2019 Winter Break Closure Information

Our 2019 university winter break closure will begin Monday, December 23, 2019 and continue through Wednesday, January 1, 2020.  Please be reminded that this year's closure includes three weekdays that are not university holidays – Friday, December 27, Monday, December 30, and Tuesday, December 31.  For these days, employees must apply available leave or perform approved alternate work to be compensated. To maximize energy savings, we must work to limit on-campus activity during the closure period to essential operations, to the extent possible.  At the same time, we are committed to minimizing the impact on employees who may not have sufficient vacation or bonus leave to cover the non-holiday closure days, or those who may prefer to conserve their available leave for other purposes.  Alternate work may include community service, telecommuting and/or professional development.

Community Service Leave

We encourage employees to consider utilizing community service leave as a way to manage the winter break closure and also support our community.  The University’s ACT Office Community Partners Database is a great resource for identifying community service opportunities.

Telecommuting

Where productive work that can be performed remotely is available, employees may seek approval of their supervisors to work from home to offset non-holiday closure hours.  To utilize this option:

  • The supervisor and employee must agree on the work to be performed and it must be documented.
  • Work to be completed must be measurable and completion must be verified by the supervisor.
  • Hours spent performing work must be documented by the employee and provided to the supervisor for approval.
  • Any university work materials (hard copy or electronic) that would be removed from campus must be documented with the supervisor and their return must be documented.

Anyone needing assistance accessing university computer systems remotely should contact IT Support Services (http://support.appstate.edu/contact).

Online Professional Development

Employees have access to a curated list of online professional development modules. This list will include topics such as:

  • Communication skills
  • Giving and receiving feedback
  • Leadership
  • Customer service
  • Utilizing educational assistance
  • Zero Waste

These modules are available on-demand through the University’s AsULearn system and employees can self-enroll in the courses starting on December 20th. Work time will be tracked based on completion of activities and assessments. Certificates will be provided upon successful completion of the course.

To learn more and enroll in an online course, click here.

Published: Dec 13, 2019 9:21am

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