Brandeis Public Safety will conduct a test of its emergency siren and notification systems (BENS) on Wednesday, September 25, at approximately 11:30 a.m. This test aims to ensure the proper functioning of Brandeis University's emergency communication systems in the event of a real campus emergency.

During this test, individuals on campus and in nearby areas can anticipate hearing repeated siren alerts. Additionally, a text alert and voice message will be dispatched to all individuals who have registered a cellular phone number with Brandeis University and to all campus phones.

We encourage everyone to use this opportunity to discuss emergency response actions with classmates or colleagues, including:

1. Avoid - Deny - Defend: How to respond to an active threat, including methods to avoid, deny access, and defend against it.
2. Securement of spaces: Familiarize yourself with locking procedures, deadbolt locks, and barricading options for classroom doors.
3. Identifying safe areas: Determine locations for shelter and accountability in case of evacuation and identify individuals who may need assistance.
4. Severe weather precautions: Understand safety measures like staying away from doors and windows, sheltering in place, considering lower-level refuge if on upper floors, and following BENS instructions.

For additional training resources, please visit the Brandeis Public Safety website. These resources provide valuable information on emergency preparedness and response, ensuring you are well-equipped to handle various situations effectively. Your commitment to staying informed and prepared plays a crucial role in maintaining the safety and security of our campus community.

We have over 1100 guests registered to join us on campus for Family Weekend on September 27-29 and need your help to make it a success! Please volunteer to help out at Family Weekend and encourage others to join you. Volunteer roles include registration/check-in, golf cart drivers, hospitality, supporting a Shabbat hotel walk-back from campus, and more. Note that there are separate tabs for signing up for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and explanations of volunteer roles. Additionally, please only sign up in the green spaces. If you have any questions about an event, volunteer role, or the weekend, please contact Dvora Pemstein.

Thank you so much for your support of our students and their families! We couldn't do it without you!!

Preparations are underway to welcome alumni, family, and friends to Brandeis for Homecoming, Alumni, and Family Weekends from September 27-29, 2024. Tents will be installed on the Great Lawn and in the Gosman parking lot starting Wednesday, September 25. As a result, parking may be limited due to these setups and guest arrivals on Friday. Shuttles and golf carts will help transport visitors to J-Lot near the Charles River Apartments and various events throughout the weekend.

Alumni Weekend Schedule | Info

Family Weekend Schedule | Info

Homecoming and Hall of Fame Schedule | Info

Please consider supporting our students by donating non-perishable food and/or hygiene items to the Brandeis Pantry through Wednesday, September 25.

Collections bins will be set-up in the following locations:

• VPSA Suite, Gryzmish 106
• Office of Community Living, Usdan G032
• Office of Student Engagement, SCC 201
• Gosman Center, administrative office area

The items below are those most needed at the current time. Please make sure that any food donations are not expired or open.

• White rice
• Peanut butter and Jelly/Jam
• Cereal, oatmeal, granola/cereal bars
• Canned beans, soup, and canned tuna or chicken
• Pasta and sauce
• Toiletries/personal hygiene items
• Snacks (chips, pretzels, tortilla chips, crackers)

The first year and sophomores parking lottery will close on October 15. The cost of the permit is $300. Please contact the parking office with any questions.

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 University Space Committee, co-chaired by Campus Planning and the Provost Office, has developed a campus-wide policy around shared, flexible work environments that aims to support departments’ hybrid work plans while maintaining the quality of a campus experience. The intent of the policy is to reactivate campus office workspaces by optimizing the amount of shared work and social spaces and minimizing the amount of unoccupied and underutilized space.

Guiding principles for this policy are:

• Staff who work on campus 4 or 5 days per week should expect to be assigned one dedicated workspace.
• Staff who work on campus 0-3 days per week should expect workspace to be available to them when on campus, but not necessarily dedicated to their exclusive use.
• All staff should expect that a workspace where they can be productive will be available to them when on campus.
• Any employee who already has one dedicated office will not be allocated a second dedicated office.

The Office of Campus Planning will work with division and department leaders to develop shared and hoteling workspaces, including a mix of enclosed offices, workstations, and soft seating. Review the full Workplace Policy.

Starting in October, Facilities Services is changing custodial services for office spaces and workstations, reflecting the department's recently reduced staffing levels. Office space cleaning, currently performed once weekly, will be done monthly going forward. Office space trash/recycling, currently picked up once weekly, will be picked up twice monthly going forward. We advise that food waste be disposed of in kitchen areas. The scope and schedule for building office cleaning and trash/recycling pick up will be posted on the Facilities Services website by the end of September.

For additional cleaning, service requests can be submitted (e.g., due to a special event or an accident). For additional trash disposal, a bin will be set up in every building for office occupants.

There will be no change in the schedule for cleaning and trash/recycling pick up for non-office spaces including, for example: residence halls; common spaces like lobbies and kitchens; building core spaces like restrooms and circulation; shared spaces like classrooms, study spaces, and conference/meeting rooms; specific-use spaces like chapels, galleries, labs, and studios.

Student Employment has implemented a new, mandatory student employee supervisor training that will be conducted via Zoom. This training is required for those that oversee student hiring as well as those who manage the students themselves, including faculty members who supervise students. Topics that will be covered include:

• Student Employment Policies
• Timesheets
• Hiring in Workday
• Onboarding
• Supervisor Roles/Responsibilities

All supervisors must complete the training by the end of the Fall 2024 semester. Upcoming training dates are as follows:

• October 10/10 1-2 p.m.
• October 10/18 11 a.m.-noon
• October 10/25 11 a.m.-noon
• October 10/29 1-2 p.m.
• October 11/1 11 a.m.-noon
• October 11/5 1-2 p.m.
• October 11/8 11 a.m.-noon

Please register in advance for the training of your choice here. If you have participated in a session already this summer you do not need to sign up again!

Upcoming library workshops:

• Intro to ArcGIS StoryMaps, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 25
• Intro to Bash for Scientific Computing, 1 - 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, September 25
• Intro to Vinyl Cutting & 2D Graphics, 10 - 11 a.m., Mondays
• Getting Started with Atlas.ti (Windows Users), 12:10 - 1 p.m., Wednesday, October 2
• Version Control: Intro to Git and GitHub, 1 - 2:30 p.m., Wednesday, October 2

Moodle Workshops and Support

• Moodle Gradebook Workshop, 2 - 2:50 p.m., Tuesday, September 24
• Moodle Open Office Hours, 10 - 10:50 a.m., Thursday, September 26

Brandeis is rich with religious diversity. Holidays celebrated by the Brandeis community during the first half of October include:

• Rosh Hashanah (Oct 2 - 4) is the Jewish New Year, or "Head of the Year." Rosh Hashanah also marks the beginning of the Ten Days of Repentance, which conclude on Yom Kippur. Brandeis does not hold classes on Rosh Hashanah.
• Navaratri (Oct 3 -12) is celebrated by Hindus as the nine sacred nights dedicated to the Mother Goddess, in the month of October-November. Navaratri includes Durga Puja (Oct 8 - 12) and Dussehra (also known as Vijaya Dashami) (Oct 12) festivals. Navaratri literally means nine nights. During these nine nights of festivities, the goddess is worshiped in Her different forms of Durga, Lakshmi, and Sarasvati. The Navaratri celebrations are held at night to overcome the influence of tamas, the mode of ignorance that is said to prevail during this time. 

• Yom Kippur (Oct 11 - 12) Following Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur is also known as the Day of Atonement. Jews observe Yom Kippur with a 25 hour fast (this does not include children, or those unable to fast for health/safety reasons) and religious services. Brandeis does not hold classes on Yom Kippur.

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.

ITS will be implementing a new Identity Management System (IDM) on September 30. The existing system will be brought down on Wednesday, September 25 at 5 p.m. and the new one will be available on Monday, September 30. Brandeis community members will continue to be able to reset their Brandeis password and log into Brandeis systems during this period and there will be no impact to single-sign-on or Duo usage. However, we are asking managers and academic partners to delay approving new hires and new academic affiliate requests as anyone new to Brandeis cannot create Brandeis accounts (usernames and passwords) during this downtime. If your new employee, student, postdoctoral scholar, visiting researcher/scholar/scientist, or academic affiliate needs to create a Brandeis account, they will be unable to do so from Wednesday, September 25 at 5 p.m. until Monday, September 30, 9 a.m. If you have any questions regarding this, please reach out to IDM@brandeis.edu.

Human Resources is delighted to introduce a new 45-minute monthly training workshop tailored specifically for hiring managers: Recruitment and Hiring for Managers. These workshops are designed to provide managers with essential knowledge and proven strategies to attract, assess, and hire diverse talent while minimizing bias throughout the recruitment process. Managers at any stage of hiring are encouraged to participate. Please note, these sessions are intended to complement, not replace, the recruitment strategy meetings you have with your talent specialist. Together, we aim to enhance our ability to attract and hire talented, engaged, and diverse staff to Brandeis.

Monthly Manager Workshops

KGA Brandeis’s Employee Assistance Provider offers online training on a variety of topics. The online training is free with our membership and a-synchronous so you have the opportunity to do the training over a period of time. This month we are spotlighting two interesting topics:

• Conflict Resolution
• Developing New Managers – for Managers

This month we are spotlighting two interesting wellness offerings from KGA:

• Improving Self Awareness
• Stress Management

Financial Resources for the Latino Community

During this time Fidelity is offering money topics that may interest you and your family and videos on Knowing the value of money and Paying yourself and automating saving.

Exploring the Benefits of an HSA.

• Understand the benefits of an HDHP/HSA
• See how they work together
• Explore the features of the HSA

Register now! You're welcome to bring your lunch.

Meet with a Retirement Planner – To help plan for your future, Retirement Planners from Fidelity Investments are on campus regularly to provide one-on-one guidance appointments. Consultations may be conducted in person, virtually or over the phone.

• Manage your retirement savings goals
• Review investment choices
• Build a plan that is easy to put into action

To schedule your confidential consultation please visit Fidelity’s website or call 800.642-7131.

Access your Brandeis Retirement Savings Plan on NetBenefits.

The New England Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (NE-HERC) invites Brandeis staff and faculty to a free virtual event entitled: Dual Career Dialog: Article Review and Discussion with the Author.

When: Sep 3o, 1-2 p.m.

Join our session, where we will be talking about the article, “A review of the institutional landscape for dual-career hiring in higher education” with one of the article’s authors, Torin Monahan. Dr. Monahan is a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can find a link to access the article we will be reviewing and discussing here: Link.Springer.com

REGISTER HERE

For more information about our membership and the resources available to Brandeis faculty and staff visit their website: NE-HERC.org

Brandeis Public Safety has created a new Card Access email to triage card access requests. All requested changes, terminations, building hours/door requests, and other card access issues can be mailed directly to this email account. Please allow up to 72 hours for requests to take effect during normal business hours. This account is not monitored on weekends or holidays. Please plan accordingly for changes to take effect.

Any questions, please email card access.

Mark your calendars! Open Enrollment (OE) for 2025 is coming soon. This is your once-a-year opportunity to review and make changes to your health insurance and other benefits

• Open Enrollment October 28 – November 8
• Benefits Fair – October 30
• Where: Hassenfeld - Sherman Hall
• Why: Ensure your coverage fits your needs for the upcoming year.

Stay tuned for more information, including details on available plans and how to enroll.

All workshops would be held virtually (via WebEx) from 10-11 a.m. as follows:

Thursday, September 26: The Sandwich Generation

The Sandwich Generation is positioned in the middle. They care for aging parents while supporting their own children. In this workshop, participants will learn how to manage their parents’ medical, legal, and financial needs, while ensuring they stay financially prepared for their kids’ future financial needs.

Tuesday, October 15: Safeguarding Kids’ Identity and Online Privacy

Today’s youth generation is tech-savvy and connected online. However, parents still play an important role in helping them avoid online hazards such as identity theft, privacy, and cyber-bullying. This workshop covers important issues including online privacy tips.

Register

Time off is an important benefit, and we encourage all staff to use their available time to rest and re-energize. 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 the Summer winds down, 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 2024.

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). Additional information about employee benefits can be found on the Human Resources website.

WakuWaku Ramen (now open for breakfast and lunch at the International Business School World Court, Lemberg Academic Building) also offers catering services for a variety of cuisines, including Italian, American, Asian, and Mexican. Contact LouisaS@wongguys.com for information and services.

Vaccination clinics are once again coming to campus! This year we invite all faculty, staff, and family members ages 4+ to receive their seasonal and scheduled vaccinations. Come to any of our on-site vaccine clinics and help protect yourself, family, and students in a way that’s fast and convenient. Learn more here.

* All vaccinations are provided by Albertsons owned pharmacies and administered by their trained pharmacists. Coverage of vaccinations are determined by your personal pharmacy insurance plans. Register online