Dear Graduate Faculty colleagues,

We hope this note finds you and yours well.

In light of last night’s announcement by Governor Sisolak, and directives from Chancellor Reilly and President Meana, the campus is closing all but essential operations. This means that the Graduate College Gateway building offices and our Professional Development Academy Commons will be closing immediately.

We have been planning for this possible scenario and are prepared to transition to remote operations. Our whole team is set up, ready, and working remotely immediately. Rest assured that we will continue to operate, as per usual, and provide all of our services, despite the building shut-down.

We are 100% committed to the continued success and degree progression of our students as well as providing support to you, our valued graduate faculty.

You can still reach us for information, assistance, or guidance from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., Mondays through Fridays via email; phone; or WebEx, an online meeting tool.

Our team’s email addresses and phone numbers can be found on our staff directory.
To request a WebEx appointment, please contact the person who you’d like to meet with and they will send you an invitation to join a scheduled WebEx meeting. Once you get the scheduled meeting information, you may simply dial in to WebEx for a phone conversation, you may opt to do a WebEx chat conversation, or you may use your video to have an online meeting with a member of our Graduate College team.

Please continue to check our Graduate College Temporary Accommodations for COVID-19 page here and encourage your students to do so, too. The webpage, which will be updated frequently, helps to answer questions about services, processes, deadlines, and what to expect for the remainder of the closure. For example, it contains important information regarding:

Teaching GAs and continuation of their work online
Research GAs and continuity of their work in labs and remote locations
Online thesis and dissertation defenses
Extended deadlines for spring graduation
We will be posting important additions to this webpage later today, and frequently thereafter, to keep you and your students informed during this fluid and evolving situation.

Finally, while the university remains open to serve our students and faculty, many personnel are working remotely so entry doors have been locked for health, safety and security reasons. Students, GAs, and employees may continue to access UNLV facilities if needed.

If you have been issued a building access card, please use the card for entry.
If you have NOT been issued a building access card, and need to use a facility, please contact the Facilities Help Desk: 702-895-HELP (4357) or facilities_help_desk@unlv.edu.
The Facilities Help Desk is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. For requests outside of these hours, or for any emergencies, please contact University Police Services at 311 (from a campus phone) or 702-895-3668.
Graduate students who need to access buildings to retrieve items that will allow them to work remotely or to continue essential work in labs are asked to reach out to their advisor, GA supervisor, chair, graduate coordinator, or department/school to get access to required campus offices or labs. For graduate students who may need ongoing access to locked buildings/offices, departments should place a request with Facilities using the key/card access approval system. The key/card access approval system is available either from a campus IP address or utilizing a UNLV VPN. Please note that any RebelCard issued after April 2018, or an older blank white access card (aka Marlock or proximity card), contains the necessary access technology and can be programmed to allow access. The requested access would be added to the card remotely. As of now, the RebelCard office intends to be open this week from 10 a.m.-3 p.m., if anyone needs to get a new RebelCard to use for building or office access.
Please see the Research webpage with COVID-19 updates for more guidance and information about lab research protocols, IRB, and other guidance to support the continuation of faculty and graduate student research.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out about any Graduate College business or any continuity of operations issues related to graduate students, GAs, and faculty/staff. We’re here to help! And until we see you again, face-to-face, please take care, be well, and stay healthy.

Best wishes,
Kate & the Graduate College team