Dear Colleagues,

This message is to remind you of the University’s policy regarding religious accommodations for faculty, staff, and students, in particular how this policy applies in academic activities. I am also sharing guidance on reasonable accommodations for participation in certain extra-curricular activities.

Religious Observance

Faculty and instructors are expected to reasonably accommodate individual religious practices unless doing so would result in fundamental alteration of class objectives or undue hardship to the University’s legitimate business purposes. Such accommodations may include rescheduling an exam or giving a make-up exam, allowing a presentation to be made on a different date or assigning the student appropriate make-up work that is intrinsically no more difficult than the original assignment.

The full policy may be found at this link.

Your adherence to this policy is an important aspect in supporting our University’s commitment to building and maintaining a welcoming and inclusive learning and work environment.

Extra-Curricular Activities

Faculty and instructors are strongly encouraged to allow students to complete work missed due to participation in extra-curricular activities that enrich their experience, support their scholarly development, and benefit the University community. Examples include participation in scholarly presentations, performing arts, and intercollegiate sports, when the participation is at the request of, or coordinated by, a University official. Faculty and instructors are also encouraged to respond when the Student-Athlete Success Program requests student progress reports. This will enable the counselors to give our students appropriate advice.

In both cases, for conflicts with final examinations, students should contact the Dean of Students Office. Students should be encouraged to review the course syllabus at the beginning of the semester for potential conflicts and promptly notify their instructor of any anticipated accommodation needs. Students are responsible for making arrangements in advance to make up missed work.

Thank you for your attention to this reminder.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey

Jeffrey Shoulson
Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

Please review the Guidelines on FY23 Collective Bargaining Increases for Members of the AAUP Bargaining Unit, issued on May 27, 2022. Dates and process language have been revised as in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement.

To:            Deans
From:       Carl W. Lejuez, Ph.D., Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
RE:           FY23 Provost Fund Guidance

The “Provost Fund”[1] is a program that identifies a pool of university resources to be used for faculty salary increases for the purposes of retention, compression and inversion equity, and special achievement. The University may consider requests for salary adjustments for these categories according to the processes outlined below, which are broken down into two distinct phases.

Phase I – Retention

Definition: Retention increases aim to support the University’s efforts to retain exceptional, highly productive faculty from considering external offers from competing institutions. The Provost will consider pre-emptive retention requests in cases where there is evidence a faculty member is considering external opportunities.

Process:

• The Provost will consider retention requests from the Deans throughout the academic year, as the urgent nature of these requests require a timely response from the University.
• Faculty may request a retention increase by emailing their Department Head (copy Dean or designee) directly. This request should include any relevant supporting documentation (i.e. evidence of recruitment, request to interview, or offer letter from competing institution).
• The Department Head must review the request directly with the Dean in a timely manner.
• If the Dean intends to retain the faculty member, he or she will bring the request directly to the Provost (copy Vice Provost) with a requested increase amount and funding arrangement. If the Dean does not intend to retain the faculty member, he or she will notify the Department Head and faculty member of the decision at that time via email.
• The Provost will evaluate retention requests from the Dean immediately. If the retention increase is approved by the Provost, the faculty member will receive a retention letter from the Dean memorializing the details of the arrangement, which will go into effect August 23, 2022.

Phase II – Equity and Special Achievement

Definition:

Compression/Inversion Equity: Salary compression occurs when a competitive market urges hiring managers to bring new faculty in at higher salaries than in previous years, which may compress the difference in salary between ranks. Salary inversion refers to the situation in which faculty members in lower ranks earn more than colleagues in higher ranks. These patterns may be more generally referred to as inequity due to “compression/inversion.”

Special Achievement: Special achievement may be awarded in situations in which a faculty member has received a significant external acknowledgement such as a major prize or award.

Process:

• The Provost will consider compression/inversion equity and special achievement requests at the end of the academic year, as these requests are typically reviewed in parallel with the annual review and merit process (if applicable).
• Faculty may request a salary adjustment for compression/inversion or special achievement by emailing their Department Head (copy Dean or designee) between April 1, 2022 and June 1, 2022. This request should include any relevant supporting documentation (i.e. evidence of compression/inversion or major prize/award).
• The Department Head must review the request directly with the Dean or designee no later than June 6, 2022.
• The Dean will compile all faculty requests along with Department Head or Associate Dean recommendations. The Dean will submit his or her own recommendations to the Provost (via provost@uconn.edu) no later than July 1, 2022. If the Dean does not intend to forward a faculty member’s request to the Provost for review, he or she will notify the Department Head and faculty member of the decision at that time via email.
• The Provost will evaluate compression/inversion and special achievement requests from the deans by July 22, 2022. If a compression/inversion adjustment or special achievement award is approved by the Provost, the faculty member will receive a letter from the University indicating the increase amount and new salary no later than August 15, 2022. If the Provost does not approve a recommendation from the Dean, the Dean will notify the Department Head and faculty member of the decision at that time via email.
• All salary increases go into effect August 23, 2022.

Cc:          Christopher Delello, Chief Human Resources Officer

Karen Buffkin, Executive Director of Employee Relations, Labor and Employment Attorney

[1] Contingent upon reaching an agreement on a successor collective bargaining agreement that includes such provision in effect on or after July 1, 2022.

Dear colleagues,

We are writing today with some reminders related to University travel that are of particular importance as we face continued disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic. Failure to follow appropriate policies and procedures related to University travel may result in unreimbursed out-of-pocket expenses for individuals. We hope that the following guidance can ensure all faculty and staff avoid such situations.

• Pre-approval: All work travel by University employees, students, and guests must be pre-approved prior to travel. University employees are required to submit their Travel Request for pre-approval in Concur. Pre-submission of travel requests in Concur also allows the University to offer support in the event of an emergency. Failure to obtain pre-approval of travel will result in non-reimbursement of travel expenditures.
• Travel agent: We strongly recommend that all University travel is booked through our travel agent, Anthony Travel, using the University-sponsored T-card. Anthony Travel has a dedicated UConn agent. Travel can also be booked online within the Concur system where you can search for flights similar to the Expedia application.
  • If you book travel independently and have to cancel this travel, you will be responsible for any resulting costs that will not be reimbursed by the University. For instance, if you book a non-refundable flight on Expedia and then have to cancel this travel due to the pandemic, you will not be reimbursed for the ticket. Anthony Travel will support any cancellation or postponement of travel that they have booked, including obtaining credits for the unused tickets. There are no booking fees or agent fees charged back to the department when using Anthony Travel.
• Driving: If you are choosing to drive instead of fly, please review section 3a of the Travel Policy. Costs for ground travel above the lowest reasonable commercial fare for your trip typically will not be reimbursed. If choosing road or rental car over air travel, please email travel@uconn.edu to discuss strategies for best supporting your trip.

If you have questions about your travel and need any support in finding the best way to travel to meet your needs, please reach out to travel@uconn.edu. The Travel Services staff are always happy to help. You can also find the FAQs on UConn domestic travel reopening here.

Sincerely,

Lloyd Blanchard
Interim Vice President for Finance and Chief Financial Officer

Jeffrey Shoulson
Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs

This message was sent to deans, associate deans, department heads, academic leaders, faculty, and academic staff.

Dear Colleagues,

As follow-up to this week’s message and town hall on our shift back to in-person operations this fall, I’m sharing clarification on two items related to academics.

1. Flexible work and telecommuting arrangements by staff are at the discretion of schools and colleges. Department heads should consult with their deans on any questions or issues regarding their staffing plans for fall; other academic leaders should consult with the Provost’s Office.
2. An instructor teaching an in-person course will not be expected also to offer that course in a virtual modality; however, they may voluntarily choose to do so based on appropriate and effective pedagogy.

Please continue to share your questions with our office and your deans. While we try to anticipate as many issues as we can, we also rely on your feedback to help us make sure we are being as comprehensive in our approach as possible.

Sincerely,
Carl

Carl Lejuez
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to remind you of the importance of submitting faculty consulting requests as we begin a new fiscal year. As you are hopefully aware, any faculty undertaking consulting activity (defined as any work for compensation related to your area of expertise or any work – even if unpaid – for faculty affiliated companies) requires approval through the online faculty consulting request system. Any prior approvals for consulting end with the fiscal year on 6/30/21. Therefore, if you have any ongoing activity, or if you are going to undertake any new consulting activities, you will need to submit new consulting requests.

During the summer months, you are still required to obtain prior approval for consulting activity. Please be aware that activities such as giving talks for honoraria, receiving a stipend for editorial work, teaching at another institution, or receiving payment for reviewing grants all fall under the definition of faculty consulting and require consulting approval.

If submitting approvals for ongoing activity in the new fiscal year, please be sure to choose the “start on approval” option.

Please also be aware that our usual recommendation is to submit consulting approvals at least one week ahead of the activity taking place. Approvals may be slower during the summer if approvers are on vacation, so try to submit activities well ahead of the start date wherever possible.

If you have any questions about the faculty consulting approval process, have questions about the status of your request, or have any other issues related to faculty consulting, please reach out to Sarah Croucher, Director of Academic Policy & Faculty Affairs (sarah.croucher@uconn.edu). Even if your question seems minor, we are always here to help support you through the approval process and to answer your questions.

 

Gladis Kersaint, Ph.D.
Vice Provost for Strategic Initiatives
Professor of Math Education
Member, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE)
Trustee, CT Science Center

Dear Colleagues,

Several weeks ago I shared that we would introduce a process to review in-person teaching exemption requests for faculty, teaching assistants, and other instructors with significant health risk associated with COVID-19 personally or within their household.

On reviewing the potential options with President Agwunobi and other leaders, and given that all students are now required to be vaccinated, we have decided that all requests to transition one’s teaching from in-person to virtual for medical reasons will be handled through the existing ADA process. This process involves contacting the ADA office and completing the Reasonable Accommodation Request Form. That form and further information on the ADA process is available on the HR website.

Requests for non-medical exceptions should continue to be submitted to deans and department heads, who will make determinations based on sound pedagogy and the best interests of academic programming as we continue moving forward with a return to predominantly in-person instruction.

Thank you for your patience as we navigate this pandemic. I take seriously the Provost’s Office’s responsibility to maintain a safe and productive environment for our academic mission and will continue to work closely with my administrative colleagues to promote safety within our classroom, lab, and other community spaces. As always, you are welcome to share your concerns with me.

Sincerely,
Carl

Carl Lejuez
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dear Colleagues, 

 

We are writing to communicate the new Relocation and Moving Procedures that have been developed in connection with the revised Relocation and Moving Policy approved by the Board of Trustees in February. In the event a new hire is offered a moving allowance as part of their employment offer, these procedures identify the various ways UConn is able to pay for their relocation expenses.  The procedures also provide detailed instructions to both the newly hired employee and the hiring department on how to utilize the services of our new moving services provider, Signature Relocation.   

 

The University has engaged Signature Relocation (“Signature”), an independent third-party moving services provider, to assist new employees with their relocations.  Signature can arrange the transportation of household goods and personal belongings, as well as the relocation of the employee and their family. Signature will pay for eligible employee relocations and household moves up to the approved amount by 1) making direct payments to vendors for agreed upon moving services, 2) reimbursing employees for out-of-pocket expenses, or 3) via a combination of both methods.  New employees who choose not to use Signature for direct payments to vendors after a consultation may pay for their move out-of-pocket and submit receipts through Signature for reimbursement. Departments and relocating employees can access information about Signature’s moving services by visiting the following webpage: https://www.signaturerelo.com/uconn/. 

 

Following this message, we will reach out to all new employees who have recently accepted an employment offer that includes a moving allowance. We will inform these employees of the relocation services Signature has to offer and connect them with a Personal Move Manager from Signature. Department heads and administrators will be copied on these communications. 

 

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the stakeholders who provided input in this process. These procedures represent not only more comprehensive, affordable, and coordinated services for our new employees, but also streamlined administration for our staff who support new employee moves. We are excited to share these improvements with you and hope they bring positive change to your unit and our new colleagues’ onboarding experiences. 

 

Thank you, 

 

Office of the Provost 

 

Office of Human Resources