS are aware of these delays and will continue working to ensure the campus ordering needs can be met.

If you have any urgent need for a computer or computer hardware of any kind, prior to placing an order through MarketPlace+, please email both: procurement@brandeis.edu and refresh@brandeis.edu with the specific computer needs and we will do our best to help coordinate the best method for order placement. Please be patient as we expect a high volume of requests to assist with order placement this semester.

As a reminder it is against the Computer Purchase Policy and the Brandeis University P-Card Policy to purchase computer hardware outside of the proper Procurement channels.

Dell items should be purchased via the Dell punchout, and Apple products should be purchased through either the SHI punchout or by requesting a customized quote from Apple by working with ITS and Procurement. *

Computers and computer hardware should not be purchased independently using either the P-Card or personal funds and requesting reimbursement.

*Some computer hardware and hardware components may fall outside this specific policy however we ask that you work with ITS and Procurement to ensure compliance with the polices noted above as well as the Brandeis Written Information Security Policy.

The beginning of the semester is just around the corner and it’s a great time to get both you and your technology equipment ready! ITS strongly recommends that faculty and staff who have been teaching and working remotely come to campus—at least one time ahead of your official first day back—with any university-owned computer equipment (i.e., laptop, desktop, accessories) to ensure things are working correctly. Here is a helpful back-to-school technology checklist to get you started. Please visit the back-to-school technology reminders website for more information.

• Set up and connect your equipment. Contact the Technology Help Desk for assistance with reconnecting your equipment. Please plan accordingly as there may be a high volume of requests and longer than normal wait times to address equipment troubleshooting requests.
• Safely connect to Brandeis' eduroam Wi-Fi network.
• Get tips on how to secure your computing environment.
• Learn more about the HyFlex classrooms to support in-person and remote teaching and learning.

If you have additional questions, please contact the Technology Help Desk at help@brandeis.edu or 781-736-4357.

The Technology Help Desk is excited to announce they will be resuming in-person support for all tech-related issues - you can find the team of technology support specialists at the back of Goldfarb Library, Level 1. The Help Desk staff is committed to providing high-level technology support and service to the Brandeis community this fall. The team will continue to adhere to university and health guidelines to ensure the safety of both the team and the community.

Starting the week of Aug. 23, the Technology Help Desk will re-open for walk-up support. Hours are as follows:

• Monday, Aug. 23 through Wed., Aug. 25: on-site from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. for walk-up support and 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. for phone and remote support.
• Starting Thur., Aug. 26, on-site each weekday from 8 a.m. - 7 p.m. for both walk-up and phone/remote support.
• Starting Sat., Aug. 28, resume weekend on-site and phone support from 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Community members can continue to get remote support by submit a help request, sending an email to help@brandeis.edu, or calling 781-736-4357. For more information, please visit the ITS website.

Thur., Aug. 19-Community members are asked to relocate any vehicles in the H lot or T lot for move-in day setup by 10:00 p.m.

Fri., Aug. 20-Members of the university community who normally park in the Hassenfeld and Theater lot (front section) should park in the rear Theater Lot or South Residence lot on Fri., Aug. 20.

The North Quad lot from the corner of Reitman Hall to the turn-around will be used by early-arriving students between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. As a result, the North Quad will be closed to community members.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Matt Rushton, Chief of Public Safety, at 781-736-4240 or mrushton@brandeis.edu.

To facilitate a smooth flow of traffic on that day, the following parking and traffic changes will be instituted. Please review this information completely, to avoid ticketing and the possible towing of vehicles.

• Limited Parking on Campus - Effective Sat., Aug. 21 at 11 p.m. - Sun., Aug. 22, at 5 p.m., parking on Loop Road, including the North Road (Quad), will not be allowed. Parking will also be prohibited in the Hassenfeld Lot, across from Massell Quad, and in the Kutz Lot, across from the Usdan Student Center. In addition, no parking will be allowed in the East Quad Lot, located behind the Residence Quad.
• Shuttle Service Available - If you will not be living on campus, you can park in the Charles River Lot and take the shuttle to campus (it is only a few minutes away) on Sun., Aug. 22. Shuttles will run every 10-20 minutes around campus and back to the parking lot.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Matt Rushton, Chief of Public Safety, at 781-736-4240 or mrushton@brandeis.edu.

The Workday Student project team would like to remind the community of the following resources and support available to help you with the transition to Workday.

• Workday Student Training Activity Guides - to help faculty and students view a list of resources broken down by common tasks.
• Workday Student for Administrators and Workday Student for Advisors - online, self-directed courses available in LATTE.
• Academic Support Office Hours (for faculty and staff only) - join the team of experts to get one-on-one assistance with using Workday.

Please visit the Workday Student website to view the complete library of resources including job aids, instructional videos, and FAQs. For additional assistance, contact workday-help@brandeis.edu.

Whether your office light is out, your toilet is not flushing, or your AC making a noise that just doesn't sound right, using the Facilities work order system is the most effective way to get it fixed.

Work requests and work orders are the tools used by maintenance managers and technicians to organize, assign, prioritize, track and complete key tasks. They also allow us to capture information then prioritize, share and use it to get the work done as efficiently as possible. This information includes tracking labor, tracking repair and material costs, capturing work history, and tracking assets for preventative maintenance needs and replacement values. The work order system is also a way for the customer to keep track of the submitted request by status notifications, including when the work is done. It is also the best way to provide feedback after the work is completed.

To ensure a timely response and the best customer service, it is crucial that you submit a service request for any work needed. For information on how to create a work order visit the Facilities Services webpage or contact Facilities at 781-736-8500 between 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri. For emergencies related to Facilities, please call Facilities at 781-736-8500 between 7 a.m. -4:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri. or Public Safety 781-736-5000 weekends, holidays, or after hours.

You are invited to participate in this year's Open Doors Host Program as a host! Open Doors offers incoming international 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.

This year's incoming students will be experiencing their first semester on-campus some will have already been taking courses online, some may have deferred, and others may have just been accepted to Brandeis. Whatever the case, we hope to give them the warmest welcome possible!

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.

As a host, you will receive your new student's information over the summer to begin an email exchange before they arrive on campus. There will be a Welcome Dinner and Orientation in early Sept. for hosts and students to formally meet. During the fall semester, the ISSO will reach out with ideas for activities that you and your student can do together. You can meet for coffee or lunch, go to an on-campus event, explore Boston together, invite them over for a holiday celebration, exchange your cultures and languages, or simply check in via email to cheer them on as they settle into their new home at Brandeis. The commitment is only for the Fall 2021 semester and contact with your new student after that is optional, although we encourage you to keep in contact with your student.

If you are interested in joining the program as a host, please see our Host FAQs page and sign up as soon as possible.

Salesforce is the leading customer relationship management (CRM) platform, with integrated products that are used for marketing, communications, event management, document management, and commerce. A Salesforce solution, UC Innovation’s ascend application is being implemented for Institutional Advancement, along with additional products including Linvio, Conga, Pardot, and CRM Tableau.

Brandeis has engaged Accenture to perform a University Salesforce Needs Assessment to help us understand the potential for additional Salesforce solutions across campus. Accenture will analyze our systems and their integrations, and they will lead a series of interviews and workshops with stakeholders across campus to uncover and prioritize additional implementation opportunities. The Needs Assessment will take place throughout August and September, with results presented to the IT Advisory Committee (ITAC). ITAC members will review the outputs from the assessment and make recommendations to the Technology Prioritization Committee (TPC) by the end of the calendar year. For more information or questions, please contact Anne Marando.

Fall 2021 bills were released to students and families via the Nelnet Student Account Portal on July 12. Bills were due on Aug. 6, 2021. Registration holds and late fees will be placed on past due account balances.

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 be prompted 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 Account 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.

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

• Rock your research: Make the Most of Your Library Online, Wed., Sept. 1, 8- 8:30 p.m.
• Rock your research: Get to Know Your Library, Thu., Sept. 2, noon - 12:30 p.m.
• Intro to Arduino Electronics, Weekly on Tue., 5-6:30 p.m.
• Advanced Arduino Electronics, Weekly on Tue., 2-3:00 p.m.
• Brandeis MakerLab, Automation Lab and Digital Scholarship Lab Tours, Weekly on Thur., 9 - 10 a.m. beginning Aug. 19

All members of Brandeis teaching community are welcome to attend the following Zoom workshops:

• Hybrid Teaching Tools: Perusall, Wed., Aug. 18, 11 a.m. - noon
• Using the Jamboard software for Teaching, Weekly on Wed., 10 - 10:30 a.m. beginning Aug. 18
• LATTE Shell workshops, weekly in Aug.
• Hybrid Teaching Workshop (Beginner), Tue., Aug. 24, 3 - 4 p.m. 
• Hybrid Teaching Workshop (Advanced), Tue., Aug. 31, 3 - 4 p.m. 
• Teaching with Archives, Mon., Sept. 13, 3 - 3:30 p.m.

The Great Lawn tents have been removed, and will not be returning for the fall semester.

Classrooms, event spaces, and dining hall capacities will be returning to pre-pandemic levels for the fall, reducing the need for overflow spaces. The air flow modifications and cleaning protocols in these areas, along with the university’s vaccination mandate for all students, faculty, and staff, has also significantly reduced the risk of serious illness within the community.

Departments will, per usual practice, be able to rent tents for specific events. University Events is ready to assist with these inquiries; please visit our website for FAQs on tent ordering lead times and other important details.

The Office of Communications wants the campus calendar to represent the wide variety of events happening on campus. As you finalize your events for the fall semester, please don't forget to submit them to the Campus Calendar, the University's central events list. Not sure if your event can be included? Review the calendar policies and procedures. Do you have many events to submit? Anne Meade in the Office of Communications can provide you with a spreadsheet that will make bulk import easy.

Don't forget to check the calendar to learn about other events happening on campus (or virtually). You can even sign up to receive a weekly email containing the upcoming week's events!

If you have any questions about the calendar, please contact Anne Meade.

What is a HyFlex classroom? MTS has upgraded over 70 classrooms across campus to allow for HyFlex teaching and learning, allowing students or faculty to fully participate in classes, regardless of their physical location. From Aug. 17 through 24, join MTS for a demo of the new HyFlex classroom technology (i.e., microphones, webcams) to learn how this new equipment integrates with Zoom or Echo360 for HyFlex teaching. A variety of classrooms have been selected for the demonstrations to cover the different classroom sizes and styles available across the Brandeis campus. Faculty are strongly encouraged to attend the 60-minute session and have the option of joining in person or remotely. Learn more about Brandeis HyFlex Classrooms and sign-up for a demonstration. For questions, please contact help@brandeis.edu.

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, Mandel, 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.

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.

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 cancelled 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.

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.

Vaccination information can now be added to your Campus Passport. Once you have received both of your shots (Moderna/Pfizer) or a single Johnson & Johnson you are able to upload an image of your vaccination record card by following these steps:

1. Go to Campus Passport
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.

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.

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.