8.9.21 

Happy Monday, UIS! 

We’re preparing to kick off this fall semester safely and with an enthusiastic welcome home for students. As safety guidelines evolve in response to the increased spread of COVID-19 in our area, we will communicate any campus changes with you as soon as possible.  

New Information  

Mask requirements in UIS buildings 

After consulting with the Sangamon County Department of Public Health, we recently updated our health and safety guidelines to align with the latest CDC guidance since our county is considered an area of high transmission. Therefore, everyone is required to wear a face covering in common spaces indoors, both on campus or in off-campus UIS facilities, regardless of vaccination status.  

Academic reorganization update 

The following changes have been approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education: 

• The Department of Political Science is now the School of Politics and International Affairs within the College of Public Affairs and Administration. 
• The Departments of Human Services and Public Administration merged to establish the School of Public Management and Policy within the College of Public Affairs and Administration. 
• The Departments of Teacher Education and Educational Leadership merged to establish the School of Education within the College of Education and Human Services. 

Operations update 

Improvements continue on campus to prepare for the return of students, such as painting curbs and crosswalks. We also are preparing to move the COVID-19 testing site from the Student Union to the PAC/Brookens tunnel next week. An announcement will be sent to confirm the date of this change.

New integrated website calendar 

Inform the whole campus community about your upcoming events by adding them to the new homepage calendar on UIS.edu. It marries all calendar streams to create a one-stop-shop for campus happenings. This means events entered in Webtools will list separate from the main UIS integrated calendar, and the old calendar is no longer supported by the Office of Web Services. Learn how to use the new event calendar by signing up for OWS website event training. 

Information that Bears Repeating 

Website migration 

Reminder: If you have not already spoken with the Office of Web Services about migrating your website pages, please submit a project request.

Fall move-in volunteers needed Aug. 16 

Residence Life still needs move-in volunteers for a variety of roles next Monday, Aug. 16. You can sign up to work four-hour shifts (8 a.m. to noon, noon to 4 p.m.) or all day. Add your name to the Google doc sign up. Training will be this week via Zoom. 

Upload vaccination cards 

If you have not done so already, please upload your COVID-19 vaccination card to the secure Patient Portal. 

Parking tags 

Don’t forget to purchase your parking tag for the 2021-2022 academic year. 

Celebrating our Star Power 

Congratulations to Associate Professor of Political Science Sibel Oktay for her collaborate research contributions on the recently published report “How Do Foreign Policy Experts Think About Allies?” Professor Oktay is serving as a senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. 

By our next newsletter, we will have kicked off the Fall 2021 semester. It is one of my favorite times of the year with new opportunities and new chances to learn and grow together. 

United in Safety, 

Karen   

Karen M. Whitney, PhD

Interim Chancellor University of Illinois Springfield