Thank you for your hard work and commitment to getting the fall 2021 semester off to a strong start. We know the tremendous value that on-campus experiences bring to our students as well as our faculty and staff, and I appreciate your dedication to helping ensure a safe and positive working, learning and living environment.

The university has many COVID-19-related safety measures in place, including providing vaccines on campus. We know that vaccination is our best defense against the virus. Vaccines are safe, free and highly effective against serious illness from all known variants. Appointments are available; if you have not yet received your vaccine, please consider doing so as soon as possible.

Even with our safety measures and precautions, we understand that we will continue to see positive cases within our community, and that others who are not infected will be directed to quarantine due to our robust contact tracing program. In response, NC State is reinstituting the special COVID-19 voluntary shared leave program effective immediately.

This program provides a bank of donated leave hours that are available for use in situations where leave-earning employees have exhausted all paid administrative leave and their accrued annual or sick leave for COVID-19-related qualifying events. Please see University Human Resources’ The Pack Is Back website for more information and to complete a request form.

Thanks to the ongoing generosity of our faculty and staff community, we have plenty of previously donated hours banked. We will open up donations again if needed as we move through the semester.

Please continue taking care of yourselves and one another. And, as always, thank you for doing your part to protect the Pack.

Randy Woodson
Chancellor