Nov. 11, 2021

Dear staff and faculty,

In March 2020, UAF formed an incident management team, composed of faculty and staff, tasked with guiding our COVID-19 response. Over time, this group transitioned to the Operations Support Team (OST) as COVID-19 required less incident, and more operations management. Tracey Martinson (OST lead) and I have discussed long-term management of COVID-19 at UAF and in particular, a focus on business continuity. Tracey will be working with the OST to outline what will be needed as the OST transitions into a COVID-19 Business Continuity Team (C19-BCT).

Earlier this week, UAF employees received an email from David Bishko, acting chief human resources officer, with an update to the federal COVID-19 vaccine requirement. In this communication, he outlined the change in deadline from Dec. 8, 2021 to Jan. 4, 2022, for employees who are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. On Nov. 15, UA HR will send another email, this one just going to employees who will be required to meet this condition of employment. 

If you haven’t already been vaccinated, please be sure to look at the timelines to become fully vaccinated, depending on which vaccine you choose to receive, or to complete a medical or religious waiver form. We are currently working on scheduling COVID-19 pop-up vaccination clinics at the Troth Yeddha’ Campus over the next month. Please keep an eye on the Cornerstone for announcements.

As the communications on COVID from UA HR are increasing, I plan to reduce my COVID-19 emails to once per month. Thank you for helping to keep Nanook Nation healthy, and thanks for choosing UAF. 

— Dan White, chancellor