edHEALTH, the higher education and secondary school healthcare collaborative, is once again partnering with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan to launch a Walking Challenge. Join forces with your colleagues to compete against other schools that are part of edHEALTH.

For eligibility, registration and awards information please visit Human Resource Work-Life Balance/Well-Being website.

In advance of the fall bill coming in early July, new students should access the Nelnet Student Account Portal to set up an account and add authorized parties. Please complete the following steps to ensure account access:

1. Set-up Nelnet account - Students should log in to the Nelnet Student Account Portal to set up their student profile. Refer to the Nelnet - Account Access job aid for detailed instructions.
2. Add parent or authorized parties access - 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.

We will send a notification to students and authorized parties when the information is ready in Nelnet.

Brandeis 75th Anniversary: Making a Difference in our communities yesterday, today, and tomorrow

The 75th Anniversary of Brandeis University would not be complete without a way for Brandeisians to make their mark on the world. The Global Service Initiative Committee, a group of alumni, students, faculty and staff, took on this challenge and created several opportunities to impact the world around us. Do you normally create community engagement opportunities in your work? Create service opportunities? Volunteer normally on campus or in the area? We would love to talk to you! We will be challenging our community to complete 75,000 acts to repair the world during our anniversary year and we want you to be a part of it! Please contact Stephanie Grimes in Alumni Relations at grimes@brandeis.edu for more information.

The Technology Help Desk is pleased to share Summer 2023 support hours for all technology-related issues. From June 5 through August 11, the Help Desk will be open for support at the following times:

• Monday - Thursday, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
• Friday, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.
• Saturday and Sunday, Closed
• Monday, June 19: Closed Juneteenth
• Monday and Tuesday, July 3-4: Closed Independence Day

The Help Desk staff is committed to providing high-level technology support and service to the Brandeis community this Summer. Our team of technology support specialists is located in the Goldfarb Library, Level 1. Community members can also get support by sending an email to help@brandeis.edu or calling 781-736-4357. For more information, including a detailed support schedule for Summer 2023, please visit the ITS website.

University Records Management (URM) assists in the management of records in all formats to meet legal and contractual requirements, to satisfy the operational needs and efficiency of the University, and to guide Brandeis employees, faculty, and students in proper record stewardship and retention practice. The Records Retention Schedule consists of record categories, how long each category needs to be retained, and the recommended final disposition of the material. The length of retention is based on external laws and regulations, best practices, and legitimate business needs. The purpose of the schedule is to serve as a published policy and a guide for the Brandeis community's consistent record retention and destruction practices.  It can be found on the Data Governance webpage under the Policies and Protocols menu. The schedule is a work in progress and will be expanded in the coming months.  For more information please contact URM at records@brandeis.edu or 781-736-8759.

Time off is an important benefit, and we encourage all staff to use their available time to rest and reenergize. Vacation time is meant to be restorative, is important for our well-being and can help improve productivity and creativity. It also can help reduce stress, help prevent burnout and promote work-life balance.

Brandeis offers a comprehensive benefits package, including a generous time-off program for staff. As we approach the Summer, it is important for managers and staff to review vacation time balances. Managers should actively balance the needs of staff time off, with the operational needs of their department, and help staff find time to use available vacation days before the end of 2023.

While the University does provide a service-based vacation carry over policy, there are limits on the number of days that can be carried over from one calendar year to the next. Staff with high vacation balances may lose time, not including carry over amounts, if they do not use their available vacation days before December 31.

As a reminder, managers can review individual employee's time off balances in Workday under ‘Time Off’ and also review an absence calendar under ‘Team Absence’ that shows each employee's planned vacations and other absences (approved and unapproved). View the Benefits Eligible Staff Workday Time Off Categories.

As a commitment to the Brandeis University Community to continue to improve the reliability the Brandeis University’s Fire Alarm Systems, we have scheduled our 2023 annual Fire Alarm Testing.

Testing is taking place now through August 10. Since we test every building on campus, please visit the Department of Facilities Services website for reference to your building's schedule. Signage will be placed at the entry doors to the buildings during the test to notify those entering the buildings. If you have any questions about the testing, please contact the Department of Facilities Services.

The Department of Facilities Services will be performing its annual electrical shutdown Saturday, August 12, and Sunday, August 13 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.

Only the following buildings will be affected:

• Saturday August 12, 6 a.m. – 8 p.m.
  • Chiller Plant
  • Foster Bio
  • Kosow
  • Crown Center
  • Usdan
• Sunday August 13, 6 a.m. – 8 p.m.
  • Rosenstiel
  • Edison Lecks
  • Shapiro Science Center

All of the above buildings have generator power except the Crown Center. Please contact Facilities Services at 781-736-8500 or visit the Department of Facilities Services website for more information.

For all webinars there are sessions at noon – 1 p.m. & 3 – 4 p.m.

• Wednesday June 21 – Choosing Kindness morning session or afternoon session
• Wednesday June 28 – The Power of Perseverance and Grit morning session or afternoon session
• Wednesday July 19 – Documents for Life morning session or afternoon session
• Wednesday July 26 – Putting Your Best Foot Forward Online morning session or afternoon session
• Wednesday August 23 – Embracing Change morning session or afternoon session
• Wednesday August 30 – Fostering Agility in Your Workplace morning session or afternoon session

For more information please visit the HR Training Website or email us at farquhar@brandeis.edu.

Open to all members of the Brandeis community:


• The Write Time Workshop, 10 - 11 a.m., Thursday, June 1
• Intro to 3D Printing with Flashforge, 1 - 2:45 p.m., Thursday, June 1
• The Write Time Workshop, 2 - 3 p.m., Thursday, June 1
• Graduate Writers Workspace (Zoom), 9 a.m. - noon, Monday, June 5
• Intro to 3D Printing with Flashforge, 1 - 2:45 p.m., Thursday, June 15

Fidelity continues to offer very informative live and on demand webinars. Watch and participate in the practical web workshops, where you’ll learn strategies and tips to help manage your financial future with confidence.

Upcoming topics include:

• June 14, 2 p.m., How to pick individual investments
• June, 22, 12 p.m., How to start investing a hands on demo

Additional workshops at Fidelity’s Women Talk Money. Please visit Human Resources website to view more information and registration details.

Brandeis Athletics is seeking feedback from faculty & staff pertaining to your participation at Gosman Sports Center and surrounding athletic facilities. The short survey will take no more than ten minutes to complete and seeks your feedback in an effort to help Athletics staff evaluate current facility use and identify opportunities to enhance athletic offerings and programming. Your answers will remain anonymous.

Human Resources is excited to announce a new employee discount program through InsurChoice to make it easy for you to access amazing discounts. Offerings include:

• Pet Insurance
• Pet Virtual Care
• The BenefitHub Discount Marketplace
• Travel Insurance

For more detailed information on InsurChoice programs visit HR Website. A reminder of the other discount programs available:

• Bookstore – Offering 10% discount on most items. For more information go Brandeis University Bookstore.
• Commuter Benefits Program – MBTA passes for faculty and staff to purchase pretax payroll deduction. Program administered by WageWorks.
• Museum and Theater Passes – The university provides discounted tickets or free passes to the Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of Science, and the New England Aquarium. Purchase your tickets from our Employee Discount Benefit HR website. For more information, call the Office of Human Resources at ext. 6-4474 or email humanresouces@brandeis.edu.

Do you know any motivated high school students that are thinking about college or eager to explore their passions this summer? Our precollege online courses help students do just that. They’ll discover if fields like civil litigation, health and medicine, or climate change are the right fit for their future. Explore the Brandeis Precollege Online Program.

As the fiscal year is coming to a close, the Division of Business and Finance would like to remind budget managers and others with financial transaction responsibilities to review your departments' financial reports. Please refer to the year-end memo for a list of deadlines and milestones. The last day to submit any accounting entries for fiscal year 2023 is Tuesday, July 18.

For questions, please contact a member of our team.