COVID-19 All CUPPA Update 7/9/2020
SENDING ON BEHALF OF DEAN PAGANO:
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Dear CUPPA Faculty and Staff,
Thank you for patience and persistence as we wade through the current COVID-19 pandemic and recovery period. We are working diligently on the safe return to campus of students, faculty, and staff who opt to return to CUPPA Hall and AEH. Please read this lengthy memo very carefully, as it contains much important and useful information. A more detailed memo will be sent later this month with up-to-date information on the reopening of campus and CUPPAH/AEH in anticipation of classes and students in the fall.
Building Closed in July
CUPPA Hall and AEH will remain closed at least until the end of July. Faculty/staff offices may be accessed for retrieval of items but not for extended stay. No visitors are permitted until further notice. All CUPPA offices will remain staffed and operating virtually during business hours, 8:30 to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Please contact the CUPPA Front Desk, cuppafrontdesk@uic.edu, if you intend on entering the building at any point.
Reopening
CUPPA’s Pandemic Recovery Annex is being prepared by the CUPPA Building Reopening Committee chaired by Associate Dean Kelly LeRoux. We expect to hear final campus approval of our plan in the coming weeks and will communicate specifics at that time via email and on our website. The plan will include the following information with more details and additional pertinent information. Stay tuned for more coming soon!
Wellness Screening
When the building reopens, all CUPPA faculty and staff will use a campus designed Enhanced Passive Strategy of Self-Screening with Supervision to enter CUPPA Hall and AEH. Prior to coming to UIC, employees will take their temperature and report it on a web-based form along with answering several basic wellness questions. All CUPPA employees (faculty, staff, students, GAs, RAs, TAs, student workers) will be required to complete the form within 30 minutes of entering the building. CUPPA Hall and AEH are accessible via I-card only. Completion of the form is linked to the employee’s I-card access. If an employee swipes into the building but does not submit the form within 30 minutes, an email alert is sent to the respective unit’s designated monitor. Wellness checks will also be required for all visitors when the building’s opening (which will continue to be I-card accessible only during all hours) is approved. A contactless thermometer will be available on each floor of CUPPA Hall and the second floor of AEH. More detailed instructions regarding the wellness screening procedures will be emailed and available on the CUPPA website near the end of July. (Please note that once students are permitted in the building to meet with faculty and staff, they will be subject to the same screening and will be required to face mask while meeting staff and faculty in their offices. More detail will be forthcoming.)
Social Distancing
The following are some of the many measures being implemented now … and there will be more:
- building access control via I-card only,
- installation of Plexiglas barriers at reception desks and in appropriate offices,
- new signage on classroom and conference room doors indicating new capacity limits,
- new signage in elevators and select hallways and floors indicating social distancing marks.
Personal Protective Measures
EVERYONE will be required to wear their own masks in common spaces of the building, including hallways, restrooms, foyers, conference rooms. Everyone should be masked entering and exiting the building, and anytime outside of their individual office space. Should someone enter your individual office space, both you and the visitor are required to be masked. A limited supply of disposable masks will be available if a mask is forgotten or needed by a visitor.
Cleaning and Disinfection
Hand sanitizer dispensers will be located outside the elevators on each floor and in all “high touch” areas, including inside suite/unit doors. Facilities Management staff have heightened cleaning protocols for washrooms and common areas. Faculty and staff are responsible for cleaning and sanitizing their own work stations and should not share workspaces. Graduate research assistants will be assigned non-shared cubicles.
I encourage all CUPPA faculty and staff to closely review UIC’s Road to Recovery. You will find a wealth of information regarding the return to campus and campus level requirements for safety and continuity planning.
In addition, please note that currently, all employees who can work remotely should continue to do so. Because of the uncertainty regarding the reopening of K-12 schools into the fall, changes in child care, elder care, and other circumstances, we must continue to be flexible in employee scheduling and embrace remote working options when chosen by the employee.
Associate Dean Brenda Parker and her team along with the department academic advisors and directors of graduate studies have been working diligently to virtually welcome our current and new students to the college. I greatly appreciate everyone’s efforts in creating and keeping up our CUPPA community virtually.
Please continue to follow the latest guidance from the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Illinois Department of Public Health. Everyone should practice physical distancing, wear a face covering, and wash their hands often.
Thank you to the CUPPA Building Reopening Committee for their hard work on reopening CUPPA Hall/AEH in the near future: Kelly LeRoux, Norma Ramos, Jackson Morsey, Paul Metaxatos, Dominic Belcaster, Sarah McDonald, Kathleen Engstrom, Lynn Ross, and Jodi White Jones. I look forward to seeing you again – from a distance – as we continue our vital work of promoting just, resilient, and livable communities.
Thank you and be safe,
Mike
Michael A. Pagano
Dean, UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs http://cuppa.uic.edu
Director, Government Finance Research Center http://gfrc.uic.edu
412 S. Peoria St. (MC 350)
Chicago, IL 60607
312-413-3375