Dear CALS Community:
I hope this message finds all of you healthy and well.
As we come to the close of the academic year, I stand in awe of your extraordinary efforts to help slow the spread of COVID-19 while remaining steadfast to our land-grant mission. On behalf of a very grateful dean and administrative team, thank you for all you are doing to serve our students, our stakeholders and the state in these very challenging times.
Staying connected and well-informed is an essential way to keep CALS moving forward, and it’s why I decided to write this post. I wanted to call attention to several key updates below and to let you know we have rescheduled our next CALS Virtual Town Hall gathering from Friday, May 8 to Friday, May 15 at 9:00 a.m. With the extension of Paid Administrative Leave through May 8 and the potential implementation of Governor Cooper’s Phase 1 Plans, we believe there will be many more updates to share, and my team will be in a better position to answer your questions – having the extra week to prepare.
We look forward to checking in virtually on May 15.
In the meantime, here are some important updates:
Academic Updates
Virtual Student Celebrations
This weekend, the CALS Community was to come together to recognize our graduating students and to celebrate their achievements as one Pack. Though formal celebrations have been postponed until later this year, CALS departments and units will hold “virtual celebrations” in the coming days. John Dole and I were pleased to share a message of congratulations.
Fall Course Plans
While a final decision has not been made on fall classes, the Provost has indicated that many, if not all, fall courses will be delivered online. With that in mind, the Provost has requested that continuity plans for all courses be submitted to department heads. A brief template has been developed for instructors at go.ncsu.edu/course-continuity.
Student Emergency Fund Challenge
Many NC State students are facing extreme financial hardships due to COVID-19. To help, associate deans from throughout the university have banded together to issue a challenge: We want to raise $25,000 by May 15 to support the Student Emergency Fund. If we meet our goal, Katharine Stewart, the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs, has generously vowed to shave her head — and share it on Zoom! And if CALS raises $2,750 of that total, John Dole will make a video of himself dressed in a banana costume (Dole – banana; get it?). Be sure to use this link to donate to the Student Emergency Fund so we can track our college’s donations. By the way, the College of Veterinary Medicine has specifically challenged CALS and is ahead in the fundraising total. Our honor is at stake!
Research Updates
On-campus Research Exemptions
To date, more than 100 on-campus research projects have received exemptions to maintain the well-being of living organisms or to complete critical experiments. Several teams of CALS researchers are also working on projects specifically related to COVID-19, including producing hand sanitizer, face masks and face shields and even developing a potential vaccine.
Restarting Research
Steve Lommel and the NCARS office are working with the university to build an appropriate plan for restarting CALS research. As part of this process, department heads have been asked to work with their departments to create a priority list of critical research projects. There are a number of unknowns regarding when research will restart and how much we will be able to accommodate. However, we do know that the restart of research will be slow and steady, and we are committed to providing a safe environment for everyone.
Supporting Graduate and Postdoctoral Research
To help graduate students and postdocs continue making progress on their research projects while most in-lab and in-field research has been halted, the CALS Research Committee sent out a call to connect trainees who need data analytics and computational modeling to leverage their existing data with others at NC State who have the expertise in those areas. So far, 10 trainees have filled out the survey and been asked to submit a one-page proposal to aid in matching research interests and needs.
Extension Updates
Off-campus Research and Extension Exemptions
To date, more than 400 exemptions for off-campus research and Extension projects were approved during the first round of requests. During the second call for off-campus projects, more than 250 exemption requests were submitted. These requests were for research and Extension projects planned for June 1 through August 15, 2020.
Conversation With Chancellor Woodson: NC State County Extension
On April 30, NC State University Chancellor Randy Woodson held a Zoom meeting with NC State’s county Extension personnel to share university updates, answer timely questions, and express gratitude for the tireless, impactful efforts of Extension employees across our state. CLICK HERE to watch this session in its entirety.
You can also find a list of recordings of CALS Town Halls and discover more COVID-19 information and updates from Extension at https://covid19.ces.ncsu.edu.
Re-opening Extension with Phase 1
Extension Administration will be providing an update by May 8 on how we plan to increase our programming. The short directive is that our current restrictions on face-to-face programming will stay in place through May 21.
Administrative Updates
CALS Business Office
Beginning July 1, the university requires MarketPlace to be the first stop for placing supply orders under $1,000. This is an increase from the current requirement for supply orders under $250. Voucher requests for supply purchases under $1,000 that were made outside of MarketPlace will require additional justification prior to approval. Please see the linked university 3-D Memo for more details: Shop the MarketPlace First Initiative.
We are also approaching the close of our state fiscal year (June 30). At this point of the year and in light of recent guidance from the Office of State Budget & Management (OSBM) and the university, we are expected to limit our expenditure of state funds to purchases of goods and services that are mission-critical or COVID-19 related needs. Here is the link to the college’s business process deadlines (Unity-wrapped) for financial activities and transactions that impact state and federal capacity funds in ledgers 2-, 3-, and 4-.
CALS Human Resources
NC State faculty and staff Paid Administrative Leave provisions have been extended through May 8. We expect new guidance after this date. Other work and leave provisions specified in the March 26 guidelines remain in effect.
The University recently released a 3D Memo regarding the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, a new leave provision that went into effect at NC State May 1. For more information, visit https://hr.ncsu.edu/pandemic-and-communicable-disease/ffcra/.
As always, we will continue to share the latest updates and information through the COVID-19 page on the CALS Employee Portal and through Inside CALS as they become available.
Thank you again for all your hard work, and I look forward to being together with you again on May 15.
But until then, Go CALS and Go Pack!
Richard Linton,
CALS Dean