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How Delays, Cancellations or Closings Are Determined

Please review the following guidelines with your faculty and staff.

The decision to delay or close campuses does not come lightly. Consequently, it is imperative to plan ahead. Below are guidelines and priorities used in determining class delays, cancellations or closing procedures for a severe winter weather advisory. In addition, communication avenues and procedures related to delays, class cancellations or campus closings are as follows:

• In the event of a delayed opening of the Kent Campus, classes will not begin before 10 a.m. (Students in special classes, e.g., clinicals, should consult with their dean in advance about the appropriate procedures for an early morning delay or cancellation.)
• When there is a delayed opening of the Kent Campus, employees report to work when the delay has been lifted, with the exception of staff members deemed essential and must report. If you are not sure of your status, please check with your supervisor.
• When classes are canceled, university services and offices remain open. This means that staff members are expected to report to work as usual or remain at work if the cancellation occurs during the day. If there is an exception to this, it will be communicated with the class cancellation announcement.
• University staff members work very hard to keep campus sidewalks, roads and parking lots clear. Only when the university is "closed" due to weather are offices closed and some services not available. Even then, essential staff members must report to work so operations needing 24-hour attention are maintained.

The above information pertains to the Kent Campus. Each campus's respective dean determines Regional Campus delays, cancellations or closings. When such decisions are made, the advisory information will be communicated via the same vehicles as those used by the Kent Campus.

������’s Office of Sustainability encourages winter shutdown

To conserve energy, the Office of Sustainability reminds faculty, staff and building curators to turn off — and, if possible, unplug— all appliances before leaving for winter break.

Before leaving for winter break, everyone is encouraged to:

• Turn off and unplug computers, copiers, appliances, peripherals and other electronics at the outlet to prevent "phantom" or "vampire" load. For instance, even laptop power cords will still draw electricity while plugged in, even if the device is turned off or not attached to the power cord.
• Close all windows and shades. Set thermostats to 68 degrees. Please submit a request for items needing maintenance.
• Be sure all lights are turned off.

University Facilities Management will contribute to the energy conservation effort by adjusting some building systems.

These efforts can reduce costs of heating, ventilation and lighting, and plug loads on campus during winter break.

During the 2015 winter break, the university avoided $45,965 in electric and steam costs over nine days.  The greenhouse gas emissions reduction was equal to over a million miles driven by an average passenger vehicle.

For questions about the energy-saving winter shutdown, contact Melanie Knowles, ������'s sustainability manager, at mknowle1@kent.edu or 330-672-8039.

������ Web Redesign Update – What It Means to Your Department

The ������ website redesign project is set to usher in the spring semester with the launch of and the university’s departmental websites on Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017.

The cross-divisional redesign team and its members from our agency 160over90, Information Services and University Communications and Marketing are hard at work finishing development and home page rebuilds.

Next steps and milestones include:

•                Now-Dec. 18 – webmasters will be able to make changes to live sites, but will also need to make those revisions in the soon-to-be new sites.

o               If home page edits are made to the live home page, webmasters should keep a log. Those changes can be implemented on the soon-to-be new home page the week of Jan. 9.

•                Dec. 19-Jan. 8, 2017 – a content freeze will be in place.

•        Again, keep a log of any changes made; they will need replicated on new, live site effective Jan. 9, 2017.

•                Jan. 8, 2017 – launch

If you have questions about the process or timeline, please contact Lin Danes, director of web services in University Communications and Marketing, at ldanes@kent.edu, so that she can partner with Sameer Jaleel, director of systems development for Information Services, to triage your inquiry and reply.

CVS Minute Clinics Offer Reduced Office Visit Co-pay to ������ Members

Effective Jan. 1, 2017, ������’s members can visit any participating clinic for a $10 co-pay for office visits. That’s a savings of $5.

Minute Clinic is a division of CVS Health, the largest pharmacy healthcare provider in the United States. They have 1,100 locations and offer convenient, high-quality care for common family illnesses. The practitioners can evaluate, diagnose and treat a variety of minor illnesses and injuries, including bronchitis, flu, strep throat, bladder infections, minor burns and cuts, insect stings and more.

To find a participating clinic in your area, visit and enter your zip code.

New Job Description Website Coming in January

In collaboration with the Division of Information Services, the Human Resources Compensation team has completed a project to update the university’s job description website. The HR and IS project team completed development on this project in under two months using the Agile project methodology, roles and responsibilities are shared among the project team. Human Resources expects the new site to “go live” in January 2017. 

The new website application incorporates several new features for departments, individual employees and other casual users of the website. They include:

• Each job description displays its pay grade and pay range.
• Summary job information is available for each description to assist the user in determining which jobs to view in more detail.
• Enhanced search and filter capabilities.
• Ability to view job descriptions on a mobile device.
• When creating a draft job description using the website application, users have the ability to:

• Add and change job description content,
• Link comments to the job description content for reviewers to address,
• Keep track of the most current draft, and  
• See any edits made to the draft from the prior published version.

Employees who are typically involved in the job description process had the opportunity to attend open lab sessions in November to become familiar with the website application.  A video tutorial on how to create and revise job descriptions will also be available on the home page of the website.

Please direct any questions to Vanessa Vesely, compensation manager, at 330-672-8325.

DATES TO REMEMBER:

December is Universal Human Rights Month.

Nov. 28-Dec. 9
Fall finals for first- and second-year College of Podiatric Medicine students

Dec. 7
National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Dec. 10
Human Rights Day

Dec. 11
Fall Semester Classes End

Dec. 12-16
 - Fall Semester 2016

Dec. 15
Bill of Rights Day

Dec. 16
Kent Campus December Commencement, graduate degrees, 6 p.m.

Dec. 17
Kent Campus December Commencement, undergraduate degrees (Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center. Baccalaureate Degrees, 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. For more information, visit .)

Dec. 18
������ at Ashtabula December Commencement
������ at Stark December Commencement

Dec. 24-Jan. 1
Hanukkah, begins at sunset and runs through the evening of Jan. 1.

Dec. 25 
Christmas Day

Dec. 26
Kwanzaa (through Jan. 1.)

January 2017

Jan. 1
New Year's Day

Jan. 3
Spring Classes begin (first- and second-year College of Podiatric Medicine students)

Jan. 17
Spring Semester 2017 classes begin

Jan. 16
Martin Luther King Jr. Day (university closed). MLK Day of Service, visit  

Jan. 26
Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration, Kent Student Center