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 27. 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.

The Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts celebrates the abundant creativity of Brandeis students, faculty and staff, joined by distinguished guest artists.

This year's festival celebrates BUOYANCY. The arts lift us up to a place where we can take a second look at the world we live in. Through the arts, we find resilience, resistance, and renewal. We may find ourselves suspended in midair, or riding a wave, or floating calmly over the signs of growth below. 

Enjoy concerts, artist talks, original plays, works of public art, a craft market, and more. All events are free and most are open to the public. For a complete schedule of events, please visit the Leonard Bernstein Festival of the Creative Arts webpage. Produced by Arts Engagement, Division of Creative Arts

The deadline to order Regalia for Commencement is next Friday, April 15. You can order your Regalia on the Balfour website. All Regalia must be ordered online and sent directly to the graduating student’s (campus or local off-campus) address. Be sure to carefully enter your correct physical mailing address to avoid shipping delays. If you are unsure how to enter your mailing address, please visit the mail services webpage.

If you would like to request financial assistance to purchase Senior Celebration tickets or your cap and gown, please fill out the Financial Assistance Request Form by Friday, April 15 at 5 p.m. Please note, you will need to log in with your Brandeis email to get access to this form.

If you have additional questions, please contact the Commencement Committee at commencement@brandeis.edu.

Eligible staff and faculty may enroll in Brandeis Graduate Professional Studies (GPS) master’s degree programs and receive up to 100% tuition remission. GPS programs are fully online and designed for working professionals. The most popular degree programs for employees are Project and Program Management, Digital Marketing and Design, and User-Centered Design. GPS offers four start dates throughout the year. The next entrance session begins in July. To learn more about the degree paths, contact Christie Barone, Director of Admissions.

With tax season well underway, ITS Security wants to remind the community to be aware of tax-related scams. Please note that the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages, or social media channels to request personal or financial information. As a reminder, never give out your social security number, credit card, or other personal information to telemarketers or in response to emails or text messages requesting this information. Learn more about tax-related scams on the IRS website.

Additionally, beware of any emails related to your W-2. Brandeis employees can download their electronic W-2 (login required) from Workday. Please report any unsolicited emails claiming to be from the IRS or an IRS-related function to phishing@irs.gov. For more information or questions, contact the ITS Security Office at security@brandeis.edu.

There will be two separate drawings for the opportunity for faculty, staff and postdocs to purchase Celtics and Bruins playoff tickets.

To enter your name into the drawing for Celtics playoff tickets, please go to this link, and fill out the required information. The tickets are for section loge 16, row 23, seats 5-6 and 7-8.

To enter your name into the drawing for Bruins playoff tickets, please go to this link, and fill out the required information. The tickets are for section loge 4, row 5, seats 1-2 and 3-4.

The links will be active from today, to Friday, April 15 at noon. If you are selected to purchase tickets, you will receive an email with additional information.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact the Office of Finance and Administration at fin-admin@brandeis.edu.

April 2 - May 2 Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is one of the most sacred times for Muslims. During this month, observing Muslims observe strict daily fasting from all food and drink from dawn until sunset. Fasting is a private act of worship engendering nearness to God, but it is also a form of spiritual discipline and a means to empathizing with those less fortunate. The fast is broken at sundown with a meal called iftar, and often followed by special communal prayers called tarawih.

April 10 Ram Navami is a Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Lord Rama who is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, and is considered to have descended from the sun. Lord Rama became king of Ayodhya, and was known for being popular, brave, kind, just, intelligent, patient, loving, obedient and dutiful. He is celebrated across India by people of all backgrounds, who listen to stories of his life.

April 10 - 16, and April 17 Palm Sunday and Holy Week, and Easter hold the most sacred days of the year for Christians, commemorating the last days of Jesus’ life. Palm Sunday recalls him entering into Jerusalem greeted by people waving palm branches; Maundy Thursday remembers Jesus' last supper with his disciples, when he washed their feet and told them to remember his body and blood with bread and wine. Friday commemorates Jesus' death through crucifixion. Easter Sunday is a great feast day celebrating Jesus' resurrection from the dead. This year Easter is celebrated by Western Christians on April 17 and Eastern Orthodox Christians on April 24.

April 16 - 23 Passover will be observed by Jews this year April 16 – April 23. The eight-day celebration marks the liberation of the children of Israel from bondage and their subsequent exodus from Egypt. A Passover Seder - a meal following a specific ritual order retelling the story of the exodus, and including prayers, songs, and special food - is one of the most commonly observed Jewish practices.

May 3 Eid al-Fitr commemorates the end of the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims. It is celebrated by community-wide prayer services, sharing meals, and a mandatory charity to allow all to participate. Eid al-Fitr is the Arabic name for the holiday, though it goes by many other names in other languages.

More information on all these holidays can be found in the Guide to Religious Observances.

• Researching in Archives, 1 - 1:30 p.m., Monday, May 2
• The Beginnings of Brandeis: A History in Pictures, noon - 12:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 3
• Introduction to Arduino Electronics Workshop, weekly Mondays at 10 a.m.
• Digital Scholarship Lab Access Orientation, weekly Tuesdays at 11 a.m.
• Intro to 3D Printing with Flashforge
• Brandeis MakerLab, Automation Lab and Digital Scholarship Lab Tour!, weekly Thursdays at 9 a.m.
• Intro to 3D Scanning, weekly Fridays at 9 a.m.

Open to all members of the teaching community:

• Teaching with Archives, 11 - 11:30 a.m., Friday, May 6
• LATTE Office Hours, weekly 10 a.m., Fridays
• Using the Jamboard software for Teaching, weekly at 10 a.m. on Thursdays

Resilience Resources is now featured on The Dean of Students and Care Team webpages. Please help to market the Resilience Resources link to support the Brandeis community. Some ideas:

• add to the footer of your office webpage
• add to your email signature
• include in newsletters
• showcase at staff and student leadership meetings
• share with students and their families
• if you teach a course:
  • add to LATTE
  • feature during class

The Office of Communications wants the campus calendar to represent the wide variety of events happening on campus. As you finalize your events, 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.

The next Waltham Group Blood Drive will be held on Monday, April 11 and Wednesday, April 13 from 1-6 p.m. The blood drive will be in Sherman Function Hall. Students, faculty, and staff can sign up at the Red Cross site. Any questions can be directed to wg-blooddrive@brandeis.edu.

The Office of Admissions will be welcoming admitted students and their families to visit Brandeis this spring on five weekday mornings in March and April. Families who drive to campus will be instructed to park in the Theater Lot. To ease congestion in the Theater Lot, we ask that Brandeis staff members who normally park there to instead park in Lot J (across from University Office Park on Angleside Road), where shuttle service will be provided for those who do not want to walk to campus. Employees may also decide, with manager approval, to work remotely for the day, if their role allows for it.

The "Inside Deis" admitted student events are on April 8, April 14, and April 25.

Thank you for your support in helping us bring the next class of Brandeis students to our community.

The Workday Team is pleased to announce Workday Wednesdays, a 60-minute session held on Wednesdays from noon - 1 p.m., that provides faculty, staff, and students (topic dependent) an opportunity to meet with members to learn more about a given topic, task or process in Workday. Upcoming session topics include: Preparing for Registration and Registration Office Hours. Visit the Workday@Brandeis website for session dates, corresponding topics, and Zoom link (registration not required). To submit a suggestion or request a specific topic, please reach out using the suggestion box. For more information or questions about using Workday, please contact help@brandeis.edu.

Eligible Brandeis faculty and staff can enjoy tuition remission of one-third the price when they send their teen to Brandeis Precollege Programs! This summer, we’ll offer on-campus Genesis and the Summer Residency for Women’s Health (two credits!) as well as online programming like Climate Justice, Introduction to Civil Litigation and more. For additional information, please contact precollege programs or 781-736-8416.

We have entered into the shoulder months for heating/cooling; the months whose temperatures range between 40 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Cooler mornings followed by warmer afternoons make maintaining temperature comfort in our facilities a challenge. Even if you are in a facility with air conditioning, the campus operates on a dual system which means our systems are either in heating mode or cooling mode. Currently we are still in “heating” season and will start to switch to cooling mode from mid-April to mid-May.

Consequently, during these shoulder months there will be days when your office/room temperature is not as cool as you want it to be. Most days, the outside temperature will be cooler than the temperature in your buildings so we recommended you open your windows, if you can, to help bring additional cooler outside air into your areas for additional comfort.

We understand that at times this may be uncomfortable but we ask for your patience during these New England shoulder months and this switch-over. In April, facilities will start to switch over to cooling first in the Science Buildings, then will move to the Residence Halls, followed by the Academic Buildings. The complete switch over will likely take a month to fully complete. To submit a work request for facilities issues, visit the Facilities Services website.

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, the 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:

• Commitment to provide meaningful supervision and professional development mentoring, including shadowing
• Availability of a project with a concrete deliverable component
• Completion of a supervision report and any other surveys required by the grant assessment needs
• Internship should take place between May 16 and August 31, 2022, with an expectation of 200 hours of work ($4000, $20 per hour rate).

Submission instructions: Brief (1-2 paragraph) description of position and project, 3-5 learning objectives of the position, and supervisory structure.

If you'd like to propose a position, please submit a proposal by April 15 to ConnectedPhD@brandeis.edu. We are also happy to answer questions and give feedback on proposals prior to the deadline.

Sign up today for a Warner Farm CSA share and receive a personalized box of fresh, delicious, locally grown vegetables, delivered right to the Brandeis campus. Our CSA program offers the option to customize your shares and your delivery schedule, so you’ll receive all the produce you love and nothing you don’t. Choose from three sizes of vegetable shares, as well as fruit, flower, mushroom, egg, and bread shares. Deliveries take place from June through October, every Thursday from 3:30 - 6:30 p.m. right to the Spingold Theater. It's the best way to eat healthy and local this season without breaking the bank. Signup before March 31 and receive $10 in credit to use on extra veggies and other good stuff during the season. Visit Warner Farm CSA or email csa@warnerfarm.com to learn more.