On behalf of the university’s leadership, we want to thank everyone for their patience, dedication, and flexibility as we navigated the most difficult stages of the pandemic together. A smooth transition will be important to ensure that students return to the full range of support, services and activities that make UVM a vibrant campus community. Thus, UVM will resume regular, on-campus operations on August 2, 2021.

While UVM staff are expected to resume working on-site, we recognize that some individuals’ circumstances may make an immediate return to campus on August 2 especially difficult. For those who may need to resolve child care or other responsibilities at home before returning, we are directing managers and supervisors to allow for some temporary flexibility, subject to operational needs, while also ensuring that the functions of each office, department, and program are fully operational. Staff who are now working fully remotely may request to delay their return to campus by contacting their supervisor beginning on July 6.

There has been much interest from staff about the future of telework at UVM, and specifically, whether non-exempt employees will be eligible to telework moving forward. Our pivot to remote operations in March 2020 has shown us that telework can be successful depending on a variety of factors, which are being carefully considered. The process and mechanisms for formalizing future telework arrangements will be discussed with union representatives and negotiated, as appropriate.

As always, thank you for all that you do for UVM. We wish you and your families a healthy and enjoyable summer.