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Frequently Asked Questions

General

Students

  • For recreation center:

    For a comprehensive overview of all the additional measures that we have put in place to safeguard the health of our members and team, please check out the COVID-19 https://recreation.rice.edu/cleaningandsafety on our website

    For parking:

    Faculty & Staff can choose one of the following options:

    • Option 1 – 50% discount will be applied to all lots. The pre-tax benefit still applies through payroll deduction. Employees will have the option to buy permits for one semester or for the full year.
    • Option 2 – Cancel permit and park as a daily visitor.
    • Option 3 – Purchase a package of validations for personal use (in lots of 10) at these prices:
      • $1.50 per validation (Greenbriar Lot)
      • $3 per validation (West Lot 2; North Lot)
      • $5 per validation (garages; Founder’s Court Lot)

    These validations will be useable only until June 30, 2021, and there will be no refunds.

    Graduate Students

    50% discount for all lots. Grad students with a permit can continue to park in any campus lot after 5:00pm, excluding the following lots: Central Garage, college lots, Keck, Campanile, Biology / Geology.

    Next Steps for Students

    Go online to www.esther.rice.edu and follow the permit request process under Rice Parking Registration. Permits will be issued via campus mail or in person at the Parking Office.

  • We will have in-person delivery as part of our four-model course delivery:  

    Dual Delivery

    • Students attending in person (25 max) and remote via Zoom
    • Faculty in person or streamed to big screen

    2-room Dual Delivery https://youtu.be/Rlf10Sk_qvk

    • Students attending in person in two adjacent rooms (50 max) and remote via Zoom
    • Faculty in person in one room (in other room on alternating class days or within a class period for evening and weekend class meetings) or streamed to big screen in both rooms

    Fully Remote

    • faculty and all students on Zoom  

    Fully Remote w/ asynchronous components

    • Some course content consumed asynchronously on student’s schedule
    • Class sessions split into two meeting times for two smaller sections

    Specifically, you are not taking the class on-line. You are taking remote delivery of an in-person class. 

  • There are no required in-person events for the Career Development Office.

  • For study breaks while on campus:

    The courtyard is being outfitted with more tables and chairs.

    Audrey's will be open yet restricted to one person per booth per table to allow for 6ft physical distance

    The tent will be open for students to sit in between classes. Garden chairs will be available to be placed 6 feet apart.

    Breakout rooms in McNair Hall will be reduced to a capacity limit of 2 people and in compliance with university rules of all students maintaining 6 feet of physical distance will reduce our capacity greatly, therefore, we suggest that you study at home on your non-classroom days.

  • To enable the extensive planning and execution of handling in-person attendance we will not be able to accommodate you coming and going from in-person to remote delivery. We are assigning seats for those who want to attend in person. If your situation changes, and if there is room in the class, we would be glad to accommodate you; however, we cannot hold spaces for those who do not regularly attend if there are those who are on the wait-list.

    We will find space for those who have special circumstances which would include a change in geographic proximity to school.

  • Yes, as long as you are progressing towards the completion of your degree and meeting your scholarship requirements, your scholarship remains intact.

  • If you are in a time-zone of more than a 4-hour difference from CST, you may have access to watch a recorded class. However, you will need to work out the specifics of how you will participate in the course remotely from a far-away time zone with the instructor and receive approval from the instructor for any special arrangements. See Link for more information.  https://coronavirus.rice.edu/syllabus-resources 

    For teamwork however, you will need to find a time that works for the team to collaborate. In the digital world we live there are many ways to facilitate this. Other than this time zone allowance, classes will not be offered for asynchronous consumption unless there are extenuating circumstances. We protect the confidentiality of the students by not widely distributing taped classes. Additionally, the value of the class is in the experiential nature of the discourse. If you are not present, you are neither able to participate in that or be called upon by the faculty. Our classes are not lecture based and are not meant to be consumed as one would a lecture. If there is a reason why you would need this due to an emergency, you would need to contact the Student Program Office to discuss.

  • First-year Full-Time MBA class times are being adjusted and staggered to minimize the number of students in hallways, bathrooms, and breakrooms at any given time.  The remainder of class times remain largely unchanged.

    The academic calendar is also primarily unchanged. In response to the university ending classes on campus before Thanksgiving, courses in our programs after the holiday will take place remotely. First-year Full-Time students can expect to see a slight update to the Fall Intersession dates, to add the third section of students. Details coming soon.

  • McNair Hall will follow all safety protocols set forth by Rice University. To learn more, go to https://coronavirus.rice.edu/

  • We have multiple opportunities for first-year students to connect with second-year students, including through:

    • Our partnership with Mentor Collective that allows first-year students to have a second-year mentor, allows for remote or in-person connections.
    • Student organizations and clubs.
    • Second-year students and student program office are holding a session the week of August 3 to discuss ways to ensure we retain our strong culture of student leadership and student-directed community in the face of COVID-19.

  • Academic requirements are different than immigration requirements. Class credit may be achieved remotely without SEVIS status. SEVIS status impacts the CPT opportunity for work experience. The following immigration windows are available 

    • If you choose to enter during the fall semester, the last possible date you can enter is October 22.
    • The standard arrival date for spring semester (Spring 2021) is January 11.
    • The last possible date to enter the US to meet the requirement for CPT eligibility is March 9.

  • Rice Business has a requirement of work experience as a part of the curriculum. As a result, international students may arrive on campus as late as March 9, 2021 to achieve SEVIS status. This presumes that the fall class requirements were met by remote attendance. The difference in the dates for immigration are based on windows of arrival aligned to Rice University entry dates. SEVIS status can be achieved by arriving any of the following dates with March 9th serving as the final opportunity to arrive on campus.

  • International students taking the full course load remotely will receive full credit for the classes completed. Taking classes remotely is an academic decision and does not require SEVIS status. For immigration requirements, SEVIS status must be achieved by March 9 for students to participate in work experience as a part of CPT.

  • It will be remote delivery.

  • Fostering our culture of community is a top priority at Rice Business. The Student Program Office is partnering with leaders of the Jones Student Association to brainstorm possibilities to accommodate smaller groups in the fall of 2020. We are building temporary structures and erecting tents for use as study space, and locations for social gatherings.

    Our concern is always for the safety and health of individuals and will follow safety procedures and precautions as posted by the university.

  • The Career Development Office team is committed to delivering a high-quality and high-touch experience to both students and employers with continued excellence in career and professional development offerings.

    • After consulting with employer partners, we are creating fall recruiting events including company information sessions, coffee chats, and interviews, all primarily in a virtual format.
    • We are facilitating access for virtual one-on-one career coaching services, both pre-scheduled and virtual drop-in hours.
    • We are preparing delivery of virtual career education programming, to prepare students for the fall and spring recruiting seasons.
    • We are launching an enhanced career services platform that centralizes all career resources for students into a single, easy-to-access location.

  • Recruiting is a combination of engagements between employers and students. Traditional on-campus recruiting events include corporate information sessions, coffee chats, company mixers, company treks, and interview days. Since candidates from other schools do not participate in these events, they would be considered “Rice only” programs. The COVID-19 recruiting engagements will be moved to a virtual format.

  • The invitation for fall 2020 recruiting was shared with employers on Thursday, July 16, 2020. It is still too early to have a full understanding of how many companies will participate in "on-campus" virtual recruiting this fall. Currently, no employer has shared that they have plans to cancel their fall recruiting plans.

  • Yes, the Career Development Office is sharing the STEM designation with current and potential employers.

  • If students do not have home space conducive to virtual interviews, the CDO will develop a process to reserve and use the interview rooms in the CDO suite at McNair Hall. Cleaning protocols will be defined and implemented between room usages.

Faculty/Staff

  • EAP resources will be available to ALL employees.  This includes work/life services – elder care and care for adults with disabilities, counseling, childcare, legal/financial and much more. Visit MyLifeValues.Com username: owls, Password: owls or call 713-500-3327 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Professional, Executive, and MBA@Rice students also have access to the EAP resources and should identify themselves as a Rice MBA student when calling.

  • Bright Horizons Centers are still open, and you can make an appointment to take your child to one of its locations or you can have in-home care as well. More information about this service can be found here. https://people.rice.edu/benefits-rewards/other/back-up-care-advantage-program/rice-bright-horizons-care-advantage-fact-sheet/.

    Register Here

  • Effective July 1, 2020, Rice University will implement a temporary sick leave program to be utilized while the university responds to the COVID-19 outbreak.

    All full-time and part-time staff will receive five days sick leave. Part-time staff will be granted sick leave based on the proportion of their full-time equivalence (FTE). The leave will be available for staff to use until June 30, 2021. Staff can use sick leave when they are ill and unable to work or when they have a scheduled medical appointment. 

    Unlike Paid Time Off (PTO), unused sick leave will not be paid out upon termination, nor can it be donated to another employee.

  • Staff members and faculty who are returning to campus need to complete four items before returning to work:

    1. Rice COVID-19 Return to Campus Online Program & Form
    2. Rice Business training: Click on https://www.rice.edu/canvas Log in using your NetID and look for COVID-19 Return to Campus Training and click “Go to Course”
    3. Employee Work Plan
    4. COVID Testing

  • The university is open and requires some Rice employees physically on campus to provide services to our community. However, every effort should be made to provide opportunities for remote work for staff. Unfortunately, some job duties simply cannot be performed remotely. Employees should fill out their Employee Work Plan and discuss their situation directly with their supervisor for clarification on remote work and special pay codes related to COVID-19.

  • If you have an office, you may eat lunch there if you continue to practice safe physical distancing.

  • All appropriate sites will follow CDC guidelines for safety.

  • Executive Education will follow university guidelines.

  • All doors will remain open.

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Rice Business’ Response to COVID-19