About - Return to Grounds - Faculty FAQ

Darden is communicating regularly with our community through email, alerts and this website. The University is communicating on a broad array of topics for students, student families, faculty and staff, and managers and supervisors on its Coronavirus Information website.

Please direct specific questions NOT addressed through these resources as follows:

• Staff: Refer specific questions to your immediate manager or supervisor.
• Faculty: Refer questions to program or faculty leadership.
• Students:
  • If you need medical attention, contact UVA Student Health at +1-434-982-3915 or +1-434-297-4261 after hours.
  • For housing-related questions, student groups or general safety, contact a member of Darden’s Office of Student Affairs or UVA’s Office of the Dean of Students at +1-434-924-7133.
  • For issues related to advising, credits or course registration, contact the relevant dean for your program or Darden Registrar Terri Smith.
  • Questions about accommodations because of physical or mental disabilities would go to SDAC in Student Health at +1-434-342-5188.

There are currently no restrictions on visitors to Grounds and faculty and staff are welcome to visit Grounds for meetings or other needs. 

The University expects all members of the community to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Faculty and staff who are not vaccinated will be subject to weekly prevalence testing to help keep them and the people around them safe from the virus. If you wish to be vaccinated, you can make an appointment here. 

Read UVA's full update with procedures on how to verify you have received a COVID-19 vaccination. 

Any UVA or Foundation employee who is not vaccinated will be subject to mandatory weekly prevalence testing, which will begin this summer. Visit UVA HR's COVID Prevalence Testing website for more information on testing requirements and procedures.

For all faculty and staff who are not fully vaccinated, there is a requirement for weekly COVID-19 testing through the University's . As part of the University of Virginia’s plans to limit the spread of COVID-19, self-administered test kits will be available to asymptomatic faculty and staff in the Academic Division and to contracted workers. In addition, Medical Center and University Physicians Group employees will be able to register for asymptomatic testing appointments at a satellite UVA Health COVID-19 testing site.

For most questions, reach out directly to your Darden HR representative, manager or program leader.

To send a question to the Dean's Office and Darden leadership, faculty and staff can share them through this form. Questions will be addressed as they arise during regular, ongoing town halls for the Darden community.

• Visit Darden’s Technical Support for Remote Learning and Work website, which includes Zoom best practices such as video and audio tips and general etiquette.
• Increased use of Zoom creates new security threats to your computer and Darden. All faculty, staff and students are asked to authenticate to https://Darden-Virginia.zoom.us before class or meetings. Authentication will provide access to Darden’s Pro version of Zoom. In addition, the Darden community should stay up-to-date with the latest software updates from Zoom. Due to the severity of Zoom security risks, you should verify that you are running the latest version of Zoom and download any missing updates manually. Click here to learn how to check what version of Zoom you have and how to initiate the update process manually.
• Refer to UVA’s Faculty/Staff Technology Checklist for Working Remotely webpage for a technology preparedness checklist and a consolidation of valuable links to ITS resources.
• If you identify new or ongoing technology needs for teleworking, please let your manager know.
• For technology assistance, the UVA Help Desk is available 24/7/365 and can be contacted in a variety of ways. You can also contact the Darden Help Desk team.
• If you would like technical support for a virtual event or meeting, please reach out to the IT team (servicedesk@darden.virginia.edu or at +1-434-924-3276), Joanne Meier or Jarrod Tibbs. They can point you to resources that you can use to meet your needs.

University-Related Domestic Travel

Effective immediately, University community members are permitted to conduct University-related domestic travel, as long as they follow CDC guidelines, which call for individuals to be fully vaccinated before they travel.

University-Related International Travel

The University lifted all the previous prohibition on University-related international travel for faculty and staff on 16 June and replaced it with a new policy requiring employees to register all such travel on the University’s International Travel Registry no later than 7 days before departure. University faculty and staff no longer need to seek prior approval for international travel from the Vice Provost for Global Affairs, and the COVIDTravel@virginia.edu email address for requesting such approval will close.

Faculty and staff who undertake international travel will be responsible for assessing the safety of their planned itineraries in consultation with their supervisors, drawing on resources provided in the policy. They will also be responsible for abiding by the University’s regulations governing international travel, especially regarding export controls and travel to sanctioned countries. In addition, University employees are required to abide by Center for Disease Control guidelines for international travel during COVID-19 before, during, and after such travel, including by being fully vaccinated before undertaking travel. More information on the University’s travel policy is available here. 

The University offers Coursera for UVA for employees — a catalog of self-paced classes from across Grounds and beyond that you can access with a UVA NetBadge credential and earn a certificate for free.

For those employees who are impacted by COVID-19, UVA HR is providing regular updates on new leave types on the pay continuity website. If an employee:

• Is out of work because a health care professional has confirmed that they have COVID-19,
• Has been advised to self-quarantine because of suspected COVID-19 and is not able to work remotely, or 
• Is taking care of an immediate family member who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 by a health care professional,

they may use up to 160 hours of Public Health Leave. Please consult Employee Health about return to work procedures.

Please consult HR with any questions about these new leave types. Employees of the Darden School Foundation have similar leave available to them, please consult HR with any questions.

For the latest information about using PHEL, and guidance on situations where other leave types should be used, visit the UVA HR website.

• Above all else, take care of yourself and your family.
• You may be granted up to two weeks of leave upon approval of your dean.
• You may qualify for the new leave benefit for those affected by the coronavirus.

If you have a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19, short-term disability may apply. Visit the Disability Benefits webpage for information.

Yes. Please hold office hours. For faculty who need to hold virtual office hours, potential virtual options include: email, chat functions and phone calls. See the Teaching Continuity webpage for more information.

Yes. There are reservable areas available (e.g. for student clubs, to hold office hours or meetings with students, etc.) – please reach out to Rachel Dudzik for more information.