Dear Colleagues, 

I’ll keep today’s note brief. As announced by Chancellor DiStefano yesterday, CU Boulder is moving to a mandatory work-from-home phase tomorrow (Wednesday, March 18). This means that unless you know you are designated as a critical services employee, you should not go to work on CU Boulder’s campus after today. 

I’m still working with CIRES supervisors and campus leadership to finalize our list of critical service employees on CU Boulder and NOAA campuses: If you have questions, please start with your own supervisors. 

Briefly, for the CU Boulder campus, most critical service activities include public safety and care for students still living on campus. But critical activities may also include a few on-campus research activities as approved by me and then the VC for Research and Innovation: I have submitted the initial CIRES list to RIO, but there are still some revisions that need to be made, and I am working to finalize this today.

There is currently no change to the status of the Department of Commerce campus, where the David Skaggs Research Center sits: the DSRC remains open, though if you are a CIRES employee who normally works in the DSRC, I do expect you to be teleworking now if you can (as you have also heard from NOAA leadership).  

Thank you very much for your patience during this challenging time. I sincerely hope you are all remaining healthy, supporting your families and communities, and finding ways to be productive. 

Sincerely, 
Waleed Abdalati
CIRES Director