A warm welcome to all of you to the upcoming 2020 fall semester at UAH! We are glad that you are here and part of the University community. We look forward to your contributions to our educational, research and service mission.
This communication is to alert you to important clarifications and give you important new information and reminders.
Alerts and Clarifications
Remote Sections. Remote sections of traditional and hybrid courses are designated as online which means that if students take courses enrolled in remote sections and/or in regular online classes, then students will be classified as online students. This online classification is important because then students are not required to take reentry COVID-19 testing and participate in Charger Healthcheck. If students are enrolled in your traditional or hybrid course but tell you that they do not want to be on campus, it is important that you tell them to change to the remote section. If students stay in the on-campus traditional courses or the blue/silver sections of hybrid courses, then they are considered to be on-campus students and must be tested for COVID-19. If they are not tested, they will be disciplined and have an “all services hold” placed on their record, which keeps them from using any campus services and blocks their registration for the next semester. Hence, if a student wants to be online in a hybrid course, please tell them that they must be in a remote section.
In addition, if you are teaching a traditional or hybrid course, it is expected that you will hold on-campus classes. Please do not tell students there will be no on-campus activity for your courses. If you intend for there to be no on-campus activity, the course needs to be switched to remote or online. Otherwise, students will be required to complete all re-entry and continuing actions. In addition, having students in the correct sections will help ensure accuracy of their tuition and fee bills.
COVID-19 Testing Required for Students Enrolled in On-Campus Thesis and Dissertation Courses. Students enrolled in any on-campus course must be tested for COVID-19 prior to the start of school. Thesis and dissertation courses are listed as on-campus courses. Graduate students enrolled in the on-campus thesis and dissertation courses must be tested for COVID-19 prior to the start of school. If the students are in the greater Huntsville Metropolitan area, they can be tested at Spragins Hall. They need to follow the instructions for student testing on the fall 2020 reopening student testing website https://www.uah.edu/return-to-campus/covid-19-testing/re-entry-testing-for-students. If students live out of this area or prefer to go to their own healthcare provider for the test, then students may upload their results at Covidtesting@uah.edu. If students are enrolled in on-campus courses and are not tested, they will be disciplined and have an “all services hold” placed on their record, which keeps them from using any campus services, blocks their registration for the next semester, and/or blocks their graduation.
Rules for Remote Faculty and Staff Coming onto Campus. Because faculty and staff are in different situations on campus and their interactions with students and colleagues vary by division of the university, the requirements for faculty and staff whose status is remote and who need to come on campus vary by division. Please contact the Vice President’s Office of your division for clarification of the rules for your division.
Academic Affairs. Academic Affairs will strictly adhere to mandatory testing for COVID-19, training, and symptom tracking using Charger Healthcheck for all who return to campus. If you are working remotely and you want or need to come onto campus, you must be tested for COVID-19, receive a negative test result, and start completing Charger Healthcheck at least seven (7) days before coming to campus. Please contact the Faculty/Staff Clinic for COVID-19 testing information.
Charger Healthcheck. For faculty and staff who are on campus, please remember to complete the Charger Healthcheck every three days or more often. When answering the prompts, only record new or more severe symptoms that are not normal for you, especially if accompanied by fever.
Disposable Facemasks for Students. As stated previously in my August 6, 2020, memorandum, the Office of Academic Affairs has purchased disposable facemasks for students who may come to class or be in a UAH building without a facemask. If you have an extra disposable mask with you, please give it to the student, or please direct the student without a facemask to a nearby departmental or dean’s office for a disposable mask. These disposable facemasks are being distributed over the next few days to departmental, administrative and advisor offices in every college.
Students who Need Accommodations for Wearing a Facemask. As of today’s writing, no students have asked for or received an accommodation to not wear a face covering in class. No students will have an accommodation to not wear a face covering in class as it goes against the health and safety requirements. If a student comes to class without a facemask and states they cannot wear a facemask, please ask them to leave class and direct them to Disability Support Services (DSS) to start the process for applying for accommodations. DSS will offer online access to classes or the ability to wear a face shield instead of a facemask in class.
If a student registers with DSS and qualifies to wear a face shield in lieu of a facemask, DSS will alert faculty directly so they can be prepared for the student to walk into class with a face shield.
Parking. Faculty and staff, who are working remotely and not coming to campus this fall but will need a parking pass for spring semester, may purchase a parking permit in January for $95. If you need to come on campus during fall semester, daily visitor passes are available for $5 per day at the Intermodal Facility.
Important Information
Reporting Exposure to COVID-19. If you test positive for COVID-19 or if a faculty, staff, or student in a university building notifies you that the individual has had an exposure (close contact) to a positive COVID-19 case or has a positive COVID-19 lab result, notify the university as soon as possible. Provide information on when you or the individual you are reporting was last on campus, in which buildings, the areas in the buildings you or the individual spent more than 15 minutes, and whether you or the individual was wearing a mask. Provide any information available about the other members of the university community with whom you or the affected individual had close contact.
To make these notifications,
For faculty and staff, please contact Associate Vice President for Human Resources: Ms. Laurel Long at longl@uah.edu or 256-824-6545 (email preferred). If you are the affected person, please call the Faculty and Staff Clinic at 256-824-2100. If you are reporting another faculty or staff member, please encourage that individual to call the Faculty and Staff Clinic at 256-824-2100.
For students, please contact the Dean of Students, Dr. Ronnie Hebert, dos@uah.edu or 256-824- 6700. Please encourage the student to contact the Student Health Center at 256-824-6775, Ext 3.
Please follow HIPAA rules. Only disclose the identity of the person you are reporting to the official receiver of the information who is listed above. Do not disclose that information to anyone else. For a full list of HIPAA guidelines, visit the US Department of Health and Human Services website. Please note that guidelines can change.
This information is given in the Notification Protocol at https://www.uah.edu/return-to-campus/health-and-safety/reporting-exposure.
GuideSafe™ Exposure Notification App. The GuideSafe™ Exposure Notification app is available to UAH faculty, staff, and students at no charge. Everyone in the university community is encouraged to use this app because it affords us the opportunity to protect each other and ourselves during the COVID-19 pandemic. Users of the GuideSafe™ Exposure Notification App can anonymously share a positive COVID-19 test result. The app also obtains information on close contacts so that you can be anonymously notified of potential previous close contact with someone who later reports a positive COVID-19 test result without sharing anyone’s identity. The app protects your privacy while giving you the power to protect the health of yourself, your family, and your community. Use of the app is voluntary for all UAH faculty, staff and students.
Traditional contact tracing by experts at public health departments and notification protocols at UAH will continue. The GuideSafe™ Exposure Notification app does not replace either of those processes. The app, however, can help anonymously notify those who you do not know or do not remember about possible exposure. For more information about the GuideSafe™ Exposure Notification app and a list of frequently asked questions, please visit the GuideSafe™ website.
Additional information about the GuideSafe™ Exposure Notification App will be sent to you later or can be found at the UAH reopening website https://www.uah.edu/return-to-campus/health-and-safety/exposure-notification-app
COVID-19 Signage. When you come onto campus, you will notice signs at the building entrances and in all of the buildings reminding us of our health and safety requirements. Facilities and Operations has developed and installed signage with the assistance of staff across campus to address general health and safety requirements to help minimize the risk of exposure and spread of COVID-19. To learn more about health and safety signs and where to place them, please refer to the COVID-19 Signage Installation Memo. To place an order for one of their signs, download and complete their order form from the COVID-19 Signage web site https://www.uah.edu/return-to-campus/health-and-safety/covid-19-signage.
If you need to create additional signs to display department-specific policies and information, we have templates available in two formats (Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF) and three dimensions. These templates can be found at https://www.uah.edu/return-to-campus/health-and-safety/covid-19-signage. You can use the Word templates to make and print signs in your own office with a laser printer. For more durable signs printed on no-tear, water resistant paper, use the Adobe PDF files and contact the Copy Center to place an order.
If you would like assistance in designing a sign from one of the templates above, please contact the OMC omc@uah.edu or simply click to submit a design request at COVID-19 Signage at the link above.
Reminders
Library. Salmon Library hours for fall semester are
- 7:30am - 10:30pm Monday-Thursday
- 7:30am - 8:00pm Friday
- 12:00pm - 6:00pm Saturday
- 1:00pm - 10:00pm Sunday
This schedule will change on November 20, 2020, when in-person classes are scheduled to end. There will also be exceptions for holidays (such as Labor Day). You can find the Library’s complete hours at https://libguides.uah.edu/hours.
Expectation and Enforcement Notice Reminder. The Expectation and Enforcement Notice from the UA System mandates that we must enforce the requirements that are given in UAH Policy 02.01.71, Safety and Health Requirements for Presence on UAH’s Campus During the COVID-19 Pandemic. The process by which to report a violation will be sent to you soon,
The Expectation and Enforcement Notice states, “Once an employee returns to work on campus, certain COVID-19 safety measures, such as wearing a face mask, completing the required reports on the Charger Healthcheck, social distancing, etc., must be followed. If an employee fails to follow the on-campus safety requirements, the following progressive discipline by a supervisor will apply:
First violation— Verbal Counseling
Second violation— Written Counseling
Third violation— Final Warning and a three-day unpaid suspension
Fourth violation— Termination of Employment
Please abide by the safety and health requirements to protect your health and the health of others in the university community.
