From Catherine Dauvergne and Martin Pochurko | Transitioning back to campuses

This email is sent on behalf of Dr. Catherine Dauvergne, vice-president academic and provost, and Martin Pochurko, vice-president finance & administration. It has been sent to all faculty and staff.

Dear colleagues, 

We look forward to having our community back together on our three campuses. As September approaches, our campuses are already coming back to life.

We have heard you, and know that many are interested in retaining the flexible work options that evolved during the pandemic. We are as well, but we need time to make sure flexible work options also work for our return back to in-person services.

Given the variety of work across our campuses, a one-size-fits-all approach is not possible. We are currently considering options to allow flexibility for employees to work from home. A working group is developing and testing a framework for hybrid-work for the university, aiming for broader roll out in early 2022. Human Resources will connect with leaders to provide more information.

In the meantime, summer and fall terms are a period of transition and work arrangements should be managed at the unit/department level to align with service and operational needs. There is so much variation across our campuses, disciplines and roles that our ways of returning will be different for different services. Many people have been on campus throughout the pandemic and others, especially those in student-facing roles, will need to be back full-time by late summer.

Our ultimate goal is to transition back to our three campuses and continue to do what we do best—to provide exemplary teaching, research and community engagement. 

We know that periods of transition can be challenging and stressful and we appreciate everything you are doing to bring our community back together in-person. If you or someone you know needs support, visit the Human Resources website for mental health and wellbeing resources available for faculty and staff.

More information
Visit the SFU Return to Campus website.

Questions
Contact us at covid19@sfu.ca.

Thank you for your ongoing flexibility and commitment to supporting our students.

Sincerely,

Dr. Catherine Dauvergne, QC
Vice-President Academic and Provost

Martin Pochurko
Vice-President Finance & Administration