To: University of Arizona Colleagues
From: International Faculty & Scholars
Date: March 12, 2020
Subject: IFS Remotely Working
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Dear Colleagues,
In light of the Provost’s March 11, 2020 email, “COVID-19 Campus Mitigation Plan / Teaching and Travel,” UArizona Global has authorized its staff to immediately transition to remote work. International Faculty & Scholars will transition to remote work effective March 13, 2020 pursuant to this authorization with plans to reassess the situation not later than April 6, 2020. It is our belief that this decision is necessary to avoid serving as a vector for COVID-19 transmission given our regular in-person interaction with recent and imminent international travelers.
To best serve our international community, including international scholars, employees, their dependents, as well as their host departments, all IFS staff will continue to work full-time and will remain available during regular business hours via email, phone, and Zoom. Further, all immigration requests will continue to be processed on-schedule with no delays resulting from remote work.
The only significant change to our operations will be in-person availability. Although we request that all advising be conducted remotely via email, phone, or Zoom, we will remain available for in-person services (document acceptance and provision, signatures, etc.) as needed upon advance arrangement. With that said, documents may be dropped off at the International Student Services front desk at any time during regular business hours and they will be left in our inbox for pick-up during our in-person hours. Further, upon advance arrangement, IFS staff will also be available to pick up checks at FSO and other documents at individual departments as needed.
While IFS staff work remotely, all arriving J-1 scholars will be individually emailed and advised to check in online, rather than in-person, using our J-1 Check-In E-Form on MyGlobal. Upon validation, scholars will be invited to attend orientation via Zoom, allowing them to ask questions and interact with their advisor as they normally would at an in-person orientation.
Our hope, as we are sure is yours, is that this period of remote work lasts for only a brief period. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to any IFS staff member at your convenience.
Regards,
Dana Bleau