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This message has been distributed to all UT employees with Principal Investigator (PI) status, as well as all UT graduate students and postdocs.
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Dear PI Colleagues,
We’re only two weeks away from the start of the fall semester, which seems both impossible and long overdue. The spring and summer were filled with many unknowns, and now new questions will arise about how to keep ourselves, our teams, and our students safe as in-person and online classes resume. As researchers, we’re used to working with uncertainty every day. Living in it, though, is different — and difficult.
I want to share a few updates with you as we approach the first day of classes, but — most important — I want to thank you again for your patience and persistence as we continue learning how to coexist with COVID-19 for the foreseeable future.
These updates will be most useful to those of you working on campus but may be generally informative for those working remotely as well.
Remaining at Research Level 3 (Including Cohort Schedules) as the Fall Semester Begins
To continue to minimize interactions between the research community and other UT community members, the Fall 2020 Planning Executive Committee has determined that the shift and cohort schedules that took effect July 27 will be maintained as we begin the fall semester. We will remain at Research Level 3 during this time. A few weeks into the semester, we can reassess current schedules as we monitor infection rates on campus. As UT reported yesterday, the majority of class seats will be fully online this fall, which will also help reduce interactions among individuals.
Protect Texas Together App Launching Next Week
The app that’s been developed by students and researchers from Engineering, Natural Sciences, and Dell Med is on track to launch (officially) next week. Some of the main features are a daily symptom tracker, a campus pass for those who appear to have no major COVID-19 symptoms, and a room log-in/log-out feature useful for campus contact tracing. The development team is also finalizing single sign-on authentication that will replace the need to sign in with a UTmail account. Please look for more information and instructions soon.
Ramping Up Proactive Community Testing
In his August 4 email, Interim President Hartzell announced the university’s goal of proactively testing 5,000 asymptomatic community members — on-campus staff and students — each week. I want to encourage those of you teaching or conducting research on campus to volunteer for proactive community testing. Being able to spot trends quickly is critical for containing potential outbreaks, both at UT and within Austin. And infection numbers, on aggregate, will help the university make important planning decisions this fall.
Remember, too, that all UT employees, including non-benefits eligible and student employees, can take up to two weeks of paid sick leave if they are advised to quarantine.
Your participation in proactive community testing and contact tracing is so important for minimizing on-campus COVID-19 infection rates. You’ll be contacted when the next opportunity to volunteer arises, so please be on the lookout for those messages and consider signing up. The testing team will also do its best to provide as much advance notice as possible, and we expect that to improve over the coming weeks.
Available Library Services
Just a reminder that starting this month, all faculty, students, and staff will be able to:
- Request materials from any UT Libraries location for pick up at the PCL Desk through the Pick It Up service;
- Request scans of articles or book chapters from print materials through the Get a Scan service;
- Continue to use ILS interlibrary loan services for requesting electronic material from other libraries; and
- Access study space, robust Wi-Fi, networked computer workstations, networked printing and scanners on the entry level of PCL.
SureWalk Resuming August 26
Also, all students, faculty, and staff can again request SURE Walkers to accompany them to their dorm, car, or awaiting ride if on campus or within the designated service area beginning August 26. In the meantime, UTPD has increased its evening patrols of the areas surrounding the most heavily trafficked research buildings on campus.
Thank you again for your patience these last several months. And as always, if you have questions or ideas for ways that we can help support your work, please let your school’s associate dean for research know.
Sincerely,
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Alison R. Preston, Ph.D.
Interim Vice President for Research
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