March 15, 2020

Dear Faculty and Staff,

Since my message last Thursday, new reports on the spread of COVID-19 in North Texas, as well as recent actions by governmental agencies, have raised our concerns over your safety. If you are high-risk to COVID-19, per CDC guidelines, you can begin taking precautions now and communicate with your supervisor in order to make arrangements to allow for social distancing at work or telecommuting. 

For all other faculty and staff, especially those who have family members with serious underlying health conditions, we are making preparations to further reduce the number of people on campus if needed. As a result, your supervisor will be communicating with you this week regarding plans for your position. Our immediate goal is to make certain that actions are being taken to protect all of you as best we can while allowing for core operations of the university to continue. 

The health alerts website that we established as a repository for information regarding teaching, learning and working anywhere is updated frequently. This site is where you are required to report all international and domestic hot spot travel. I encourage you to visit the website for important messages and contact AskHR@untsystem.edu or 940-565-2281 for further information.

I appreciate the dedication and compassion that you have exhibited in recent days as we work to serve our students and care for each other in the workplace. Together, we are the Mean Green family.

Sincerely,
Neal Smatresk
UNT President