Reporter Volume 25, No.13 December 2, 1993 1993 Intersession Curtailment Details As previously announced, the University at Buffalo will be implementing an Intersession Curtailment Program. As in previous years, the savings to be realized through lower-energy consumption and other features of the curtailment will assist the university in operating within this year's reduced budget. All university offices will be closed and telephones will not be answered except by departmental answering machines from the close of business on Thursday, Dec. 23, 1993 until the beginning of business on Monday, Jan. 3, 1994. This will apply to the university's North, South, Ridge Lea and EOC campuses. Note: A number of critical library, computing and campus mail functions will be sustained during Intersession Curtailment. See details below. n Temperatures in buildings that are closed will be reduced to 50F and hot water will not be available. n Normal university services, such as food service and campus busing, will not be available. n In the event of snowfall, only roadways needed for emergency access and a few selected parking lots will be plowed. n Public Safety and University Facilities staff will provide necessary campus and building safety and security. exemptions In accordance with the Policy and Exemption Procedures issued by the Office of the Provost on Oct. 28, 1993, the following university facilities/activities have been granted automatic exemptions during this year's Intersession Curtailment: n All laboratory animal facilities n The Dorsheimer Greenhouse n All emergency clinical/treatment facilities n Alumni Arena (for scheduled intercollegiate athletic events only) n All research buildings where there is a significant percentage of "wet-laboratory" facilities in the building. The following buildings will remain completely open during the curtailment: a. Acheson Hall b. Bonner Hall c. Cary/Farber/Sherman Halls d. Cooke/Hochstetter Halls e. Foster Hall f. Fronczak Hall g. Furnas Hall h. Howe Building i Jarvis Hall j. Ketter Hall k. Parker Annex l. Squire Hall Libraries The following libraries will remain open during curtailment: a. Science and Engineering Library, open during the curtailment from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on 12/12 and on 12/27-12/31, providing access to those collections. No reference service available. b. Health Sciences Library--open from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on 12/24 and on 12/27-12/31, providing access to those collections. Reference service available. c. Chemistry-Mathematics Library--accessible to Chemistry and Math faculty using their key cards. No library staff will be on duty at this site. (See Libraries for additional details.) Computing Center The machine room and supporting offices only of the Computing Center will be open. (See Computing for additional details.) Residence Halls Select residence halls will be open to international students during the curtailment. Please Note: Requests for a building exemption beyond the programs/facilities listed above were to have been received by Nov. 19 in a procedure previously announced. employee options Alternate Work Site Employees who wish to work on any or all of the six regular workdays, but who are not employed in areas that will be open as a result of an exemption, or who cannot make alternate arrangements, will be accommodated at the alternate work site, which is Lockwood Library on the North Campus. That site will be heated to the normal university winter temperature. Individuals utilizing the alternate work site must bring adequate work supplied by their department or will be supplied work by the site supervisor. Please Note: State employees who choose this option will receive a memorandum in early December that provides specific instructions on procedures governing the alternate work site. State Employees State employees who choose to take time off during the curtailment can utilize accumulated vacation, personal, or compensatory leave accruals, or can choose to take the days off without pay. Employees who plan to make use of the latter option should write a letter to their supervisor indicating the specific dates they wish to take without pay. Sick leave accruals may not be used. For those employees who do not have six days of vacation and/or compensatory accruals, but who wish to be off with pay during this period, the university will advance up to five days of vacation accruals. (The sixth day should be charged to the compensatory day earned Dec. 25, 1993.) State employees who choose to work on any or all of the six work days that fall within the curtailment, and who are not employees of a department that has been granted an exemption, or who are unable to make alternative arrangements, were to have notified their supervisor and Barbara Christy, Personnel Associate, at 645-2652 of that fact, no later than Nov. 19, 1993. Research Foundation Employees Research Foundation employees may be required to work all or part of the curtailment, depending on whether the unit in which they work will remain open. Employees who are not required to work, but wish to do so, may be assigned to the alternate work site in the Libraries (see Employee Options). Employees who do not work, and who do not have sufficient accruals may request leave without pay or an advance of up to six days. Requests for an advance or for leave without pay, and requests for an alternate work site should be sent to Sponsored Programs Personnel in writing by 12/1/93. Requests for advance of leave, or leave without pay, and requests for an alternate work site should be sent to Sponsored Programs Services Personnel in writing by 12/1/93. Note: December is the Research Foundation's designated month for open enrollment for health benefits. Material will be sent directly to all Research employees regarding dates, times and locations prior to the curtailment, when personnel staff will be available to assist with health insurance changes. Public Safety Public Safety will operate full shifts throughout the curtailment period. Several steps will be taken to guard against theft and provide personal protection for the limited number of employees and students on campus. Payroll Services Wednesday, Dec. 29 is a State and UBF payday. In an effort to provide service to university employees, all State and UBF paychecks and direct deposit statements will be mailed to State and UBF employees (including those working in local hospitals) via first-class mail. They will be mailed to the address that appears on the employee's paycheck/direct deposit statement. No paychecks/direct deposit statements will be obtainable on campus. Paychecks/direct deposit statements will be delivered to the post office on Monday, Dec. 27, which should ensure local delivery by Wednesday, December 29. Please note that for the State Student Assistant payday on Thursday, Dec. 23, 1993, paychecks will be distributed by Campus Mail as usual. Over the past few months, employees have been reminded of the necessity of an accurate mailing address on their paycheck/direct deposit statement, as well as the advantages of enrolling in the Direct Deposit Program. Change of address forms are available in the University Telephone Directory or in Personnel Services, 104 Crofts Hall, 645-2646, for State employees. UBF employees can change their address by advising the UBF Personnel Office in the Center for Tomorrow, 645-3011. It is critical that university departments notify Payroll Services by Friday, Dec. 17 if it is necessary to withhold any State employee's December 29 paycheck, or to stop their direct deposit. Payroll Services will notify the employee by mail if his or her paycheck is being held. UBF must be notified by Friday, Dec. 17 if it is necessary to withhold any UBF employee's paycheck, or to stop their direct deposit. UBF will also notify the employee by mail if his or her paycheck is being withheld. During Intersession Curtailment, Payroll Services will have a staff member checking its telephone answering device and responding to any questions. The telephone number is 645-2600. UBF will have staff available on Monday, Dec. 27 through Thursday, Dec. 30 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to answer questions. The telephone number is 645-3011. Questions regarding the procedure for distributing paychecks during Intersession Curtailment should be addressed to Joseph Kerr, Acting Payroll Director, for State employees, and Josephine Zenosky for UBF employees. campus mail The Campus Mail Services Center will be open each business day (12/24, 12/27-12/31) to sort incoming Federal mail including letter mail, registered/certified/priority mail, and parcel post. The Campus Mail Services Center will be closed on 12/25 and 1/1. Although there will not be any mail deliveries during the curtailment, Campus Mail Services will load its delivery trucks for first day-back delivery of all accumulated mail. Expect Monday (1/3/94) to be a heavier than usual day. All accumulated Parcel Post will be delivered on 1/3/94. Departments that wish to receive their mail during the curtailment should contact Campus Mail Services Center no later than 12/17/93 at 645-2743 to make the necessary arrangements to pick up their mail at the Mail Center. There will be no distribution of mail to individuals (i.e., mail can be picked up for departments only). Hours of operation will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. each business day. Libraries As noted above, the Health Science Library (HSL) and the Science and Engineering Library (SEL) will be open during the shutdown from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on 12/24 and on 12/27-12/31, providing access to those collections. Reference service will be provided at HSL only. The Chemistry Mathematics Library will be accessible to Chemistry and Math faculty using their key cards. No library staff will be on duty at this site. BISON will be available throughout curtailment at the open libraries and via dial-up. HUBNET will be available at the Health Sciences Library and via dial-up. All other UB library units will be closed during the curtailment. Note: As in the past, emergency retrieval of materials will be provided to UB faculty by staff based at Lockwood Library, this year's alternate work site (see employee options). Faculty who need known items form the closed collections--Lockwood, Music, Law and Chemistry-Math (that is, non-Chemistry/non-Math faculty who do not have key cards), can call 645-2816 to place requests. Journal articles will be copied for pick-up at Lockwood or faxed at no charge. Books will be charged for pick-up at Lockwood during curtailment hours. Two hour, same-day response will be provided for calls made before 3 p.m. All Libraries will be closed on the two curtailment weekends: 12/25-12/26 and 1/1-1/2. Computing The Computing Center will close its central facilities and all public sites during the curtailment. During this period, one operator will be on duty at the Computing Center between 8:30 a.m. and Midnight weekdays, except Christmas and New Year's Eve and Day, to monitor the computers and networks, do backups, and handle a limited number of requests for tape mounts. No output will be printed, distributed or delivered from the Computing Center or any of its remote facilities. From Midnight to 8:30 a.m. weekdays and all day on weekends, the systems will be left in operator-unattended mode, meaning that no tape mount requests will be possible. Also during unattended times, should either the systems or networks become inoperative for some reason, restoration will not occur until the next scheduled operator-attended shift. (Please see complete Computing Center Intercession Curtailment schedule below.) Outside of providing access to the mainframe computers, there will be no other services available during the curtailment such as consulting, computer repair or network services. Due to the limited disk space on the IBM system for electronic mail and print files and the Computing Center's inability to monitor use of this space, users are cautioned that some E-mail messages and print files could be lost if the space allocated for this data becomes full. As was the case last year, the Computing Center recommends that all critical data files be backed up before powering down your computer equipment on Dec. 23, 1993. If there are any special concerns relating to the effects on computing during curtailment, please contact Dr. Hinrich Martens at 645-3580 or Dennis Henneman at 645-3504. Computer Center Intersession Curtailment Schedule Building System Operations Thurs., Dec. 23 Closed 5 p.m. Attended 5 p.m.-Midnight Fri., Dec. 24 Closed Attended 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat., Dec. 25 Closed Unattended Sun., Dec. 26 Closed Unattended Mon., Dec. 27 Closed Attended 8:30 a.m.-Midnight Tues., Dec. 28 Closed Attended 8:30 a.m.-Midnight Wed., Dec. 29 Closed Attended 8:30 a.m.-Midnight Thurs., Dec. 30 Closed Attended 8:30 a.m.-Midnight Fri., Dec. 31 Closed Attended 8:30 a.m.-Midnight Sat., Jan. 1 Closed Unattended Sun., Jan. 2 Closed Unattended Mon., Jan. 3 Open 8:30 a.m. Attended Any required schedule changes will be announced on system status phones by Dec. 17, 1993. (IBM and VAX: 645-3525; UNIX: 645-3982). Sponsored Programs All Sponsored Programs departments will be closed during the curtailment with the exception of Sponsored Programs Administration. Sponsored Programs Administration, located in The Commons, will continue normal business hours (8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.) during the curtailment, and will be open 12/24 and 12/27-31, 1993. Since most university offices will be closed, allowances should be made for obtaining required approval of proposals. Proposals submitted during the curtailment must meet all university and sponsor review/approval requirements. Sponsored Programs Services will be closed during Intersession Curtailment. Sponsored Programs Grants and Contracts Services Travel reimbursement vouchers and advance requests must be received in Grants and Contracts on or before 12/10/93 for payment to be made by 12/23/93. This also applies to petty cash reimbursements and other payment requests. Project Directors will be contacted by a staff member regarding projects terminating 12/31/93 to provide assistance in completing processing prior to 12/10/93. Sponsored Programs Payroll: Research Foundation paychecks normally distributed on Friday will be distributed to departments on Thursday, 12/23/93. Following are dates for submission of hourly timesheet vouchers for the lagged payroll: Hourly Time Sheet Voucher (Lag Payroll) Payroll Period Due Date Pay Date 11/27-12/10 12/13 12/24 12/11-12/24 1/3 1/7 12/25-1/7 1/12 1/21 Sponsored Programs Personnel Following are dates for submission of Personnel Appointments and Changes of Status: Payroll Period Due Date Pay Date 12/11-12/24 12/8 12/24 12/25-1-7 12/15 1/7 1/8-1/21 1/11 1/21 Sponsored Programs Purchasing Requisitions for materials and supplies needed during the curtailment must be received by 12/10/93. Vendors with pending orders will be contacted to request delivery prior to 12/23/93 or after 1/3/94. Telephones A reduced schedule of telephone operator services will be provided. Operators will be on duty Dec. 27-30 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. At all other times, calls to the university's main number will be handled by the telephone answering service. Calls for emergencies in Physical Plant should go to Customer Service at 71 or 645-2025 and emergencies in Public Safety to 645-2222. No moves, adds or changes, or routine repairs to the University telephone system will be done during the curtailment. Requests for repair of emergency or essential services telephones should be directed to campus operators during the day or to Public Safety after hours. Departments that have answering machines are requested to reprogram them to furnish an appropriate message related to the curtailment. If the machine is not associated with a department's main listed phone number, call forwarding could be used to direct the calls to the machine. Fax Machines Fax messages sent to the university's listed Fax number (645-2895) will be directed to the Campus Mail Office. Messages will be placed in campus mail and delivered after Jan. 3. Faculty-Student Association The FSA operations will not be staffed. All Food Service facilities will be closed. No vending machines will be serviced. All lobby counters will be closed. All recreation centers and the Creative Craft Center will be closed. CFT Catering Inc. will not provide any service. Campus Child Care Center The center will be closed during the curtailment. Banking Machines All banking machines in campus buildings will be turned off. All funds stored in the machines will be removed before the curtailment.