June 12, 2020

Dear Students and Families,

In Florida, warmer weather means many things—increased activities outside, longer days, and the onset of hurricane season to name a few.

As we saw with Tropical Storm Cristobal last week, this hurricane season, which runs from June 1 through November 30, is predicted to be very active. Now is the time to start preparing, as due to the global pandemic, items for which you would typically stock up may be more difficult to find. Please take the time to start planning and purchasing supplies as soon as you reasonably can.

I want to underscore UF’s key method of communicating with UF faculty, staff and students in emergency situations is the UF Alert system. Please take a moment to review, update and customize your location, emergency contact settings and related information in the myUFL system to ensure you receive emergency notifications from the university as we strive to keep you connected and aware of conditions that arise.

We strive to make information available and accessible as possible; to that end, family members can also elect to receive UF Alerts for the Gainesville campus by downloading the GatorSafe app to their mobile device. You can also monitor the @UF Public Safety Twitter feed, as well as the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network, which offers a free Florida Storms app to share information regarding potential weather and hazards.

As the state of Florida moves into Phase 2 of the re-opening plan, I’m excited to share that Southwest Recreation Center is now open. Our staff have all participated in the UF Health Screen, Test & Protect program and are taking numerous precautions within our facilities including wearing face coverings, spacing out equipment to promote physical distancing and significantly increasing cleaning and disinfecting schedules.

Additionally, today, after incorporating community feedback, the university’s re-opening plan was submitted to the Florida Board of Governors for review. The Board of Governors is scheduled to consider the plan for approval on June 23. We welcome continued feedback to our plan, and please send your comments to reopen@ufl.edu. Our goal is to promote student safety and well-being, knowing that COVID-19 will be a continued issue for cities and states around the country, and we are diligently working forward to welcome our students back to campus in a thoughtful and health-conscious manner.

Be safe, be well, and as always – Go Gators!

Dr. D’Andra Mull
Vice President for Student Affairs

UPDATES:

Financial Support for Students
The University of Florida has been allocated funds from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). The CARES Act established and funded the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) to provide emergency financial aid grants. These critical funds will help eligible UF students cover expenses related to unanticipated travel, additional technology requirements, or other needs related to an emergency situation. Graduate assistants (this includes medical and veterinary residents), post-doctoral fellows and associates must apply as employees via the Faculty and Staff Aid-a-Gator program. UF Online, International, and DACA students are not eligible to receive CARES Act funding, but emergency funding for these students may be available through the UF Aid-a-Gator program.

Have you updated Zoom on your devices?
On May 30, all Zoom clients and Zoom Rooms were required to be updated to version 5.0 or greater to join any meetings, as new encryption will be fully enabled for all meetings.

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to update your devices today. More information is available on the Zoom website.

UF Health Screen, Test & Protect website provides information, answers to questions
UF Health has launched a new website designed to provide information for faculty, staff, students and our community about the Screen, Test & Protect initiative. A science- and data-driven program designed to minimize the spread of the novel coronavirus, the effort is being guided by the world-class physicians and epidemiologists at UF Health, with everyone’s health and safety as the top priority.

You can learn more about UF Health Screen, Test & Protect by visiting the new website and viewing this video.

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