ChatGPT and other AI platforms are not secure platforms. When you are thinking about whether and how to use them in your work, please remember privacy policies and protocols. Do not input or disclose any confidential information to such platforms. In addition, you should take care not to input others' copyrighted material into such systems. A few examples of things to avoid: do not input student information, health information, personnel data, university financial or business information, or anything that could be considered confidential or private. Of course, please also remember academic integrity policies for research and other scholarly pursuits.

Every day, there are events in the news that remind us how important it is to receive timely information about emergency situations. For those who live and work at Brandeis University, registering to receive updates from the Brandeis Emergency Notification System (BENS) is one important way to get such messages. This system is used not only to inform the Brandeis community of an emergency situation affecting campus, but also to inform the community about severe weather delays and closures.

Using the BENS system for delays and closures notifies students, faculty and staff that the university’s schedule is affected by severe weather events more quickly. As in the past, some employees may be required to report to work in severe weather. If you have questions about whether you need to report to work during a weather issue, please contact your supervisor for clarification.

To receive notifications via text message or a non-Brandeis email address, you must provide us with your mobile phone number (and/or your personal email address), and check the box authorizing Brandeis to send texts. Complete information and instructions can be found on the Brandeis Emergency Preparedness page. University email addresses will automatically be notified in the event of an emergency or severe weather.

The Department of Public Safety plans on testing the BENS system later this month and more information will go out via InBrief and email once confirmed.

Do you like reading InBrief? Do you refer to any of the HR, ITS, Finance, Campus Operations, Public Safety or Investment Office websites? Are there ways in which you might suggest improvements? In the spirit of continual improvement, we welcome your feedback about content, layout and any suggestions you may have about this newsletter or our websites - both of which are important vehicles for internal communications.

Please provide feedback for InBrief and the website.

The Office of Finance and Administration will be selling tickets to the 2023-2024 Boston Celtics 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.

Sign up for one of our 30-minute, one-on-one financial literacy sessions! We hope that you will take advantage of this great opportunity to ask questions about budgeting, managing debt, understanding your paycheck, W-2’s etc. Please click here to book an appointment today.

The Department of Public Safety would like to remind our community of an Active Threat/Shooter training that is hosted online. This will be a self-enrolling, self-paced training available to students, faculty, and staff through Latte. To enroll and begin taking the training you can visit the course page or visit the Public Safety website for more details.

In addition to the online availability of this course, the department is also offering the course in person. To coordinate an in person training please reach out to Public Safety.

Workshops will be held virtually from 10 – 11 a.m. on the following dates:

• 10/4 – Essential Leadership Skills register
• 11/15 – Building Strong Teams register
• 12/13 – Finding Focus register

FREE Live Webinars offered by New Directions

Financial Wellness Workshops

Workshops will be held virtually from 9 – 10 a.m. on the following dates. Please register on the training website.

• 9/26 – Are You Financially Healthy?
• 10/17 – How to Build a Budget
• 11/14 – Understanding Credit
• 12/12 – Breezing Through the Holidays

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

The Supreme Court issued a decision on June 30, 2023 prohibiting 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. President Biden has recently implemented a new income-driven repayment (IDR) plan for borrowers in repayment called SAVE. Please visit the Federal Student Aid debt relief website for updates.

Impact to Workday Availability this Weekend.

Workday is releasing the second of its 2023 semi-annual updates the weekend of September 9. Workday will be unavailable during the update — beginning Friday, September 8 at 9 p.m. through Saturday, September 9 at 9 a.m.

Although this release focuses mainly on back-end improvements, users will have additional options for pronouns and gender identity, and managers will benefit from a new homepage with easier access to team profiles. For more information on the upcoming changes to Workday, please visit the Workday@Brandeis website or email help@brandeis.edu.

Faculty/Staff Plans come at a discounted rate (from the door rate), giving you a great reason to stay on campus for lunch and culinary-diverse dining options in Sherman and Lower Usdan. Purchase Faculty/Staff Plans Here. Plan options are as follows:

• Faculty & Staff 30 Block Plan, $345; 30 Meal Swipes redeemable at the Table at Sherman, The Kosher Table at Sherman, and Usdan Kitchen
• Faculty & Staff 15 Block Plan, $205; 15 Meal Swipes redeemable at the Table at Sherman, The Kosher Table at Sherman, and Usdan Kitchen

The Faculty Club is a great venue for lunch serving a hot entrée, soup and salad bar Monday – Friday, 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. Reservations are available by emailing FCReservations@brandeis.edu.

Acceptable forms of payment include: Brandeis P-Card, Prepayment through Coupa/CaterTrax, Cash, Credit, or Debit. Note: Beginning August 2023 department charge lines will no longer be accepted.

Our DUO Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) system requires re-authentication every seven days using the "trust this browser" option. Information about DUO Multi-Factor Authentication and best practices for using your device to authenticate is available on the ITS website.

You can use a token for authentication in place of your mobile device. A token is simple to use and easily attached to a key chain. Instructors who prefer to refrain from using the DUO App or would like a backup to authenticating by phone are encouraged to contact the Help Desk for a token. The Help Desk is fully stocked and ready to assist!

If you need assistance authenticating to the Brandeis network or want to get a token, please contact the Help Desk by emailing help@brandeis.edu or calling 781-736-4357.

Brandeis recently changed how guests access the Brandeis Guest Wireless Network. A member of the Brandeis community must now sponsor guests who would like to use the Brandeis Guest Wireless Network.

Individuals continue registering using the guest registration but are 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 get in touch with the Help Desk by emailing help@brandeis.edu or calling 781-736-4357.

The Manager Nuts and Bolts series has been reimagined and expanded to create an interactive and engaging professional development opportunity called Managing at Brandeis which offers the opportunity to earn a Certificate. The curriculum is targeted at newly appointed to mid-stage managers and is focused on practical knowledge and skills needed to succeed in management and leadership at Brandeis. Managers who complete all five sessions will receive a Managing at Brandeis Certificate of Completion and will be invited to attend an in-person gathering with light refreshments with their supervisor to receive their Certificate.

Sessions will be held virtually via Zoom from 9:30 – 11 a.m. on the following dates:

• Session 1: Thursday, September 21 – (11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.) Inclusive Hiring for Staff Positions
• Session 2: Thursday, October 12 – How to Conduct Effective One-to-Ones
• Session 3: Thursday, October 26 – Coaching and Counseling for Improved Performance
• Session 4: Thursday, November 9 – Legal Considerations of the Manager
• Session 5: Wednesday, December 6 – Making Good Compensation Choices
• Thursday, December 14, Certificate Celebration/Gathering: (drop-in 10 a.m. – noon)

Register for the Managing at Brandeis Certificate Program.

For more details or to register for individual sessions without participating in the Certificate Program, please visit the HR Training Website.

The University is pleased to announce that we will once again be hosting vaccination clinics this Fall. Faculty, staff, and their adult family members (ages 18 and older) are welcome to meet with licensed pharmacists on campus to receive seasonal, scheduled, and recommended vaccinations. Be sure to review the vaccination information carefully and check your medical insurance plan pharmacy coverage ahead of time. Register today.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.
• Friday, September 15, Closed Rosh Hashanah
• Monday, September 25, Closed Yom Kippur

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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).