Restricted Parking, Thursday, August 24, 5 a.m. – Wednesday, August 30, 10 p.m. - Parking along Loop Road, including the North Road (Quad), will not be allowed. In addition, parking is prohibited in the Hassenfeld Lot, across from Massell Quad, and 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.

No Parking, Theater Lot, Hassenfeld Lot, Friday, August 25, 5 p.m. – Wednesday, August 30, 7 p.m. - This lot will be closed, and vehicles relocated if left after 5 p.m. on Friday, August 25, in preparation for first-year arrivals. Employee parking will be restricted to the rearmost area closest to IBS from Monday, August 28, through Wednesday, August 30.

Rose Art Museum Access - Parking will be restricted to the rearmost section of the Theater lot on August 27.

Transportation Services - Limited transportation will be available until classes start on August 31, when full service will resume. You can visit the shuttle services webpage for the most up-to-date information.

Please assist Public Safety with welcoming our new and returning Brandeisians to campus. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to the parking office at 781-736-4250 or parking@brandeis.edu.

The new transportation provider, DPV, will begin operations on Monday, August 21, providing service on all routes: Campus; Waltham; Weekend Campus/Waltham Combo; and Boston/Cambridge. Accessibility Transportation (AT) service will continue to be provided by Brandeis through an application process.

The Brandeis community can expect many improvements this year including: the Brandeis logo on all buses; a new shuttle app Tripshot to track available routes and shuttle locations in real-time; a seat reservation system for the Boston/Cambridge shuttle; and a unique combination route that will operate on weekends and holidays. We want to hear from you! Comments and suggestions can be reported to DPV through the Tripshot application as well as through a portal on the Public Safety website.

To familiarize yourself ahead of classes, you can download the Tripshot application and visit the Public Safety Transportation page to see operating times, routes, shuttle stops, and how-to guide on the Tripshot App.

The Office of Finance and Administration will be selling tickets to the 2023-2024 Boston Bruins home games. Available for purchase by faculty, staff and post-docs. For information please visit the Office of the Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration website.

Office 365 users will soon be able to use their Brandeis credentials for login — eliminating the need to track a separate password. ITS is working on synchronizing Brandeis passwords with passwords explicitly created for Office 365 accounts. Once synchronized, new Office 365 users can also use their Brandeis credentials to download Office 365. Additional information about Office 365 is available on the ITS website. For questions about accessing Office 365, please contact the Help Desk at help@brandeis.edu.

We are excited to announce that due to staff requests, we are offering a new group exercise class: staff/faculty class - Weights Wednesdays. 

The class will meet at Skyline Lounge on the following dates: Wed. Sept. 6, 13, 20, 27, Oct. 4, 11 from noon - 12:45. Weights will be provided. The class will teach basic strength building, proper technique and form, and realistic goal setting. Please register using this link.

Please register by August 31 for our class planning purposes.

Are you engaged in DEI education or activities in your department? The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion wants to document and support your efforts! Please contact us and let us know what you are up to: email Sanchita Dasgupta (sanchitad@brandeis.edu).

It’s easier than ever to support Brandeis students. Recently the university launched a brand new online giving platform powered by GiveCampus, a partner leading the educational fundraising sector as a top provider of a secure and seamless donation experience. The suite offers giving forms optimized for a mobile giving experience and will also be home to crowdfunding campaigns for causes on campus as well as the annual online fundraiser, Giving DEISday.

Donors can make a gift to any area of campus with Venmo, Apple Pay, Google Pay, bank transfer, and more! The platform allows donors to create online giving profiles enabling giving with one click. And as always, it’s possible to support many areas of campus in a single, simplified transaction. Make a gift, today!

Fall 2023 bills were released to students and families via the Nelnet Student Account Portal in early July. Bills were due on August 4, 2023. Registration holds have been placed on past due account balances and late fees have been applied.

Students can access their billing details by clicking the Nelnet Student Account Portal link found within the Student Account worklet in Workday. Students who have never accessed the Nelnet Student Account Portal before will need to set up their student profile (refer to the Nelnet - Account Access job aid for detailed instructions) before they can view the bill.

In order for parents, guardians, sponsors, or another party to receive the student's tuition bill, view the student account, and make payments, the student must add them as Authorized Parties in Nelnet. Once they are set up as an Authorized Party, parents/guardians can access Nelnet directly with their own usernames and passwords; they cannot use the student's log-in credentials to access the portal.

Review your e-bill and the Transaction Details in Nelnet. If you have questions about the balance or payment options contact Brandeis Student Financial Services at sfs@brandeis.edu or 781-736-3700.

Mid-year reviews for the FY24 performance period will begin in November. More information will be made available in the coming weeks. As a reminder, managers should be continuing to conduct regular one-on-ones to provide feedback and develop their staff. Please visit the TAP Website for more information.

Brandeis is changing how guests access the Brandeis Guest Wireless Network. Beginning August 29, 2023, a member of the Brandeis community must first approve any network guest before they receive access.

Individuals will continue registering using the guest registration form but will be prompted to include a Brandeis email to initiate the approval process. Larger groups are eligible for a temporary account that allows them to bypass sponsorship using a password.

Additional information about wireless network connectivity is available on the ITS website. If you need assistance connecting to the Brandeis network or will be hosting a group that needs access to the guest wireless, please contact the Help Desk by emailing help@brandeis.edu or calling 781-736-4357.

Library Workshops, events, & training - Open to all members of the Brandeis community!

• Introduction to Python 4-part series, 1:30 - 3 p.m., Tuesdays in September
• Digital Scholarship Collab Lab, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m., on Thursdays & Fridays, beginning September 7

Open to members of the Brandeis teaching community:

• LATTE Basics Workshop, 10 - 10:50 a.m., Wednesday, August 30
• LATTE Basics Workshop, 11 - 11:50 a.m., Friday, September 8

IT Governance Community Outreach provides students, faculty, and staff with the knowledge they need to stay informed about IT Governance through communication channels and engagement in governance with various academic, administrative, and operational technology committees. We invite all Brandeis community members to register for IT Governance Communications, which will enable you to receive timely updates by email.

For more information, to sign up for IT governance-related communications, or to learn about your committee representatives, please visit our updated IT Governance website. If you have questions about IT Governance at Brandeis, please reach out to Steve Knowles, Director of Strategic Outreach & Engagement for ITS.

Get back to school with a healthy back. In the United States, back pain is one of the most common causes for an individual to seek medical care and is the most common reason for workman's compensation and lost work hours. See what you can do to get well and stay healthy. Learn more about back pain and its common causes, treatments, and prevention strategies.

Brandeis is a community rich with religious diversity, and September is filled with holidays:

• Janmashtami (Hinduism) celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna, identified as the Personality of Godhead in the Bhagavad Gita September 6-7. It is celebrated on the eighth day of the dark fortnight in August-September. On the day of the Janmashtami festival, people fast and spend the day focused on Krishna - meditating, chanting mantras and singing songs devoted to Lord Krishna.
• The evening of September 15 until September 17 is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, or "Head of the Year." On Rosh Hashanah, Jews attend religious services and enjoy celebratory meals. Rosh Hashanah also marks the beginning of the Ten Days of Repentance, which conclude on Yom Kippur on September 25. These holidays, together with Sukkot, and Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah, are the High Holy Days of Judaism, celebrated in the Hebrew month of Tishrei. Sukkot begins the evening of September 29 and continues through October 6. Beginning five days after Yom Kippur, Sukkot is named after the huts the Israelites lived in during their exodus from Egypt, which Jews today build and dwell in to commemorate this time. Brandeis does not hold classes on Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, or the first two days of Sukkot.
• September 19 is Ganesh Chaturthi (Hinduism). The birthday of Lord Ganesh is one of the most popular Hindu festivals. He is known for removing obstacles from one's path and making the impossible possible.
• Milad al-Nabi (Islam) is celebrated the evening of September 26 until September 27. On the 12th day of the Islamic lunar month of Rabi' al-Awwal, many Muslims the world over gather to recite poems recounting the biography and especially the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.

To learn more about these holidays, visit the Center for Spiritual Life’s Guide to Religious Observances webpage. To sign up for meals for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur by September 5, visit the Brandeis Hillel website.

Brandeis recently made a critical improvement to our systems' security and user data protection. Our DUO Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) system now requires re-authentication every seven days using the "trust this browser" option.

The Brandeis security team reduced re-authentication time to seven days, down from 15 days, in response to recent security incidents. Additional information about DUO Multi-Factor Authentication and best practices for using your device to authenticate is available on the ITS website. We appreciate the community's cooperation and support in securing Brandeis's network and systems.

If you have additional questions about DUO authentication, please contact ITS Security. If you need assistance authenticating to the Brandeis network, please contact the Help Desk by emailing help@brandeis.edu or calling 781-736-4357.

The Vic ’63 and Bobbi Samuels ’63 Center for Community Partnerships and Civic Transformation (COMPACT) at Brandeis University brings together scholars, activists, students, practitioners, and community partners to work collaboratively to create a more just, equitable, and sustainable world. Through this collaborative approach, the center seeks to make ethical and respectful community engagement a central pillar of a Brandeis education, to establish engaged scholarship and pedagogy as signature strengths of the university, and to create transformative social change through collective action.

In response to requests from campus and community partners, COMPACT has launched a set of resources pages. These are meant to serve as a central point of access to support community engaged research and pedagogy, students' community engagement, and community partnerships (including via a form through which community based organizations can express interest in connecting with the university).

We hope that these resources will deepen and broaden community engagement at Brandeis, and invite you to share them widely. Please contact compact@brandeis.edu if there are resources and/or opportunities that you would like us to add.

Did you know that Brandeis has an App developed by students? Download Branda from the App store for Brandeis news, an interactive campus map, shuttle schedules, and more. If you have any questions, please contact Jimmy Kong at jameskong@brandeis.edu.

Coming Soon! Brandeis is offering a professional development opportunity for managers entitled Managing at Brandeis with an opportunity to earn a Certificate for registrants who attend all of the sessions. Topics covered in the program include: inclusive hiring, effective one-to-one meetings, coaching and counseling for improved performance, legal considerations and making good compensation choices. Announcement will be made shortly. Please contact human resources with any questions.

Do you like coffee?

Do you like chocolate?

Do you like to buy coffee and chocolate grown in a sustainable way that makes a social impact?

If you answered yes to any of the above, come learn about MOKA Origins!

Founded originally as a community farming project in Cameroon, Africa, Moka Origins works to make cacao and coffee a sustainable source of income for farmers around the world. Co-founder and CEO Jeff Abella, will visit Brandeis to speak about his small-batch chocolate and coffee company on Thursday, September 14, 2-3 p.m., Zinner Forum, Heller.

Hosted by International & Global Studies Program, Office of Finance and Administration, Office of Sustainability, and Environmental Studies Program.

August 31 - December 20

The Technology Help Desk is pleased to share Fall 2023 support hours for all technology-related issues. From August 31, through December 20, the Help Desk will be open for support at the following times:

• Monday - Thursday, 8 a.m. - 7 p.m.
• Friday, 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.
• Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
• Saturday, September 2 and Sunday, September 3, Closed for Live Training
• Monday, September 4, Closed Labor Day

The Help Desk staff is committed to providing high-level technology support and service to the Brandeis community. Our team of technology support specialists is located in the Goldfarb Library, Level 1. Community members can also get help by emailing help@brandeis.edu. For more information, including a detailed support schedule, please visit the ITS website.

Calling all Faculty! Media Technology Services (MTS) will offer live classroom and learning space technology demonstrations, highlighting both on-premise and HyFlex modalities, including Zoom online learning features and automated lecture capture systems. In preparation for the Fall 2023 semester, MTS has worked in over 30 classrooms and learning spaces to upgrade equipment and improve functionality. Faculty and staff are encouraged to join a session to learn about the new classroom technology features or get a refresher. Learn more about Brandeis HyFlex Classrooms and sign-up for a demonstration. For questions, please contact mts@brandeis.edu.

We are pleased to announce the 2023 JustArts Faculty/Staff exhibition! Brandeis faculty, staff, postdocs, and faculty emeriti are invited to show their creative work, including (but not limited to) photographs, paintings, jewelry, video, sculpture, fiber arts such as knitting and weaving, and so on. The next JustArts exhibition will be held in October 2023, in the Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center.

You'll find more information and guidelines here. Please use this form to register your work. Questions? contact Ingrid Schorr, ingrids@brandeis.edu

The Rose Art Museum is delighted to invite you and your guests for an in-person Fall Celebration on Wednesday, September 13, from 6–8 PM.

Gather with friends and colleagues, enjoy light refreshments, and find inspiration as we mark the opening of our newest exhibition: Arghavan Khosravi: Black Rain. The show presents a comprehensive survey of Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence Arghavan Khosravi’s meteoric trajectory from the early work of her student days at Brandeis University to her current monumental pieces, inspired by the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in her native Iran.

New rotations of the permanent collection show, re: collections, Six Decades at the Rose Art Museum, along with the intimate display Frida Kahlo at the Rose Art Museum, and the Mark Dion installation The Undisciplined Collector are also on view.

All Brandeis students, faculty, staff and guests are welcome! Registration is required.

The Supreme Court issued a decision on June 30, 2023 prohibiting President Biden from moving forward with his one-time student debt relief plan, which means that no debt can be discharged under this program. Interest on federal student loans will start accruing on September 1, 2023, and first payments will be due in October. When designing a new debt relief program, the Department of Education will consider ways to ensure that borrowers making payments do not reduce their eligibility for debt relief. Please visit the Federal Student Aid debt relief website for updates.

We are delighted to announce that Brandeis has officially transitioned the Faculty Guide to our new Faculty and Researcher Directory hosted by ScholarWorks. The Faculty Guide was switched off on July 26, 2023. Redirects have been implemented to ensure that, going forward, those visiting Faculty Guide pages will be redirected automatically to corresponding profiles on the ScholarWorks Directory.

The new Faculty and Researcher Directory hosts comprehensive profiles for faculty (those holding current appointments and emeriti), academic staff (principal investigators or other research staff designated “Academic Staff” in Workday), and postdoctoral scholars. It increases the visibility of Brandeis’s community of scholars, showcasing their expertise and rendering their achievements more discoverable. It also supports the safeguarding of scholarly identities through the provision of unique personal identifiers as part of the Open Researcher and Contributor ID or ORCID ID initiative.

The completed transition to the new Faculty and Researcher Directory marks the culmination of a longstanding exercise involving staff from several sectors of the university. Faculty/researchers who engaged with the profile roll-out process last year will already be familiar with the commitment of this group, which will continue to provide support. For anyone seeking help in (further) refining their ScholarWorks profile, please visit the ScholarWorks User Guide.