Dear UT Arlington Faculty and Staff,
As announced by President Cowley, Monday, April 8, will be an exciting time for our entire campus community to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as we witness a total solar eclipse. The Dallas-Fort Worth region will experience totality at 1:40 p.m., the first time Texas has seen a total solar eclipse since July 1878!
UTA is hosting several on-campus events, and we encourage employees to join us as a community from 1 to 2 p.m. on Monday, April 8, for this Solar-bration. We encourage you to wear your UTA blue to show your Maverick pride during the event. More information and updates on the festivities can be found on the Solar-bration webpage and will be announced in MavWire and TrailBlazer. From 1 to 2 p.m., UTA will cancel all classes and labs, as well as pause non-essential University services.
We understand that this will impact many of our faculty, staff, and students. Below, you will find guidance for faculty who have classes or labs scheduled during this time and for staff with questions about reporting their time.
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All UTA classes (including labs) scheduled between 1 and 2 p.m. on Monday, April 8, will be canceled. Please do not hold “optional” classes or require attendance from your students for any other activities during this hour. Please also do not reschedule canceled classes to a different day/time, as this could create conflicts and challenges with students’ regular class schedules, work schedules, or family responsibilities. For labs offered at multiple times throughout the week, faculty may allow students from the interrupted lab to participate in a lab held at a different time.
To offset any critical missed educational opportunities due to the cancellation, you may provide asynchronous course material to your students and/or adjust existing assignments. If you choose to do this, please be sure to explain all adjusted assignments and deadlines and clearly communicate expectations to students in advance.
If you have specific questions or need additional guidance, please contact provost@uta.edu or speak with your dean and/or department chair.
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If you are interested in participating in the total solar eclipse activities, please work with your department manager to ensure minimum disruption to normal operations between 1 and 2 p.m. It is important to follow these guidelines:
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- Communicate with your manager to ensure necessary arrangements are made and approval is given. We understand not everyone may be able to attend.
- While attending, please represent UTA with professionalism, pride, and respect for others. We will likely have thousands of visitors on campus during this event.
- Get to know your fellow employees! This is a great opportunity for building connections not only with your team, but others across UTA.
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If your manager approves your request to attend, there is no need to submit the time in TCP. This is considered a team-building event sponsored by UTA between 1 and 2 p.m. Attending this event is not mandatory, so we do not expect you to adjust your work hours to be able to attend. We know that some employees have varying schedules; you will not be required to attend outside of your normal working hours, but we encourage you to join us.
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If you have specific questions or need additional guidance, please contact askhr@uta.edu or speak with your supervisor.
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We look forward to this once-in-a-lifetime celebration and coming together for #MaverickMemories.
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Tamara L. Brown, Ph.D.
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
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| Jewel Washington
Vice President for Talent, Culture, and Engagement
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The University of Texas at Arlington
701 S. Nedderman Drive | Arlington, TX 76019 US
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