This week’s Tuesday Topics follow up on vaccinations.

September 1 was the deadline established by the Commonwealth of Virginia for employees to disclose their vaccination status, and as of Friday, 85% of NOVA employees had completed the state-required vaccination disclosure. Of these employees, 93% had submitted documentation of their vaccination. This is an outstanding response, and NOVA is far outpacing other VCCS colleges on both measures. I am grateful to all of you for your actions to support the health of our college community. Employees who have not yet completed the process will be contacted by their supervisors next week, and HR has reached out to those who have indicated that they are not vaccinated and who, then, will be required to submit weekly test results.

While VCCS has not required vaccination of students, NOVA’s vaccination incentive for students has proven successful: more than 7,500 students have already claimed the incentive, which puts $250 on their NOVA cards. The funds can be used in the bookstore, food service, parking office and more. Likely driven by the incentive, a record number of NOVA students have obtained NOVA cards this year, so many that our parking offices were temporarily out of cards. Thank you to the many Nighthawks who responded to our call to #VaxUpNOVA! The incentive continues throughout the semester, so please advise your students that they can still show their vaccination card at any campus parking office to get the $250 put on their account. 

Looking ahead:

• My September zoom office hour for All Faculty and Staff will be on Sept. 15 at noon. Click here to submit an anonymous question in advance (by Sept. 13), and I will also take questions via chat.
• I’ll be on each campus several times this term, and my schedule is being determined by the Provosts in collaboration with their campus community. So, if you have ideas about how I should spend my half days while on your campus, please let your Provost know.