Hello Campus Partners:

This is the first OAP eDigest since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic dramatically impacted all of our lives. We hope this message finds you safe and healthy. Most OAP staff are working remotely, and we remain committed to supporting you -- our campus partners -- as you administer academic personnel HR. If you have news to share, please email us at acadcomm@uw.edu.

As a bright spot in these unsettling times, OAP is happy to introduce Nicole Schwab, our new International Scholars Operations (ISO) advisor. Nicole brings to the position seven years of experience working in the UC Berkeley International Office. She says, “I’m excited to continue working with J-1 scholars and to expand my career into employment-based visas.” She looks forward to meeting and working with OAP's campus partners.

Due to ongoing developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the provost, in consultation with the chair of the Faculty Senate, has approved new provisions for clock waivers for faculty with mandatory promotion/tenure clocks. Read more about this COVID-19-related extension on the OAP website. For related promotion/reappointment clock waiver information for librarians, read more. 

In light of precautionary measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic at both the federal and the University of Washington levels, ISO has made some significant changes to their processes. Updates that were originally emailed to our ISO contact list over the past couple weeks have been summarized on the OAP Announcements and Updates Blog.Those who are sponsoring international scholars should make sure to read the post carefully and follow relevant steps to ensure compliance with federal regulations. You can reach out to the ISO Team at acadvisa@uw.edu with any questions.

New federal legislation concerning employee leaves was passed on March 18, 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFRCA) requires certain employers, including the UW, to provide employees with paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19. These provisions apply from April 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. The University is working to address process details. Stay tuned to the OAP Leaves section for more information in the coming weeks. See the linked informational poster from the U.S. Department of Labor for more details on the new legislation.

Each year OAP creates a suite of reports focused on academic personnel data. The 2019 reports are now live on the OAP homepage. You’ll notice a few enhancements this year: Each report includes a data summary, has a uniform design, and is posted in PDF format to allow for easier sharing and printing.

In mid-April we will once again launch the annual OAP Spring Cleaning Data Integrity Efforts with a special focus this year on academic appointments. Thank you to everyone who completed the Spring Cleaning survey; your feedback has been very helpful in considering what types of support resources we can provide. The effort will wrap up on May 15. Keep an eye out for invitations to Zoom workshop sessions as well as new resources to help ensure Workday academic appointment data meets the four ‘C’s: correct, current, consistent, and complete.

In the last few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen an uptick in the search traffic for leaves information on the OAP site.  For faculty and other academic personnel looking for leaves forms, please refer them to the For Academic Personnel landing page. Visit the Academic HR Leaves section for information about leave policies. Questions about academic personnel leaves can be directed to apleaves@uw.edu.

Tues, April 14: Join the ISO Team for a remote Advanced H-1B Visas training. 
Tues, April 21: Join us for a remote version of the quarterly OAP Administrators Forum. 
Fri, May 1: Librarian promotions are due to Academic HR.

Serving UW academic personnel well means having great campus partnerships! We'd like to use this section to recognize the great work of our campus partners.

A special shout out to all staff who support academic personnel. This has been a stressful last couple of weeks to say the least. OAP applauds your tireless efforts to keep the University moving forward in the face of unprecedented challenges. You are an invaluable part of this institution and we are proud to call you colleagues!

Thanks everyone for your work on this year’s sabbatical application process. With 200 applications to process, your help in pushing out the new application form and ensuring that packets were well-prepared was much appreciated. A shout out to the College of Engineering and UW Bothell for their exceptional work in that regard. Both have a high volume of applications and have had past challenges, but they knocked it out of the park this year! Great job! 

This section is a chance to promote resources, questions and more from our partners around the campus. Email acadcomm@uw.edu if you have anything to add.

The UW Office of Research has created a new page with information about conducting research under Governor Inslee’s Stay Home, Stay Healthy proclamation. Visit the  Mitigating Impacts to Research Activities Due to COVID-19 page for more details.