March 18, 2020
Update Message to Humanities Community

Hello everyone,

In an effort to streamline and reduce the number of e-mails being sent out, the Dean's Office will collect important information for the Humanities community and send out as few e-mails as possible. Not every item pertains to every faculty member, postdoc, or staff member, but we will try to keep the overall message numbers low.

Zoom / Canvas assistance:

The walk-in sessions scheduled for the Dean's Conference Room have changed. The assist team will be available today (Wednesday, March 18) from 1 pm - 5 pm in HRG 129 (the suite which houses the Center for Teaching Excellence). Tomorrow (Thursday, March 19), they will be available from 9 am - noon and again from 1 pm - 5 pm at the same location. You can also get remote assistance here: https://canvas.rice.edu/courses/31333/pages/remote-teaching-training-recorded-sessions

Rice Phones:

I think most of you know that when people leave a voice message on your Rice VOIP phone, the message is forwarded to your e-mail. If, while working from home, you want to have your Rice phone forwarded, you find the information at the Cisco VOIP portal: https://kb.rice.edu/77512.

The instructions are very easy to follow and you can set the schedule for when you want your phone to forward. That means you can pre-program the forwarding from 8 am - 5 pm, for example, if that's your regular work schedule.

STAFF ONLY:

Please use this link (https://form.jotform.com/200774725966062) to provide Anita Norwig with your mobile or landline phone number. If there is an emergency, she wants to have a way to reach you. This is for Dean's Office use only.

Custodial Services:

The cleaning crews' schedules have been modified. They will no longer be cleaning every classroom and every office daily. They have been put into teams of nine and are rotating days on campus and days off campus. Each building will still have services provided, but it's limited to cleaning touch points (door handles, windows, public seating, etc.), restrooms and common areas. If you need trash removed, set it outside your office and the trash will be emptied. If you have smelly trash (like food waste), it's probably best to take the bag to a trash bin location on the outside of your building.

Cisco Anywhere VPN:

Using the VPN can be tricky if you don't use it often. When you need to connect to some Rice resources, you will need to activate the VPN. When you connect, the first security box asks for your NetID, then your NetID password, then input the current set of six characters generated by the Duo Mobile app on your cell phone. More information is available here: https://kb.rice.edu/two-factor-authentication-and-vpn

Fall 2020 New Course Proposals:

I am happy to report that all of the new course proposals submitted for Fall 2020 were approved by the SCRC and have moved to OTR for approval and insertion in the course catalog. Administrators, don't forget to add sections to CLSS if these will be taught in Fall.