Recap: Planning + Process: ISSUE 14

Welcome

Welcome to issue 14 of Recap, MICA’s regular communication on the College’s progress and planning around the return to campus for Fall 2021 and beyond.

Recap is also a place for dialogue, so we encourage you to use the Comment on This Topic button at the end of each story. We use your feedback to help build our shared understanding as One Team MICA.

And as always, some information may not apply to all programs and constituents, such as Open Studies. For specific information, please use the departmental directory at the end of this issue.

The medical science is clear. COVID-19 vaccines, both U.S.-based and global, are proving on a daily basis that they are extremely safe and extraordinarily effective at reducing the risk of COVID-19 transmission and serious illness. Because of this, MICA has made the decision—in consultation with our epidemiologist team—to require all students enrolled for in-person classes for Fall 2021 to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Full details can be found in the recent May 3 Student Affairs memo, but we’ve summarized the main points below:

Student Health Services will provide further information in the coming weeks on how to provide the required proof of vaccination.

Medical and religious exemptions will be available for those who need them.

While any vaccine approved by a foreign government will be accepted, students are encouraged, but not required, to receive one of the three U.S. approved vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson).

All required vaccine doses must be received prior to arriving at MICA for the fall semester. Students will not be allowed access to campus without proof of vaccination or a documented exemption. Note: MICA will not prohibit international students from attending this fall who cannot be vaccinated prior to the start of the semester in their home country. MICA is monitoring where access to a vaccine may be problematic and is considering possible resolutions. More information will be communicated as planning develops.

At the recommendation of the College’s consulting epidemiologists, any students living on-campus this summer will also be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. This is expected to be a very small number of individuals, and Student Health Services will similarly provide details on this requirement in the coming days.

With the international travel ban being lifted and our on-campus community likely fully vaccinated, we’re looking forward to a rich in-person experience for all of our students.

As vaccine availability continues to expand in the Baltimore area, MICA will continue to share that information with our community via One MICA Slack and the MICA / App. Those outside of the immediate area are encouraged to connect with their local health department for information about receiving a vaccine appointment or by using vaccines.gov if in the U.S.

As the health and safety of students, faculty, and staff is of paramount importance, requiring a COVID-19 vaccine for MICA employees is under serious consideration. MICA’s decision will integrate continuing expert advice from our consulting epidemiologists, state and local health departments, and the community of regional and national higher education institutions. We hope to share a final decision at the One MICA town hall scheduled for later this month.

Because of this, it is important that all employees who have already been vaccinated to upload their proof of vaccination into Workday. Below are the steps on how to do so:

Please name your document 2021_COVID19_Vaccine before uploading. If anyone needs assistance with this, please email humanresources@mica.edu.

To upload your proof of vaccination in Workday:

The goal of Recap was—and continues to be—to foster shared understanding across all of the College’s constituent groups through transparency, immediacy, and dialog. Over the last 13 issues of Recap, we have worked to bring you everything you needed to know in regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, campus operations, reopening plans, and everything in between.

And while Recap may have initially been developed as a COVID-19 communications tool, we recognize that there remains a need to continue to work to de-silo communication throughout the College and build that common understanding within our community.

With that in mind, we want to make clear that Recap—and additional communications initiatives—will continue to be developed as we move through the summer and into fall, and even beyond the pandemic.

That includes our monthly One MICA town halls, the first of which took place on Wednesday, April 7. As mentioned in that gathering, these meetings will have an agenda that is developed with input from the MICA community, just as our issues of Recap are built based on feedback and questions we receive. These communication channels provide avenues for your voices, concerns, and ideas to be heard.

Did you miss the first One MICA town hall? Don’t worry. Each session is recorded, and will be posted at mica.edu/townhalls within about a week, so those who can’t attend do not miss any information.

As part of the College’s continued efforts to break down communication silos and work toward a shared understanding across campus—especially as many MICA employees continue to work remotely—we’d like to invite you to join over 300 staff and faculty members on One MICA Slack, a workspace dedicated to community and collaboration. Please use this link to sign up and gain automatic approval.

While official communication channels—from town halls, to the MICA website, to Recap, to MICA’s social media—will continue to exist and be used to share important information, organic community building and conversations are happening on One MICA Slack, and we encourage joining.

New to using Slack? Read more about, and learn how to use, this workspace communication platform. Please note: This Slack channel is open to all faculty and staff at MICA, including part-time employees.

When you join, you’ll automatically be added to several channels:
#general - Anything goes
#baltimore - Local events and info
#covid-19 - COVID updates
#townhall - Town hall chat
#kudos - Share some good news
#promo - Sharing content for promotion on web/social/in-class
#mica_made - Cool things our students are making/doing

We would also recommend viewing the entire list of channels and joining those that might interest you. To view every channel in your Slack account, just click the word ‘Channels’ in your Slack sidebar.

Have questions? Need a brief one-on-one tutorial to feel more comfortable with the platform? Please contact Erin Baynham at EBaynham@mica.edu.

On Wednesday, April 14, Human Resources held a staff town hall to discuss the 2019-20 Segal Consulting compensation study results.

The meeting, which lasted over an hour, included a presentation—a copy of which can be downloaded here—as well as a Q+A session. While many live questions were answered during the town hall, not all were answered due to time restraints. Those questions were captured and were used to create an FAQ found here.

The replay, with links to the presentation and FAQs can be found on MICA’s website at mica.edu/townhalls.

As a reminder, What if? is an ongoing feature of Recap intended to help create a shared understanding of what the 2020-2021 academic year will look and feel like by posing real-world "what if" scenarios submitted by the community.

At the town hall it was shared that the retirement and salary restorations would take place in June. What if I’m a faculty member whose contract begins in August?

During the Wednesday, April 7 One MICA town hall, it was announced that staff salaries are being restored to the levels prior to the FY 21 reductions effective June 1, 2021, with new levels reflected in the June 18, 2021 paychecks, which covers the pay period May 30-June 12, 2021.

The MICA retirement match is being restored for both staff and faculty in the first pay period of fiscal year 2022 and will be included in the June 18 paychecks as well.

Full-time faculty contracts for AY 22 will be at the salary levels in place prior to the reductions made for AY 21, and will be reflected in the August 13, 2021 paychecks, which cover the pay period July 25-August 7, 2021. Please note that the faculty contract year is different from the fiscal year, but AY 21 contracts are fully charged to the Fiscal Year 2021 and AY 22 contracts are charged to the Fiscal Year 2022.

As mentioned previously, we’ve included the ability for you to submit comments on individual topics for each issue of Recap in order to help provide an open dialogue around the complex and evolving issues of mounting the 2021 semester.

We thank all of you who have submitted thoughtful comments from past issues. Those comments are used to inform future issues, raise awareness on topics, and ultimately help build shared understanding as One Team MICA. And while we cannot provide individual recognition for each comment, we are providing a summary snapshot of those comments to promote transparency.

Graduate Studies: graduatestudies@mica.edu

Undergraduate Studies: ugstudies@mica.edu

Student Affairs: studentaffairs@mica.edu

Open Studies: openstudies@mica.edu

Finance and Operations: vpoperationsandfinance@mica.edu

Technology: helpdesk@mica.edu

Strategic Communications: communications@mica.edu

Human Resources: humanresources@mica.edu

Strategic Initiatives: strategicinitiatives@mica.edu

Advancement: advancement@mica.edu

Admission: admissions@mica.edu

Parent Relations: parentrelations@mica.edu