Month: September 2020

Dear UW-Green Bay Students, Faculty, and Staff,

Each morning at 7:30, I meet with campus leaders to discuss our COVID response and make sure we are taking every step we can to keep our campuses safe.  Every metric we can look at shows that our students, faculty, and staff have done a remarkable job to this point of the semester in preventing the spread of the virus.  As of this morning, our positivity rate is 1.17%, the capacity we have in campus housing to quarantine or isolate students that are COVID positive or symptomatic is only 13% full, and as of this week we have essentially doubled our capacity to test students to prevent an outbreak on campus.  Despite the national rhetoric that college campuses have contributed to the rise in COVID cases across our state and country, we are far below the rates of positivity in our surrounding communities and that is due to everyone’s careful attention to safety.

However, it is important for us to remember that our campuses in Green Bay, Manitowoc, Marinette, and Sheboygan do not exist in a vacuum.  We are fully integrated into our communities and our communities are struggling.  It is essential that we redouble our efforts to stay safe and not contribute to the alarming positive rates we are seeing in our region.  We also need to be accountable to each other.  Even when you are on your own time, please stay safe.  If you are doing things off hours that put you at risk, please isolate from work and campus.

I urge you to be safe, take proper precautions, don’t get complacent, wear a mask, wash your hands, and practice social distancing. If you have not already received the influenza vaccine (“flu shot”), please schedule that as soon as possible as cooler temperatures favor respiratory viruses.

I am so proud of our campuses for how responsibly we have handled the difficult circumstances of the fall.  Thank you.  Please keep safe, persist, and support each other.  Our communities are relying on us to do so and turn the curve of the pandemic in the opposite direction.

With gratitude,

Michael Alexander
Chancellor

Dear UW-Green Bay Faculty and Staff,

As communicated in the attached email from August 12^th, the UW-Green Bay Council for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion has agreed that training on inclusivity and equity will be required of all ongoing faculty and staff during the next academic year. During the month of October, we will be welcoming Dr. Nicole R. Robinson, Founder and CEO of Cultural Connections by Design, LLC, who will be facilitating diversity education training for all ongoing employees. Nicole’s organization “employs creative, innovative, and ‘out of the box’ processes to support organizations in creating an inclusive culture of belonging.” Please see attached for more information about Cultural Connections by Design, LLC. Her proprietary game-based learning tools have garnered notoriety in academic, corporate, and healthcare institutions. These sessions will allow our campus to share a common vocabulary and perspective on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Topics covered include systems of oppression, privilege points, and the responsibility each person has within their own sphere of influence.

All ongoing faculty and staff will be required to participate in this professional development opportunity during the month of October.

Faculty & Instructional Academic Staff:

For Faculty and Instructional Academic Staff, this professional development opportunity will be held in academic units. Please see below for the schedule of instructional faculty and staff participation:

Date	Time	Academic Unit(s)
Friday, October 2, 2020	3 – 5:30 p.m.	Natural and Applied Sciences
Friday, October 9, 2020	11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.	Nursing & Health Studies, Education, Social Work
Friday, October 9, 2020	2 – 4:30 p.m.	Humanities, Communication & Information Science
Friday, October 16, 2020	2 – 4:30 p.m.	Human Biology, Resch School of Engineering
Friday, October 23, 2020	11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.	Democracy & Justice Studies, Public & Environmental Affairs, Psychology
Friday, October 23, 2020	2 – 4:30 p.m.	Art & Design, Music, Theatre & Dance
Friday, October 30, 2020	2 – 4:30 p.m.	Austin E. Cofrin School of Business

Faculty & Instructional Academic Staff will automatically registered for their session based upon their primary academic unit. Please watch for an email from support@ccbydesign.org which will provide links to the virtual training. You will start receiving emails approximately five days prior to your applicable session. If you are unable to make the specific time/date for your department, please contact Melissa Nash at nashm@uwgb.edu for information on registering for one of the non-instructional staff sessions.

Ongoing Non-Instructional Academic Staff, University Staff, and Limited Employees:

Non-Instructional staff will have four options for dates/times:

Date	Time	Session
Thursday, October 8, 2020	9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.	Staff Session #1
Monday, October 12, 2020	1 – 3:30 p.m.	Staff Session #2
Wednesday, October 21, 2020	9 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.	Staff Session #3
Tuesday, October 27, 2020	1 – 3:30 p.m.	Staff Session #4

Non-instructional staff will receive communication on Friday, September 25, 2020 from support@ccbydesign.org providing a link to register for one of the four sessions. Please register for the session that works best in your schedule no later than Friday, October 2, 2020. Once registered, watch for an email from support@ccbydesign.org which will provide links to the virtual training. You will start receiving emails approximately five days prior to your applicable session.

Supervisors of non-instructional staff – if you would like your team to register for a common session, please communicate that directly with the employees within your unit.

Should you have questions about this professional development opportunity, please contact Melissa Nash at nashm@uwgb.edu or (920) 465-2013. If you have registration or other technical questions, please contact Debbie at support@cbydesign.org or (888) 774-2077.

Thank you very much for your engagement with inclusivity and equity initiatives at UW-Green Bay. As a reminder, the UW-Green Bay Council for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion is embarking on a strategic planning process. For more information about this process and contacts to get involved, please see the following website: Strategic Planning Process.

Thank you,

Michael Alexander
Chancellor

Corey A. King
Vice Chancellor for University Inclusivity and Student Affairs

Watch the recording as Chancellor Alexander, Sheryl Van Gruensven, and Kate Burns present at the first Coffee Break of the semester. Campus leaders provided a brief update and allowed the remaining time to take questions from faculty and staff.

Dear UW-Green Bay Students, Faculty, and Staff,

We are very fortunate to have an incredibly dedicated team of University Police that are committed to the safety of our students, faculty, and staff. In an effort to provide transparency to the campus community about our campus safety efforts, have constructive conversations, and provide feedback to our Police from the campus they serve, we have formed a new Police Community Advisory Council. More information on the Council can be found here. I am grateful to Chief David Jones and Assistant Professor Nolan Bennett from Democracy and Justice Studies for co-chairing the Council. Members of the Council are listed below. Thank you to everyone working together on this. I am pleased to see a great mix of faculty, staff, and students on the Council that will provide broad perspectives from across the university on issues of campus safety.

1. Cofrin School of Business representative—Heather Clarke
2. College of Health, Education and Social Welfare representative—Miranda Schornack
3. College of Science, Engineering and Tech representative—Brian Welsch
4. College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences representative—Nolan Bennett
5. Dean of Students representative—Erin Van Daalwyk
6. Athletics representative—Jermaine Rolle
7. University Union representative—Grant Winslow
8. Residence Life representative—John Gerow
9. MESA representative—Cindy Johnson
10. PRIDE Center representative—Stacie Christian
11. Student Representative—Jesse Rehn
12. Student Representative —Jada Patterson
13. Student Representative —Lincoln Panich

Best,

Michael Alexander
Chancellor

Dear UW-Green Bay Faculty and Staff,

I am excited to share that we will unveil Phase I of a vibrant new website on Tuesday, September 22. This summer, we challenged our Marketing and University Communication and Web Development teams to reimagine uwgb.edu. Their charge was to create a site that is better aligned with our mission, is distinct in appearance from other higher ed websites, and puts a high-level focus on the prospective student journey and their search for a university that will rise with them, and alongside them, during their educational journey.

The site we are rolling out next week also offers:

• Improved functionality, including simplified site navigation, a more robust site index and a layout that inspires site content editors to promote the offerings of your area
• Updated, engaging layouts and text that are focused on our unique personality as a university
• Photo, video, and story content that are interactive and engaging, shining a light on the true colors of UW-Green Bay’s students, faculty, and staff

What you will see next week is just the beginning. It represents only the first six top-level pages, which are enabled by more than 60,000 lines of code. Subsequent phases include programming for filtering of majors, building out the Admissions site, and redesigning program pages supported by paid marketing campaigns. In this initial phase, the impact of the redesign on the pages in most areas is minimal and contained to navigation. A member of the Website Redesign Team will reach out to you when it’s time to begin planning for redesign/refresh of pages in your program or area.  Converting our entire site will take years, but we now have staff in place to be continually updating our website so that we do not have to do a complete overhaul in the future.  As the website is the modern “front door” to the University, we will constantly strive to keep it vibrant, current, and reflective of who we are as an institution.  If you are interested, here is a brief preview of some of the changes.

Best,

Michael Alexander
Chancellor

Dear UW-Green Bay Faculty and Staff,

Thank you for your work this week as we continue to persevere through the opening this fall. On Wednesday, the University Committee requested that we consider some steps that we can take to support faculty and staff through this difficult period. We appreciate the thought the committee put into the request and will work to respond formally to the UC on each issue they brought up. However, we thought it would be helpful to respond to the campus now on the requests from the UC regarding staff that we know we can honor right away. Broadly, the UC has asked that we proactively embrace a campus-wide cultural change that seeks to create policies to support university staff and non-instructional academic staff that recognizes their differing employment structure based on wage and hour labor regulations. We agree and also reiterate our support for the following.

1. We will allow flexibility in work schedules that allow alterations to the typical state office shift or work day start and end times. If you need additional flexibility, please talk to your supervisor. If an agreement cannot be reached, please connect with Human Resources to discuss how we can provide as much flexibility as possible to your work.
2. We will consider options for voluntary reduced hours or FTE reductions as needed and staffing offices on a rotational basis when possible to help improve working conditions for employees at different stages of their careers. We know this is happening all over campus. If you feel this is not being considered by your supervisor, please contact Human Resources so that an agreement can be mediated that honors a work environment that is conducive to supporting our staff.
3. We will encourage open and honest one-on-one employee/supervisor conversations when need arises about care-giving during Covid-19. If the communication is not favorable, HR can immediately be brought in to mediate a solution that honors the needs of the employee and the work that needs to get done for the University.
4. As was mentioned in the Chancellor address at Convocation, it is our expectation that Supervisors have compassionate compliance with pre-Covid-19 rules on employment policies for university staff and non-instructional staff positions.

Without great non-instructional staff, we can’t achieve our mission. In short, we only succeed as a whole if each person can thrive personally and professionally. Creating a culture that honors this fact is essential for us to grow as an institution. If you ever feel you are not being treated fairly or with compassion, please let Human Resources know immediately. We expect hard work and a commitment to our mission from our employees. You should expect to be treated with compassion and fairness by us, especially as we all seek to support each other through this difficult time.

Have a great weekend. Thank you for all you do and we look forward to the week ahead.

Best,

Michael Alexander
Chancellor

Kate Burns
Interim Provost & Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs

Sheryl Van Gruensven
Chief Business Officer and Senior Vice Chancellor for Institutional Strategy

Dear UW-Green Bay Students, Faculty and Staff,

Last night, UW-Madison announced that they are moving to two weeks of virtual instruction and that students in two residence halls are quarantined due to rapidly rising positive COVID-19 test rates among students. We support the difficult decision made by UW-Madison Chancellor Blank and commend her leadership in protecting the health and safety of students, faculty, staff and the greater community.

Each UW campus community is unique and showing different infection rates as on-campus testing programs get underway. UW-Green Bay is fortunate to report low Covid-19 positive test results at this time.

We are proud of every member of the campus community who is working to protect each other and prevent community spread, but we also need to exercise continued caution. This virus’ transmission rates can change quickly. Should we find ourselves with a rapid increase of cases, UW-Green Bay will also move swiftly to adjust our learning delivery methods for the safety of our residential and commuter students and our community as a whole.

Aggressive COVID testing is one of the best ways for us to manage community spread, keep each other safe and have our campus remain open. Symptomatic testing is free and available for all UW-Green Bay students at the Wellness Center. Students in our dorms are scheduled to be tested every other week to closely monitor for any signs of an outbreak and, as of today, we will offer testing to non-instructional university staff who are in contact with students (e.g., police, dining services, residence hall, custodial, GBOSS) and face-to-face instructional staff. Information on testing for frontline employees will be communicated as soon as possible. We hope to extend this to other members of the campus community as soon as we are given the opportunity to do so.

Please continue to do your part in following all safety measures put in place as we protect each other. We want you to pursue your educational and professional pursuits with the mode of instructional delivery that is most comfortable for you given the safety constraints we currently have in place.

Stay strong and healthy,

Best,

Michael Alexander
Chancellor

The UW-Green Bay Office of the Chancellor emailed the following from UW System President Tommy Thompson to the UW-Green Bay Faculty and Staff on Tuesday, September 8, 2020.

With the fall semester now underway, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you, the fantastic faculty and staff of the University of Wisconsin System. You are the heart and soul of what we do. Particularly in these challenging times, it’s your ingenuity, your flexibility, your perseverance, and your compassion that makes all of this possible.

For that, I am – we all are – profoundly grateful.

We can feel the energy of thousands of students at campuses all around the UW System. They are so eager to learn, eager to be part of their vital campus communities, and eager to embrace the future. It’s a great reminder of why we’re all here.

I know there are still unknowns and questions. But I am confident that together, we will figure it out. Wisconsin has always been a “can do” state and now is no different. As we work together to reinvigorate the Wisconsin Idea for the generations ahead,

I thank you again for your dedication to the UW System and the people of Wisconsin.

I hope you have a great fall semester.

Tommy G. Thompson
President
1720 Van Hise Hall, 1220 Linden Dr
Madison, WI 53706
wisconsin.edu

Dear UW-Green Bay Faculty, Staff, and Students,

Thank you for everything you have done to get the fall semester started this week. As we head into the Labor Day weekend, I wanted to call your attention to a few things that will help us all stay informed and moving ahead successfully.

1. Thousands of details were put in place to be able to start classes this fall in multiple modalities, move students into campus housing, and safely offer opportunities for students to engage outside of the classroom. For the most part, everything has gone has planned. As we became aware of issues, they were immediately addressed. Please continue to communicate if you see anything that you feel needs to be addressed.
2. COVID-19 testing has begun on campus for students in campus housing and others involved in activities that require additional monitoring. Results of the tests can be found on our dashboard that is updated daily.
3. Students not living in campus housing may now also choose to get tested for COVID-19 by going to the MyPrevea app and registering for a COVID-19 test as a UW-Green Bay Student. Testing for non-residential students will occur on Mondays and Tuesdays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Fridays from 8 a.m. to noon on the Green Bay campus.
4. Please enjoy your long weekend and also continue to follow the safety guidelines we have put in place. If you experience any symptoms of COVID-19, please remember to communicate with your healthcare provider and isolate, except to get medical care.

Thank you all for taking care of each other, persisting in your education, and being resilient through the start of the semester. I am grateful to work for you. See you on Tuesday!

Best,

Michael Alexander
Chancellor