As you know, our successful transition to a remote learning and working environment could not have been possible without the outstanding work of our Office of Technology Services. If you find yourself still in need of help with internet access or computer equipment, I encourage you to reach out to them.
I know many of you are aware of how important OTS has been to our CSN family lately, but I wanted to share a few of the positive notes left on our online message board:
Many thanks to OTS for going above and beyond to get me the software I need to work from home. Gracias! Danke! Merci! Obrigado! Salamat! Takk! Asante! Grazie!
I’d like to send out a BIG Thank You to OTS for helping me navigate some issues working from home. A special shout out to Aaron Fletcher, who went the extra mile to troubleshoot and get back to me in record time. I know you are all overwhelmed with requests but you truly made me feel valued. Greatly appreciated!
Sam Bachert (and his team who helped me initially) was instrumental in providing WebEx support so I could get back in to meeting with my classes. Thank you, Sam!!!
Keep those positive messages coming! I know Mugunth and his team appreciate the support and we all enjoy reading the positive stories.
Since, for the most part, we shut down our campuses three and a half weeks ago, OTS has remained onsite supplying faculty, staff and students with devices to help them teach, learn and work remotely. Over 100 laptops have been distributed, as well as monitors, wi-fi hotspots, docks and other devices. Students have also benefitted, with several dozen devices distributed to them.
Finally, I want to remind you once again that the Board of Regents is scheduled to meet later today to hear initial budget reduction proposals from each of the NSHE institutions, including CSN. After the meeting, look for more information from my office regarding our proposal and next steps.
Thank you. Stay Safe and God Bless.
Federico Zaragoza President College of Southern Nevada
The focus of our message today is on our changing work environment and the important role of our Human Resources and CAPE teams. There have been several questions about when remote instruction and remote working will end and when employees can return to work. Keeping in mind the dynamic nature of our environment and that NSHE will provide definitive guidance based on health and safety considerations, the current plan calls for:
All academic instruction to remain online throughout the first summer term, through June 30.
Non-teaching staff to remain in their virtual work environment or on paid administrative leave status through the remainder of the spring semester.
We will of course keep the entire CSN family updated should details surrounding our virtual work schedule change.
HR reports that there are over 200 Telecommuting Agreement forms still outstanding. If you are working remotely and have not yet submitted your form to CAPE@CSN.edu, please do so no later than Monday, April 13. If you have already submitted a completed form, you can check your status on your CAPE My Learning dashboard. Once you are logged in, search for the Telecommuting Agreement (Temporary) – Checkpoint, to see if it has been approved and completed. Email CAPE@CSN.edu with questions.
Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not remind you of the special Board of Regents meeting scheduled for 1 p.m. Friday. You can view the meeting online via NSHE’s website. As I said in yesterday’s email, the Board will hear presentations on initial budget reduction plans for all NSHE institutions.
Thank you all for your hard work and for remaining Vegas Strong and CSN Proud.
Stay Safe and God Bless.
Federico Zaragoza President College of Southern Nevada
Yesterday, I mentioned that the Board of Regents will meet on Friday to discuss the latest direction from Gov. Steve Sisolak regarding budget cut proposals from all state agencies. I need to clearly state that the task in front of us is complicated and there are no easy solutions. But we must ensure our student success mission is preserved in any scenario moving forward.
I can assure you that we will be transparent and forthcoming with information. As you can see on this list of targets released by the governor’s office, NSHE must submit initial plans for cuts of approximately $27 million for the current year and $97 million for the following year. For CSN, NSHE has released estimates calling for plans to cut 4.3 million this year and up to 15.2 million next year. As a result, we will submit initial plans to the Board by tomorrow for these cuts of 4 percent for the rest the current fiscal year, and as much as 14 percent for fiscal year 20-21.
Let me emphasize that we are at the very beginning of the planning stage and the projected budget reductions are preliminary. All NSHE institutions’ plans — including CSN’s — will be presented to the Board at its meeting this Friday. You can view the meeting online via NSHE’s website. At this early stage, there will not be many details. But moving forward, we will be true to our principal of shared governance, and that means our faculty, employees, and our students will have input into the process.
Please know that many of us at CSN have significant experience with budget reductions. In fact, our diversity of our leadership team includes experiences dealing with these types of situations at various different institutions throughout the country. Moreover, we have many CSN faculty, staff, and administrators who have been through the NSHE budget reductions of the Great Recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s. We will exploit this collective knowledge to implement proven best practices that will help us navigate through this economic crisis.
Lastly, at its meeting yesterday the Board took actions that will significantly help our students during this crisis. First, regents suspended some policies regarding delinquent student accounts. What this means is that students with delinquent accounts will still be allowed to register for courses and access their academic records for the summer and fall terms. In addition, regents adjusted the grading policy so that students who choose to can pursue a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grade. Regular letter grades will be issued this semester, but any student who wants to can pursue the S/U option afterward by making an appointment with their academic advisor.
Students are understandably in need of options and advice, and our Division of Student Affairs has contacted over 8,000 students this semester to make sure they get the help they need to be successful:
We’re proactively reaching out to first-time in college students to make sure they’re receiving academic advising so they don’t lose their way.
Our Career & Transfer Services office is encouraging students who expect to graduate soon to take advantage of services offered, including resume writing, job search techniques, interview coaching and help with CareerLink. They are also encouraging first-time students who haven’t declared a major to complete the TypeFocus assessment, meet with a career services specialist for guidance on interpreting TypeFocus results and make an appointment with an academic advisor to select a major.
And one of our newest student services offices, First Year Experience, is contacting hundreds of first-time college students who received academic honors in the fall to encourage them to remain in touch with FYE and their instructors during remote instruction. We don’t want to lose a single student because they didn’t know where to go for help.
This is an unprecedented time but be assured that we will get through this adversity together, Vegas Strong and CSN Proud.
Stay Safe and God Bless.
Federico Zaragoza President College of Southern Nevada
I want to give a shoutout to EVERYONE. Transitioning from in-person class to online classes is not as easy as it seems, but we are all doing our very best and I am proud of my fellow CSN students! I also wanna thank CSN Professors for making the transition as smooth as possible, you guys are rockin’!
I just wanted to thank the Student Emergency Fund Committee for taking time to help me make ends meet during these tough times! I know a lot of us are going through tough times right now but I hope you’re all doing okay 🙂 Thank you CSN for always trying to provide all the resources we need to gain academic success.
That is amazing! Thank you to everyone who has posted so far. Your stories are inspirational.
I also want to remind you that we have scheduled virtual town halls every week this semester. There will not be one this week because of spring break, but look for information from my office on next week’s sessions. If you were unable to participate in last week’s, you may view them in their entirety on my blog.
You will note that many questions about in-person classes and remote instruction came up. As you know, we will be delivering remote instruction at least through June 30. With the exception of some healthcare classes, there will be no in-person classes for the summer sessions. There are a few classes still meeting in-person now, such as science labs, automotive and welding labs, and field experiences. We will cease these in-person courses for now and explore ways we can resume them after June 30. We will keep everyone updated as events develop.
We are also discussing the possibility that a satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading option could be deployed this semester in lieu of a letter grade once the issue has been addressed by the Board of Regents. Further discussion is underway regarding the placement of students in the proper courses with in-person math, English and reading placement testing unavailable right now. Again, we will update you as soon as possible.
Lastly, I want to remind you that the Board of Regents is scheduled to meet today at 1 p.m. There are several important items on the agenda, including delinquent student accounts, the satisfactory/unsatisfactory grading policy I mentioned above, and alternatives to postponed commencement ceremonies. The Board will meet again on Friday to discuss the latest direction from Gov. Steve Sisolak regarding budget cut proposals from all state agencies.
I want to wrap up today’s message by reminding us all that collectively we are indeed Vegas Strong and CSN proud.
Stay Safe and God Bless.
Federico Zaragoza President College of Southern Nevada
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you in the CSN family who participated in our Town Hall meetings last week. Your guidance and feedback are critical. As such, today’s message is a direct response to two important topics raised by you that we must continue to clarify. The topics of remote instruction and remote working environment.
I continue working with Chancellor Reilly as we plan for the rest of the semester and the summer sessions during this evolving crisis. As you may recall, last week the Chancellor directed all NSHE institutions to teach only in a remote learning environment until June 30. This means all courses will continue as is for the rest of the current semester, and all courses offered during the summer will be remote only. This does not mean campuses will necessarily remain inaccessible through June 30. We must be prepared to adapt to directives from the Governor’s Office and NSHE.
We have received revised direction on essential on-campus employees. Only public safety employees, those providing health care services to students or the community, custodial and facilities staff and information technology employees who cannot work remotely may be on campus. Any other exceptions, including those involving administrative faculty, must be approved by my office.
In addition, we will not hold classes this summer that require access to labs and heavy equipment, such as science labs, automotive and welding labs, and field experiences. Exceptions to this mandate include classes that prepare students for jobs in health care, such as nursing and paramedic classes. In fact, we are discussing how we might accelerate instruction in these areas so we can help meet the need for workers in the healthcare sector. During the next week, we will closely inspect our instructional spaces to determine the best way to facilitate this critical instruction while making sure to adhere to social distancing and deep cleaning protocols.
Please keep our healthcare professionals in your prayers as they are at work at the front lines of this crisis; remember, one in three nurses in the region are CSN graduates. They are there because of you and the knowledge that you imparted while they were with us. Remember that the health and safety of our CSN Family remains our top priority. We are in this together.
Stay Safe & God Bless.
Federico Zaragoza President College of Southern Nevada
The entire CSN Family grieves with Regent Lieberman’s family, friends and loved ones. He was a true friend to CSN and all the region’s college students, having been involved in shaping policy since his time as an active UNLV student, volunteer and donor in the 1980s. He was first elected to the Board in 2015, and later said, “Joining the Board of Regents was simply the next phase of my three-decade love affair with Nevada higher education.”
No one believed more in the power of higher education that Regent Lieberman did. He will be sorely missed, not only by those involved in higher education, but by all Nevadans. He was truly a champion for our state who believed, as we do, that we should always put Students First.
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Today’s email update highlights important information from the Finance Division, which will be a critical area going forward as the economic effects of this crisis come to bear.
First, I want to thank everyone who participated in yesterday’s Virtual Town Hall. We will post the videos soon. There were several questions that focused on the summer term. Following Chancellor Thom Reilly’s direction, we will remain in a remote learning environment through June 30. All CSN classes that are currently being conducted remotely will remain so for the duration of the spring semester.
Please also note that the Board of Regents is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. Tuesday to discuss a variety of related issues, including grades, commencement ceremonies, delinquent student accounts and the fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the 2020 and 2021 budgets.
We’ve fielded a lot of questions about the budget, the hiring freeze, and lay-offs. Unfortunately, we don’t have all the answers yet about a budget cut, although we anticipate large cuts in fiscal year 2020-2021. Once we have more information, we will share it with the CSN Family. Our first priority will be to reduce the negative impacts any cuts will have on students. We do expect federal aid to help, but how much that aid will be remains to be determined.
I hope you saw the email earlier this week from Vice President of Finance & Administration Mary Kaye Bailey containing guidance on using a new COVID-19 activity code (AC00994) in Workday for purchasing requisitions, P-Card expenditures, and supplier invoice requests. Your diligence in entering the code in the “additional worktag” field will help us provide accurate information to NSHE and the governor’s office when requested. We have already had one request for this from the governor’s office, so we appreciate your attention in this matter.
Lastly, I hope that those of you who will be off for spring break next week find a few moments to relax. We know it has been a challenging few weeks for all. Please know that I deeply appreciate all you do for our students, as I express in the first of a series of videos we’ll be creating.
Stay safe and be CSN proud.
Federico Zaragoza President College of Southern Nevada
Today’s email update highlights important information from Human Resources, one of many topics that we will bring to you to keep you informed about CSN developments over the coming weeks.
First, I want to alert you to the Virtual Town Hall that we have scheduled for 3 p.m. today. Visit our Newsroom blog to learn how you can participate. Please be sure to bring your questions if they are not answered here. As we navigate the remote working environment it is understandable that many of us have questions right now.
I realize that some Human Resources and Workday processes have changed in this new environment, so I’ve asked Chief Human Resources Officer Bill Dial to provide guidance:
Some employees have asked how to enter hours worked for those employees who are on administrative leave. For full time-employees who are not currently telecommuting, hours entered should be listed as Administrative Leave, and change the costing allocation. Part-time employees should enter their hours as they normally would and change the costing allocation. Please see the Workday Job Aid for help in entering your time.
Although CSN has successfully transitioned to a fully remote environment, it is important that all members of the CSN Family understand that they have a responsibility to report possible exposure or development of symptoms by using our online Confidential Reporting Form. By having this information, CSN can help connect individuals to resources and information, and answer any related questions.
We understand there are challenges any time major change occurs, so CAPE has created an online training for our employees with tips and best practices to help you succeed in the virtual environment: Telecommuting Basics: How to be Successful Working from Home.
Finally, we are so appreciative of the collaboration, flexibility, innovation, and patience our employees have demonstrated in moving into a totally new work environment. Remember, if you still have questions, please attend our virtual town hall this afternoon. I look forward to joining you.
Lastly, I hope you have had a chance to visit our online message board to view all the wonderful, positive stories out there about our students, faculty and staff. Your hard work and dedication to putting our students first are truly an inspiration. Stay safe and CSN proud.
Thank you.
Federico Zaragoza President College of Southern Nevada
