Dear Pitt Public Health faculty and staff,
Earlier today you received a message from the Chancellor outlining the steps that were recently taken to “de-densify” our work and educational environment so that the University can continue fulfilling our most important functions while lowering the risk of COVID-19 infection within the University and in our surrounding communities.
The Chancellor’s message emphasized that the university is not closed. Many University units have been making independent decisions about partial closures, and the Chancellor is asking us to slow down and defer to central University authority on such decisions. Because of the potential for stress and even panic, consistent actions and communications are essential. The attached memo from the Chancellor to the schools gives further specifics on that process and on the type of changes that require approval. If you are involved in any such decision-making, please read this memo in addition to the Chancellor’s latest message.
The process we will implement within Pitt Public Health is as follows. First, all proposed changes that fall under the Chancellor’s guidelines must be approved by the department chair and administrator. Those individuals should then forward the request and clear rationale for the change to the Dean’s Office (Eleanor Feingold, Renae Brinza, and Jessie Burke - please send to all three). The university leadership will meet daily at 3:00 p.m. to consider requests, so we ask that you get requests to us by 1:00 each day except under emergency circumstances.
Eleanor Feingold, Executive Associate Dean
feingold@pitt.edu 412-721-4108 (cell)
Jessie Burke, Associate Dean for Education
jgburke@pitt.edu 412-956-7427 (cell)
Renae Brinza, Associate Dean for Administration and Finance
brinza@pitt.edu 412-719-5481 (cell)
Dear Colleagues:
We have entered a period of extreme uncertainty after taking a rapid series of steps in response to the coronavirus pandemic. I am concerned that our faculty and staff are likely to be confused in the face of these changes and that this confusion is going to be exacerbated by their understandable concern for themselves and their families.
Later today, I will send a message to all employees on all five Pitt campuses that offers additional information about our changing work environment. Yet, despite my best communication efforts, a basic framework—rather than total clarity—is likely, and we will be forced to make decisions and adapt this framework in the face of our ever-changing response to the pandemic.
With this challenge in mind, I need your help.
We are already witnessing a variety of decisions that are either problematic for or inconsistent with the current status of the university. Examples include decisions to close or limit access to facilities that we have said are open or to send employees home on unapproved paid administrative leave. Left unchecked, these decisions would effectively “self-close” the university and curtail our ability to respond to future, unfolding events.
Certain decisions that impact the University cannot be delegated broadly and handled locally; rather these decisions must be made at the senior leadership team level. The list below describes the types of decisions that my leadership team must review and approve.
In other words, your unit must gain approval for:
- Discontinuing educational programs or activities necessary for credit, licensure or degree certificate program completion.
- Closing research labs in a way that blocks people from further accessing or working in a space.
- Closing public-facing facilities of any kind.
- Closing facilities normally open to students, staff or faculty (e.g., libraries and computer labs).
- Approving administrative leave for staff (as opposed to allowing sick leave or remote work).
- Closing or limited functions needed to maintain the safety, security, or general conditions of our facilities and programs.
Given the unique circumstances we are facing, many of these decisions will necessarily arise from facts that happen in your respective units. As a result, I am establishing a decision-making process to deliver consistent, timely guidance on these key issues.
Here’s how the process will work:
- You or a designee should immediately determine how your school or unit will accept requests on changing the status of a facility, program or service. This process should be transparent to supervisory faculty and staff and allow you to promptly identify problem areas, determine the reason for the request, and to estimate the decision’s potential impact on the university. You or your designee should then determine which of these recommendations should be forwarded to my office for consideration.
- The Provost will chair a working group of the Senior Leadership Team to review these requests. Please submit your request for approval directly to provost@pitt.edu, with a brief description of the request and reasoning. Absent emergent circumstances, requests will be collected and reviewed daily at 3 p.m.
- We will report back to all schools and business units daily to relay decisions made and recommendations pending. It is important that someone from your team participates in this check-in—likely a call—to gain insights into how decisions are being made and what considerations are being used to make decisions.
On a related issue: You have the authority to make the following changes without seeking approval:
- Moving services that can be provided remotely to remote access (e.g., advising, career advising, counseling).
- Allowing faculty to work from home.
- Allowing staff to work from home if their work can be done from home with appropriate supervisory tracking.
- Canceling large events and gatherings.
As you navigate these issues, particularly in this rapidly changing environment, I ask that you consider establishing a process within your unit similar to the one outlined above to ensure consistency and transparency. I also ask that you relay your decisions to your service line’s Senior Vice Chancellor on a regular and timely basis.
Thank you for your patience, flexibility and commitment as we work to take care of each other and our community while sustaining and advancing our mission. I look forward to collaborating on this new process and encourage you to reach out to me directly with questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Pat
3/14/2020