On Tuesday, December 5, all undergraduate classes and graduate classes in the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the Heller School, and the International Business School have been canceled, so that the Brandeis Community may participate in a day of listening, learning, and sharing. Details about the Teach-In can be found at this link.

Brandeis is rich with religious diversity. Holidays celebrated by the Brandeis community during the month of December include: 

• Advent (Christianity, December 3 - 24), from the Latin “coming,” is a season of four weeks of preparation for the coming of Christ, which Christians commemorate on December 25. These four weeks are a time of joyful preparation. The season is often marked by Scripture readings about preparing for the coming of the Messiah. The use of candles on an Advent wreath signifies the themes of Love, Joy, Peace, and Hope.

• Gita Jayanti (Hinduism, December 22) celebrates when Lord Krishna spoke the illustrious Bhagavad Gita to his friend Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, north of New Delhi. This holiday usually takes place in early December, and is considered the appearance day of the Bhagavad Gita.

• Hanukkah (Judaism, December 8 evening to December 15), also known as the Festival of Lights, commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple, and is celebrated over eight days and nights, usually falling in December. Jews celebrate Hanukkah by lighting a Hanukkiah, or menorah. 

• Christmas (Christianity, December 25) celebrates the birth of Jesus. Christians understand this as the “incarnation,” which means that God became human in the person of Jesus Christ. Festivities such as carols, candles, and trees are more modern ways of celebrating this holiday. These celebrations emphasize the importance of Jesus’ birth and God's desire to be among us.

For more information on these and other holidays, visit the Center for Spiritual Life's Guide to Religious Observances. Did we miss a spiritual observance that is important to you? Please reach out to slife@brandeis.edu.

The Hiatt Career Closet is looking for donations of good-quality, professional attire to help Brandeis students in need. Please consider donating gently worn business professional or business casual clothing you no longer wear during this season of giving.

All donations go towards providing students with FREE attire for interviews, career fairs, networking events and other career-oriented activities and occasions. The entire closet relies on the generous donations of community members like you so students can feel prepared, professional and comfortable when making a first impression.

Hiatt accepts anything that is in good condition (no rips, stains, missing buttons or broken zippers) and cleaned prior to donating, but we are specifically in need of: blazers and sport jackets, feminine-style clothing (i.e. dresses, skirts, blouses) and dress shirts and ties.

All donations can be placed in the bins outside of the Hiatt Career Center in the Usdan Student Center which are available 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Donations are tax-deductible and a receipt can be provided during normal business hours by Hiatt’s front desk.

Congress has instituted the FAFSA Simplification Act, which involves a major redesign of the processes and systems used to award federal student aid. Among these changes are fewer questions for students and families, the renaming of the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to the Student Aid Index (SAI), a requirement for all students and contributors (i.e., parents and/or spouses) to provide consent for the FAFSA to pull tax data from the IRS, the elimination of siblings in college from the calculation of the SAI, and, in the case of divorced or separated parents, a redefinition of which parent is considered the custodial parent. Due to these changes, the FAFSA will not be available on October 1 st but rather in late December.

As these changes are implemented SFS will work to assist students and their families through this process. For more information about these changes, FAQs, and how you can prepare now, please visit our Changes to FAFSA website.

Students and families will receive the spring 2024 bill electronically via Nelnet next week. The due date is December 15, 2023. Students should access the Nelnet Student Account Portal, using the link provided in their Student Account worklet in Workday, to view e-bills and account transactions, make payments and manage monthly payment plans.

If students have not already done so, 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.

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 security team plans to enable additional email protection in response to increased sophisticated phishing and other attacks. Proofpoint, our email security vendor, provides spam filtering and email protection. Beginning December 15, Proofpoint will provide additional visibility into phishing and other malicious email attacks by scanning incoming emails for known malicious hyperlinks. Proofpoint URL Defender automatically rewrites links found in incoming email messages to evaluate whether the linked content is malicious. Users will notice that URLs associated with embedded links will now be visible as text. For more information about Proofpoint URL Defender, including examples, please see the ITS website. If you have any questions or issues with information security, please email security@brandeis.com.

Staff and Faculty are encouraged to learn more about Brandeis Online during the upcoming information sessions. Sign up to learn more:

• UPDATED: Dec. 13 at noon: Brandeis Online: a full-funnel view into the marketing and recruitment initiatives, RSVP

• Jan. 23 at noon: Brandeis Online: Programs, certificates, and growth plan, RSVP

The International Business School has partnered with Brandeis Online to launch a new part-time, STEM-designated Online Master of Science in Business Analytics program taught by the same world-renowned faculty as our in-person program. Eligible employees may receive up to 100% tuition remission. For more information, please contact Brandeis Online.

The MakerLab is excited to announce that we have a new fleet of Prusa Mini+ 3D Printers! If you'd like to come use the new 3D Printers, there are three options: 

1. Come to MakerLab Open Hours (Tuesday 5-7 p.m. and Thursdays 2 - 4 p.m.) 
2. If you've *already completed* Intro to 3D Printing, you can come to a Hands-On Refresher to learn the Prusa Mini 
3. Take our Intro to 3D Printing workshop which is now based on the Prusa Mini.

Finding Focus – Wednesday 12/13, 10 – 11 a.m. Multitasking, procrastination and distractions make it difficult for us to send all our attention in one direction. The good news is focus is a skill that can be developed. This workshop will teach you some tricks to help you overcome common focus barriers.  

Webinars offered by New Directions. For all webinars there are Sessions at noon – 1 p.m. and 3 - 4 p.m.

• Wednesday 12/13 - Managing Holiday Stress morning session or afternoon session
• Wednesday 12/20 – Providing Effective Feedback morning session or afternoon session

Please register on the training website for the following workshop (presented virtually):

• Breezing Through the Holidays – Tuesday 12/12, 9 – 10 a.m.

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

Brandeis is happy to be hosting a family vaccination clinic on December 11 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Levine-Ross Rooms, Hassenfeld. Faculty and Staff are welcome to bring all family members, ages 3 years-old and up, for age and condition appropriate vaccinations.  Please review the vaccination information carefully and check your medical insurance plan pharmacy coverage ahead of time. Register online.

Vaccination recommendations are based on a person’s age, occupation, travel plans, and pre-existing conditions – are you up to date on your vaccinations? Learn more about how vaccinations work, common side effects, and which ones are right for you.

Tufts Health Plan continues to offer free webinars each week, including regular sessions of guided mindfulness, Zumba, yoga and rotating health and wellness topics. For a list of topics and registration information, please visit Tufts Health Plan Living Well at Home page.

December 15 is the deadline to participate in the Healthy You Program. The Healthy You program is designed to support your wellbeing! Start earning points for participating in a variety of informative, fun, and interactive online activities. The Healthy You digital engagement platform is easily accessible from most devices so you can participate and stay on top of your goals wherever you are!

For rewards and to get started go to Healthy You. Please visit Human Resources website to view more information and registration details.

The Division of Emergency Management for Public Safety wants to remind our community of the importance of being prepared for all types of emergencies. As we look towards the holidays, being prepared for winter weather ahead of any potential storms is especially important. There are many resources available to understand the differences in terminology for storms, how to prepare at home, for travel, and what to do in an emergency during a storm. Visit ready.gov to learn more and start preparing today.

As a reminder, Mid-Year Performance reviews must be completed in Workday by Friday, December 8.

A New Job Aid has been added for the Manager Dashboard for Performance Reviews, which will allow managers to see the status of mid-year reviews for their department. A Job Aid is also available to locate performance reviews in Workday. For more information please visit the TAP Website or contact us at humanresources@brandeis.edu or 781-736-4474.

We are pleased to announce that starting January 1st Brandeis will be partnering with KGA as our new Employee Assistance Program. KGA offers 24/7 access to a network of experts providing support for mental health, childcare, eldercare, legal, financial issues and more. KGA’s confidential services are available to you and your adult household members, at no cost to you. Keep an eye out for more information to come! For those using our current EAP, those services will continue through the end of the year or until you've concluded your existing case with New Directions. 

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.

View your vacation balance in Workday > Absence > Absence Balance.

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.

Brandeis University is pleased to offer a new Roth 403(b) contribution source effective January 1, 2024. Roth 403(b) contributions allow you to contribute after-tax dollars to the plan now, withdrawals from these funds will be tax-free when you become eligible or when you retire.

In preparation for the addition of the Roth 403(b) contribution, the current 403(b) Employee Basic contribution source and 403(b) Supplemental contribution source will be combined to one before-tax Employee Election source.

To ensure that all information is transferred accurately from the current sources to new sources, there will be a brief “Blackout Period” when you will be unable to change your 403(b) supplemental deferral election on NetBenefits.

The “blackout period” will begin at midnight Eastern time on December 15, 2023 and is expected to end on December 31, 2023. During this time your benefit under the 403(b) will continue to be credited with gains and losses based on your investment allocations on file and will not be out of the market.

Participants in the Plan should watch out for notification from Fidelity this week. Visit the HR Benefits Retirement Saving Plan page for additional information.

It is located on the Workday homepage under Announcements as well as the payroll website. Please reach out to payroll@brandeis.edu if you have any questions.

Remember to use your FSA by the end of the year 2023. Grace period runs through March 15, 2024. You are allowed to join and/or make changes only during open enrollment or a qualifying event.

Visit the Human Resources Benefits website for more detailed information about Flexible Spending Accounts and/or the FSA Store.

If you chose to enroll in the HDHP and HSA for 2024, you must spend your entire Health FSA account balance by 12/31/2023. You must have a zero balance before 1/1/2024 or you will not be eligible to participate in the HSA for 2024. Please visit Human Resources Benefits website for important IRS regulations.

In December be on the lookout for your new Harvard Pilgrim Health Care cards!  As of January 1, 2024 your current Tufts Health Plan will transition to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care health plan.

MyConnect, 866-623-0184 is a Member Advocate service and is your direct connection to Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. Visit the Human Resources Benefits page for more information. 

Looking to plan an upcoming event? Here are the general steps you will want to follow.

1. Fill out a Department Event request form - we recommend 4-6 weeks in advance
2. Discuss all of your event needs with your event manager (furniture setup, catering, technology, rental equipment, etc.)
3. Place your catering order (if needed)
4. Make any changes to your first draft of event details
5. Confirm all event details, provide a signature and a cost center

For more detailed timelines and important deadlines please visit the University Events website.

Winter is coming.... Let's do what we can to stay warm, and prevent slips and falls during icy or wet conditions. Keep yourself safe with the following suggestions:

• Look out for black ice, and remember that the indoor entrances can also be slick.
• Wear shoes with good traction and try carrying your belongings in a backpack instead of shoulder bags. This allows for better balance and keeps your hands free.
• Take the campus shuttle. Consider using the shuttle to stay warm, dry, and safe if you need to go between buildings around campus.
• If you get injured while at work, we want to know! Please contact Public Safety (6-3333) for immediate assistance, and take steps to keep yourself safe. All accidents and injuries should be reported to your supervisor and documented using this reporting tool.