Employees

Update for employees

The University’s Return to Campus group continues to review proposals to manage more employees returning to campus. As these plans progress and fall term approaches, we look forward to welcoming more employees and students back to our campuses.

As we navigate the changing realities of education and research during a global pandemic, the health and safety of our students and employees continues to be our primary focus. Teams across the University have been working diligently to prepare for a safe and gradual return, informed by public health advice and best practices. 

Update for employees and graduate students

Earlier this week, the requirement to wear a face covering in common indoor spaces on campus took effect. 

If you are approved to return to campus, you must wear a face covering in common areas of university buildings. 

After listening to feedback from the campus community and discussing further with medical consultants, we have made some changes to our guidance on face coverings.

Update for researchers

The Office of Research and the Safety Office are actively implementing a phased approach to restarting research on campus. Previously, researchers could request access to continue on-campus research if the research was deemed critical or related to COVID-19. Phase 2 of the Research Restart plan expands criteria for on-campus research activities for those that cannot conduct research remotely or require access to labs or specialized facilities. 

Update for faculty and researchers

We have approved some researchers to proceed with their work on-campus as part of our phased return to campus plan. To ensure that we welcome you back to campus safely, we have increased sanitization of high touch surface areas and are offering additional supplies to help you stay healthy.

In accordance to Public Health guidance, we recommend that you continue to practice physical distancing, but have cloth face masks available for researchers to use on-campus where maintaining a physical distance of two meters is challenging.

Update for faculty

The Central Planning Group of the Integrated Co-coordination and Planning Committee, including the President, Vice-Presidents and Deans, has been active in developing a phased plan for restarting research on campus, with support from the Research Restart Working Group. 

Last week, the Province opened the door for institutions to begin to implement phased returns to on-campus research activity by announcing that professional services related to conducting research and experimental development may begin to resume activity. This announcement has moved us into the first Phase of our planned return and as such, we will be expanding the criteria for permission to access to campus to conduct research activities.