The intercollegiate edHealth Walking Challenge is back. Brandeis, edHEALTH and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care are proud to invite you to take part in the Seventh Annual Walking Challenge for all employees. While Harvard Pilgrim is hosting the Walking Challenge for all employees, this does not affect your medical health plan coverage and you are eligible regardless of your health insurance carrier.

Employees can compete individually or as a team. Each member of a team tracks their steps individually, but team members can walk together to help each other boost their step count. Everyone who meets the weekly step challenge of an average of 5,000 steps per day will be entered into a raffle to win great prizes each week.

For more information please visit Human Resources Benefit page under Work Life Balance/edHealth Annual Walking Challenge.

Due to severe staffing shortage, University Events is extending its scaled black-out period beyond Commencement through June 14. This extension is to ensure adequate planning and resources are available for the already scheduled events. During the black-out period, the UE team will not be able to support additional events other than those that are mission critical to the institution, including all events managed by the Special Projects team. UE event support typically includes scheduling of spaces, coordination of university support services (dining, facilities, MTS), rental and delivery of furniture or materials, event design, and timing or flow. Some events may take place during the black-out period without UE support, however. Campus facilities such as classrooms or multi-purposes spaces can be available for as-is space reservations, meaning that no additional services (custodial, catering, AV support, or furniture rentals/setup) are required as part of the reservation with University Events. If you have any questions, please contact university events or Lois Stanley.

Our May ITS Spotlight is on the PMO Team. Led by Jonathan Estwing, the PMO Team leads the portfolio of governance-approved IT projects from initiation to closure. They partner with stakeholders across campus to identify and implement IT solutions to meet their needs. Please visit the PMO Team Staff Spotlight to read more about this accomplished team, what brought them to Brandeis, and how they enjoy spending their time outside the office.

The Library will have extended hours during the Finals period. Please check the Library hours for details.

The financial aid renewal application deadline for the 2024-2025 academic year has passed. Students returning for the next academic year who would like to apply for need-based scholarship funds must submit the 2024-2025 CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE, the 2024-2025 Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and copies of 2022 student and parent Federal Income Tax Returns. Students who wish to apply only for federal sources of financial aid need only complete the FAFSA (taxes will be requested upon receipt of this application only if necessary).

SFS began receiving FAFSA applications from Federal Student Aid (FSA) in mid- March and corrected applications in mid-April. You may check your Financial Aid Portal, which you can access via the link on the Financial Aid page in Workday, to see if your FAFSA has been received by Brandeis and if any further action is required. You may also check this portal to view any other missing documents needed to complete your renewal application. FSA has recently enabled the ability for students to correct their FAFSA forms (e.g., submit signatures, provide permission for the IRS data transfer, etc.). Please check our Changes to FAFSA page for updates.

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 Alumni Association is seeking nominations for two awards that recognize alumni service to Brandeis.

The Service to the Association Award is presented in recognition of individuals who have worked on behalf of the university and whose contributions are likely to have a lasting, positive impact on the Alumni Association and the university.

The Emerging Leadership Award recognizes individuals who have less than 10 years of volunteer service to Brandeis and have demonstrated leadership, hard work and commitment resulting in a positive impact on the university.

You are invited to submit nominations via this form by Friday, May 3.

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

Pentecost (May 19) The Christian holiday of Pentecost takes place 50 days after Easter. It celebrates the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit on the community after Jesus ascended into heaven. The story from the Acts of the Apostles describes this gift of the Spirit as a moment that unites all peoples. While the early followers of Jesus were from different places around the Mediterranean, spoke different languages and had different cultures, the Spirit made them one people. It is, in a sense, the "birthday" of the church.

Buddha's Day (May 23) The Buddha's life, death and enlightenment are celebrated differently in different traditions and cultures. Vesak celebrates the birth, death, and enlightenment of the Buddha in South Asia. It occurs on the full moon of the fourth lunar month. Tibetan Buddhists call this Saga Dawa Düchen, as part of the entire lunar month celebration of Saga Dawa. In Mahayana Buddhism, more prevalent in Central and East Asia, enlightenment is celebrated separately from birth and death. In Japan, the birth of the Buddha was marked on April 8 with Hana Matsuri, or the Flower Festival. The focus of many holidays include meditation, singing, being kind to animals and doing good deeds, to remember Siddhartha Gautam (Shakyamuni Buddha) who became enlightened while sitting under the Bodhi tree. His realizations on the root of suffering and how to be free of it formed the basis of modern Buddhism, including the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.

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.

Brandeis faculty, staff, and students who receive salary payments through the Payroll Office will be required to confirm they have initiated any changes to their payment elections (direct deposit accounts) in Workday. Twenty-four hours after initiating the Workday changes, users will receive a task in Workday to approve the change. Additionally, confirmation emails will be sent to your Brandeis email and your personal email on file in Workday as well as a notification in Workday that the change has been completed. You can find instructions for updating your payment elections in Workday and how to update your personal email address as well as other Workday-related training material on the Workday@Brandeis website. For questions related to this change, please email help@brandeis.edu.

The Brandeis community will notice changes to the online Office Directory as the University transitions to a new identity management software vendor. Beginning May 22, a publicly available online office directory for academic and administrative departments will include contact information such as mail stops, department phone numbers and email addresses, campus location information, and available web pages. An internal online office directory, available only to Brandeis faculty and staff, will include faculty and staff contact information.

All directory information, including office locations, mail stops, and Brandeis telephone numbers, will be newly maintained in Workday. Updates to the current directory will stop on May 14. Department HR Partners will receive access to change office information in Workday beginning May 22; additional information, including training materials, will be available in the next InBrief on May 16. For information about the Identity Management project, please visit the ITS website.

Webinars will be held from 1 – 2 p.m. on the following dates:

• Thursday 5/9 – Unlocking the Power Within: Nurturing Your Mental Wellbeing
• Wednesday 5/29 – Imposter Syndrome

For more information about KGA and the services they provide call 1-800-648-9557 or visit the KGA website log-in password: brandeis.

We invite you to sign up for a Moodle workshop or visit the Brandeis Moodle Getting Started documentation. The Library’s Instructional Technologists are here to help you in the move to Moodle 4.

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

• The Sandwich Generation – Tuesday 5/28, 9 – 10 a.m.

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

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health plays a vital role in our overall health and well-being. How do you care for your mental health? Mental Health Awareness Month is your gentle reminder to check-in. Join Occupational Health Services on May 8 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Shapiro Campus Center for chair massages, raffle prizes, and lots of education, resources and self-care tools! Learn more. Chair Massage Sign-up: 15 minute time slots, total of 8 spots. Walk-ups may be available if there are no-shows.

KGA is Brandeis' Employee Assistance Program, and your guide to emotional well-being. This service is provided by Brandeis University and is available to you and your adult household members. This is a free and confidential program providing solutions and support on any number of work-life. Take a few minutes to learn more!

• Introduction to KGA (3 minutes)
• Service Overview Video (17 minutes)

Call 1-800-648-9557 or visit the website. Log-in password: brandeis

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (HPHC) plan offer free fitness and wellbeing 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 Human Resources Benefit page under Work Life Balance/ Well-Being Programming.

Brandeis has contracted with KnovaSolutions, which is a confidential no-cost personal health service designed to assist employees and dependents with serious health conditions who are enrolled in our Harvard Pilgrim plans. This is a completely voluntary and confidential service which is intended to help individuals to better understand and manage their medical care, treatments, and medications.

Working with Harvard Pilgrim, KnovaSolutions can identify participants through claims data that may indicate the presence of significant health challenges. KnovaSolutions will then reach out to eligible participants via letters and/or phone calls to explain the services they offer and to answer any questions.

We believe KnovaSolutions can be beneficial to our employees and/or dependents who have serious health issues, and we encourage anyone who is contacted by them to have a discussion in order to see if their services might be helpful. Again, these services are voluntary and confidential. They can be discontinued at any time.

For more information please visit our Human Resource Benefit page under Work-Life Balance/KnovaSolutions.

MyConnect, (866-623-0184) a Member Advocate service team, is your direct connection with Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (HPHC). Available to you and your family members, whether you have questions about benefits, need help finding care or you’re trying to meet your healthy lifestyle goals. You’ll have one-on-one support, so the focus is always on your needs. As HPHC is a new vendor for Brandeis the MyConnect team is reaching out to HPHC members to introduce the service and answer any questions you may have about your plan. They can help employees already enrolled and new hires:

• Find primary care providers (PCPs) and specialists
• Answer questions about coverage and claims
• Prepare you for medical appointments by checking the status of a pre-authorization or referral, and coordinate your care
• Connect you with our clinical care team of nurses, social workers, lifestyle coaches, pharmacists and care coordinators

For more information please visit our Human Resources Benefit page under Health Insurance/2024 Medical, Dental, Vision Plans & Rates.

KGA MindTide App: Free stress and anxiety self-help app for Faculty and Staff. Drawing on proven Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) methods, MindTide offers a variety of brief, easy-to-use exercises, courses, and audio tools. You choose the topic and format, with sessions as short as five minutes.

1. Download MindTide onto a mobile device Apple Store or the Google Store.
2. Use your unique access token give from your KGA account.
3. Enjoy!