Recap: Planning + Process: ISSUE 11

Welcome

Welcome to issue 11 of Recap, MICA’s regular communication on the College’s progress and planning around the return to campus for Spring 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.

As announced in the March 3 Staff Town Hall meeting, and detailed in the March 5 campus memo,MICA is very pleased to announce that a clinical provider in Baltimore has agreed to support the College in vaccine administration, and we are very grateful for their assistance.

Here are some of the highlights:
On March 5, about 130 MICA community members from the groups below received their first of two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine:
A group of faculty who have been on campus and interacting with students
Frontline staff members who qualified to receive the one-time $1,000 stipend, as announced in the February 18 memo
Student employees who are working on campus during the spring semester.
The same clinical provider generously indicated that as their vaccine allocation increases and the state moves into Phases 2 and 3 of the vaccination plan, they will administer the vaccine to the remainder of MICA employees.
As we cannot yet vaccinate all MICA employees through this provider, we continue to encourage you to check local providers throughout the state to obtain a vaccine. You can learn more about current providers here.
Additionally, we encourage you to join the oneMICA Slack channel, where our incredible community continues to work above and beyond to help share information around vaccines and appointments.

For more information about the vaccination partnership, please read the full March 5 memo.

You’ve got your vaccine—what’s next? As we prepare for Fall 2021, and our revised and expanded Operational Mode 4 we are planning for, it is important for MICA to know the number of individuals and percent of all employees who have received a COVID vaccination.

To help accomplish this, we are asking all employees to upload their proof of vaccination into Workday. 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:

We want to share more information—on top of what we shared in Recap 10—based on conversations with our epidemiologists that are being taken into account when planning for Fall 2021. Here’s what you need to know, TL;DR:
With recent developments in regard to vaccines, including the approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, it is anticipated that all adults, and likely most students, will have the opportunity to be vaccinated by the start of the fall semester.
For context: In addition to increasing supply for the current two-dose vaccines, as of Tuesday, March 2, an agreement that pharmaceutical company Merck & Co will help manufacture the new Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine was announced and is expected to boost supplies. For additional details, read more in the New York Times, Washington Post or the Associated Press.
Our epidemiologist consultants are projecting that community spread will continue to decline and vaccinations will increase. They are advising that physical distancing can be relaxed and there will likely not be a need for a regular, weekly testing program in the fall. A testing program for the first couple of weeks of the fall semester along with arrival testing is under consideration.
It is important to note the College will still have the necessary resources in place to ramp up testing if needed.
There will be a continued focus during the fall on wearing high-quality, well-fitting masks at all times (except when eating or drinking) and continued emphasis on hand hygiene.
We will be reserving multiple spaces across campus where students and faculty can go to safely take breaks during extended classes to eat and drink. More information to come in the months ahead.

To help keep MICA’s campus clean this semester, the College has been providing disinfectant wipes to all departments and residents for sanitizing spaces and materials such as residence hall apartments, offices, and personal equipment.

While these are meant to be a shared resource, there have been a handful of incidents where wipes are being hoarded by people on campus. We ask those on campus to be mindful of the community needs, and use only what is needed, while leaving supplies for others.

If there is an issue where a space does not have the proper cleaning supplies, please put in a work order.

In addition to general disinfectant wipes, studio and lab spaces have also been provided with designated “Wipex” tech wipes to clean equipment. Please refer to this video to better understand how to use these specific wipes.

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.

What if I get sick? How will I take leave? Will I be paid?

Anyone identified as a MICA-related close contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 is required to quarantine and stay off campus for 14 days. The employee’s pay will be fully covered by MICA as “department-sponsored leave,” and the employee will not need to use any of their own sick, vacation, or personal leave for up to 14 days. After 14 days, employees will need to use available paid time off. Supervisors will need to enter department-sponsored leave in Workday for staff employees.

For self-isolation due to a positive COVID-19 test, MICA will pay the employee for the five-day waiting period before approved short-term disability payments are activated. Supervisors will need to enter department-sponsored leave in Workday for staff employees. From day six forward, MICA’s short-term disability pays 100% of an employees' compensation for the time that they are out for up to 26 weeks. Additional information can be found here.

For employees who are not eligible for MICA's short-term disability plan, MICA will pay employees for up to 14 days. Supervisors will need to enter department-sponsored leave in Workday for staff employees.

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