Town Hall to Focus on a Gradual, Phased Return-to-Work Plan

Dear Faculty and Staff,

Denver’s Stay-at-Home order will expire Friday, May 8, which means the University of Denver will soon begin operating under the City of Denver and State of Colorado’s Safer-at-Home orders. Consequently, we have been working on a detailed plan for a slow, gradual and phased return of our faculty and staff to campus.

Please join us on Wednesday, May 6, at 2 p.m. for a virtual town hall focusing on this plan to begin gradually bringing employees back to campus. We will provide the community with an overview of our planning efforts and invite questions from participants. Here is the Zoom link.

The most important thing to know right now is that employees who are immunocompromised or caring for someone who is—or who have other health issues that make them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19—will not be required to return to campus.

Joining me for the town hall will be:

• Jeremy Haefner, Chancellor;
• Leslie Brunelli, Senior Vice Chancellor for Financial Affairs; and
• Jerron Lowe, Interim Vice Chancellor of Human Resources

As you will learn, DU’s plan will put in place numerous safeguards for ensuring a healthy work environment, including a very slow, gradual return, physical distancing within buildings and on our grounds, symptom monitoring, protective equipment, cleaning procedures, and other protocols.

The phases of DU’s plan, which over time will allow for increased density and less distance between individuals, will always adhere to any changes in the health and safety guidelines provided by the city and state. To help protect our faculty, staff and students, we may also choose to enforce stricter guidelines, but we will never suggest behavior or allow protocols that are more lenient than the guidelines suggest.

We look forward to sharing more tomorrow. 

For those who are unable to join the virtual town hall, we will send a letter on Friday providing highlights of the plan and addressing frequently asked questions.

Sincerely,

Corinne Lengsfeld
Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor