Dear Faculty and Staff Colleagues,
In the days since the University's announcement of the Spring 2021 plans I have held town halls for our sophomores, first-years, international students, and will meet with the SGA this week. We will continue our efforts to deliver a world-class education to our students and to provide them with the support they need around mental health and academic advising. I am grateful to each of you for the work you are doing now to make our educational mission possible.
We will have two opportunities this week for faculty and staff to discuss the plan for the spring semester — a town hall for staff members this Thursday at noon and during the Faculty Meeting this Friday at 8:15 a.m.
I will provide an overview of the spring plans and hear your questions, concerns, and ideas for next semester. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. Thank you for all that you do to support our students and community.
Best,
Doug
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Family Weekend October 23-25 |
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Family Weekend 2020
Oxford's Family Weekend has gone virtual! This year we have created a schedule of synchronous and asynchronous programs to explore throughout the October 23-25 weekend. Attendees will use the online platform Scavify to access up to date schedule info and the virtual events.
Activities include a welcome from Dean Joe Moon, game nights, alumni panels, featured Q&A sessions, evening socials, a session with Diversity Ambassador Program DAP! students, a conversation with Dean Doug Hicks, and more.
Our families are always excited to see faculty and staff at Family Weekend events. Register here for more information. Please indicate "N/A" if you do not have a current student at Oxford.
Call for "Thank you video" pictures
Family Weekend organizers are creating a compilation video and welcome faculty and staff to participate.
The video will be shown to attendees at the conclusion of Family Weekend to end the event on a heart-warming note. Simply write a message addressed to our Oxford families completing the sentence "Thank you for _____" on a piece of paper, dry erase board, poster, etc. (you can get creative). Send in a picture of yourself holding the sign. Example photos shown at right.
Please email your photos to Veronica Roman by Friday, October 23, at 9:00 a.m. EST.
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An update from Daniel Parson, farmer/educator, and Ruth Geiger, assistant farmer/educator:
What’s happening on the farm? Like the rest of campus, the farm made some major changes in the spring after our students left for the semester in March. We rely on students to help with the farm work and to eat our food in the dining hall. We scaled our production for the season accordingly with hopes that the students would return, as they have, to harvest and eat our late summer/fall bounty. Spring and summer were busy, mostly serving higher demand from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) customers.
Things are the same and different here on the farm. Having worked all summer as a crew of full-time staff, we are glad to have student workers back on the farm. Like many classes, our on-boarding training moved online and students spend more time working by themselves on jobs for which they have been trained rather than all together on the work of the day.
To support classes that would normally participate in person at the farm, Daniel and Ruth have been working on their video production skills. The videos produced have several applications — they may take the place of a farm tour, provide content directly, or serve as pre-learning for a small-group visit. The farm has created content for several classes and Discovery Seminars already. If you have any need for farm content in your classes, get in touch!
From a production standpoint, we have had a great year! Catherine and Caitlyn have done a great job making sure everything happens on time. We are harvesting the last of our summer crops this week —peppers, eggplant, and cherry tomatoes. Over the last month, fall harvest has begun with Asian greens (bok choy and komatsuna), lettuce, sweet potatoes, winter squash, and more.
The harvest goes to our campus and community through sales to dining, the hospital, and our CSA program. We also give a significant amount to our local food bank in Covington. Early in the year, the Dean’s Office supported several weeks of fresh vegetables and we have continued to give throughout the year. Just this week, Laura Gafnea is helping us connect with folks here in Oxford that are starting food distribution even more locally. The need for access to fresh food is even more important this year and we are glad to provide what we can.
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Oxford Community Listserv sign up |
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Want to be in the know if your colleague on campus has something cool to sell, a cause to support, or info about the local community to share? Then make sure you are a part of the Oxford Community ListServ. (Please note: this is not the same email as the daily EaglePost containing news and updates related to Oxford/Emory business.)
The Oxford Community ListServ is an email group for Oxford College staff and faculty to communicate events in the local community, announce items for sale (Girl Scout cookies, school fundraisers, etc.), or share other items that aren't directly Oxford/Emory business-related and therefore not be sent via EaglePost.
Participation is opt-in only. If you are currently not on the listserv, but would like to be, follow these instructions:
2. Leave the subject line blank.
3. In the body of the email message write: Sub OXFORDCOMMUNITY
4. Do not write anything further or include a signature (If you use an automatic signature in emails, be sure to delete that info before sending.)
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Oxford Human Resources virtual Benefits Briefing October 23 |
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Emory's Annual Enrollment is coming soon! October 26-November 6, 2020 for the 2021 plan year. While not much is changing, you may have questions about your current benefits or you may want to explore Emory's new health care offering, Kaiser Permanente, as a new plan option.
Please join Oxford Human Resources on Friday, October 23, at 11:30 a.m. as we share important information about your benefits. Join via this Zoom link. If you are unable to make the meeting or prefer to browse information on your own, the annual enrollment website contains information you may need to know for 2021, including what's new for 2021, rates, and more. We hope to see you then!
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Voting policy and reminders from Emory Human Resources |
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Make your plan to vote now. Decide now which method you will use to cast your ballot. There are three ways you can vote. You can either:
Given the uncertainties and challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic, once you have determined which way you would like to vote, we recommend you strive to vote as early as possible within the allowed window of time.
Voting Policy
To make it easier for you to cast your vote this fall, Emory University has made a change to the Voting Policy to allow up to 4 hours paid time, as needed, for voting on Election Day or advance/early voting. If you plan to use paid time to vote, let your supervisor know in advance.
Stay Safe
If you decide to vote in person, remember to stay safe by wearing a mask and keeping 6 feet of distance from others while waiting to cast your vote.
Thank you for participating in this important election. For more information, visit the website: Emory Votes Initiative.
Additional Reminder
Please also remember to respect the opinions of others during this election season.
Emory has several policies (linked below) that may be helpful to you during this
time:
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OSO Oxford College cookbook to support Chaplaincy Fund |
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Oxford Staff Organization (OSO) is coordinating an Oxford College community cookbook fundraiser for the Chaplaincy Fund. Share your favorite recipe with your colleagues and friends and help raise money for this important campus resource. Submit your recipe for the digital cookbook by the October 28 deadline using this online form. OSO will host a cookbook launch event on November 6. Watch for more details coming soon about the book launch and how to support the fundraiser.
The Chaplaincy Fund benefits the entire Oxford community, providing confidential assistance to students, staff, and faculty who have financial need in a time of emergency or crisis. Oxford's chaplain oversees the fund, which has provided such assistance as textbook purchases, travel needs related to an emergency/crisis or funeral at home, specific bills, and medical-related expenses, among other needs. The fund is crucial to many in the Oxford Community and is available immediately to those in need at the chaplain's discretion.
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President Fenves visits Oxford class |
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Emory University President Gregory L. Fenves visited the Oxford College Discovery Seminar course "Reading Anne Frank in the 21st Century" for a guest interview on Tuesday, October 20, at the invitation of Stacy Bell, professor of pedagogy in English. (President Fenves is pictured second from the left on the second row).
President Fenves, whose father survived Auschwitz and Buchenwald, graciously joined the class to answer questions about growing up as the son of a survivor and about how his father shared and processed his memories of the Holocaust. A student asked President Fenves about how the Holocaust should be memorialized and he said, "The memorial is what you are doing right now: reading, studying, talking."
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Pablo Palomino, assistant professor of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, engaged in several virtual conversations on his research topics recently.
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Homecoming 2020 takes place October 22-25 and the calendar of events includes several virtual activities featuring Oxford alumni and faculty. More information and registration available online at homecoming.emory.edu.
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Faculty Film Series
West Side Story with Maria Archetto
Candler Hall | 7:00 p.m.
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Balkan Quartet, Quartet Performance
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Lecture: Richie Reseda, Talking Plain About Patriarchy
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Faculty Film Series
Fat Man and Little Boy with Saikat Chakraborty
Candler Hall | 7:00 p.m.
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Southern Circuit Film Series: Fandango at the Wall
Screening and Q&A with Director, Co-Writer Varda Bar-Kar
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Theater artist: Kimberly Dark, Fat, Pretty and Soon to be Old
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To submit a news item for the next Campus Update, please email Ansley Holder.
The newsletter is distributed weekly on Wednesday.
Please send any submissions by Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading!
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