May 22, 2020

 

To: Graduate Faculty, Graduate Students, Directors of Graduate Studies/Program Directors, Program Administrators, LGS Staff

 

Dear Members of the Laney Graduate School Community:

 

LGS continues to work with University leadership and faculty leaders across campus to refine the process we will use for students to affirm their readiness and facility safety to return to resume laboratory research and research in other settings.  

 

The LGS form will look for three pieces of information from graduate students. 

1. Confirmation that re-entry into an Emory research facility is needed for your academic progress. The LGS form will require you to upload an email sent to you from your Advisor, cc-d to your Director of Graduate Studies or Program Director, affirming that your access at this stage meets the academic criterion provided in the research return guidance: “Graduate students will be allowed to return to laboratories that have been cleared for limited reopen, and only where critically necessary to maintain or establish research initiatives related to their academic progress.” 
2. Confirmation that the facility has been approved for limited re-opening in accordance with the guidance from the Office of the Provost. 
   This approval process will be initiated by the department, school or unit that houses a specific facility, and must be centrally verified. The process of re-opening will happen in a limited and phased way for different kinds of facilities in different areas across campus. 
3. Confirmation that you have completed the University-required training to ensure compliance with COVID-19 safety standards in your research environment. The training will be required of any member of the Emory community entering facilities during this phase. The LGS form will ask you to upload a certificate that is generated at the conclusion of the training.  

Once all elements of the process for the Office of the Provost have been completed, LGS will open the form, using the three items above, for graduate students to submit their affirmation and statement of readiness to re-enter research facilities.

 

Our concern is for your safety and the safety of those you work with. We will open the LGS process when all elements are in place and can be easily verified. 

 

Best,

Lisa

 

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Lisa A. Tedesco, Ph.D.


Vice Provost for Academic Affairs – Graduate Studies


Dean, James T. Laney School of Graduate Studies

Professor, Rollins School of Public Health


Emory University