Cornell seal
Back

Discover CALS

See how our current work and research is bringing new thinking and new solutions to some of today's biggest challenges.

COVID-19 Cornell AgriTech Updates

March 16, 2020

Dear community,

Please disregard my previous email and refer to this email, which contains new information.

As we face changes ahead on our campus this week related to COVID-19, I want to emphasize the importance of taking care of yourself and others. As I have often said, one of the things that I take great pride in about our campus is the special community-like bond we all share and our willingness to care for one another. I am also aware that there are many questions about logistics related to President Pollack’s message that went out on Friday and Provost Kotlikoff’s message over the weekend. Please note that all details in these messages apply to the Geneva campus. Here is some information below that may help answer your questions as well:

Shuttle Service

Today, March 16th is the last day the shuttle will run between the Ithaca and Geneva campus. Starting tomorrow, there will be no shuttle services until further notice.

Research activities

You should immediately initiate plans to restrict research to critical activities performed by a limited number of designated personnel. Only those research activities that are absolutely necessary to retain critical research assets for long-term progress are to be conducted on campus. These plans should be implemented by the end of the day on Wednesday, March 18. Critical activities are those necessary to maintain laboratory viability such as:

  • Care for animals, plants and unique or expensive cell cultures or biological specimens,
  • Preservation of unique reagents and other unique or expensive materials, and
  • Maintaining equipment (e.g., liquid nitrogen and liquid helium systems, and shared computational clusters) that cannot be maintained remotely or shut down without significant cost or consequences to the research effort.

I recognize that the growing season is not far away and that preparation for field research includes propagating transplants. We are developing a strategy that would allow this work to proceed without compromising social-distancing objectives and without overtaxing plant care providers.  More communication about this will be forthcoming.

Non-essential employee remote work

Non-essential employees are those whose responsibilities can be carried out remotely. An essential employee definition is provided below. If you do not fit into that descriptive, you fall within the non-essential work category. Please note that all non-essential employees must transition to work remotely immediately. My expectation is that our campus will have transitioned completely to remote work status by the end of this week, but I encourage you to do so as soon as you can. If you have questions about work duties that will be expected of you while working remotely, please contact your manager or Jessica Townley, our human resources representative. Please also review these University COVID-19 remote work guidelines: https://hr.cornell.edu/covid-19-remote-work-guidelines-employees

In order to have the most comfortable remote work environment, I encourage you to take home any necessary office items such as laptops, desktop computers, monitors, webcams, chairs and anything else that you might need. Please also adjust your office phone to reroute to your cell phone and consider any necessary email away messages.

Essential employee work

Essential employees on our campus are those who work in the Buildings and Properties unit or those having duties that are critical to the maintenance of research assets which include:

  • Plants
  • Colonies of animals and microbes
  • Samples that might degrade over time
  • Equipment that must be maintained

Buildings and Properties employees will be contacted by Joe Remillard, facilities director regarding work duties and expectations moving forward.
 
Each supervisor is required to provide a list of essential personnel who are permitted to be in laboratories and conduct essential functions to appropriate program leaders as well as copy Jana VanHouten in each department and/or section by noon on Tuesday, March 17th.

Communications to external constituents

If your unit provides services to external audiences, please make sure to communicate to them that services will be cancelled until further notice. In an effort to ensure these communications align with University and College communications, I encourage you to have Erin Rodger, Senior Manager to review these communications before they go out.

Starting tomorrow, March 17th please make sure that all buildings are locked when you leave. Know that I acknowledge the stress and emotional impact that these disruptions may create. Please take care of your physical, emotional and mental well-being. Support services are available.

The COVID-19 situation is continually changing and I will plan to keep our community updated as circumstances evolve. Thank you for all you do and will do to make Cornell AgriTech successful in the days and weeks to come.

Sincerely,

Jan P. Nyrop
Goichman Family Director
630 W North Street
Geneva, NY 14456
315 787 2355

Cornell AgriTech
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
Cornell University
https://cals.cornell.edu/cornell-agritech