October 2023 Announcements

By Office of Communications & Marketing | Oct 1, 2023

Time-Off to Vote on November 7, 2023

From: The Department of Human Resources

Attention: All Employees of SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University

N.Y. ELECTION LAW SECTION 3-110 Revised 4.4.2020

If you do not have 4 consecutive hours to vote, either from the opening of the polls to the beginning of your working shift,

Between the end of your working shift and the closing of the polls, you may take off up to 2 hours, without loss of pay, to allow you time to vote if you are a registered voter.

You may take time off at the beginning or end of your working shift, as your Supervisor may designate, unless otherwise mutually agreed.
You must notify your Supervisor not less than 2 days, but not more than 10 days, before the day of the election that you will take time off to vote.

Message About Terrorist Attacks In Israel

Dear Members of the Downstate Community,

I share deep sorrow at the horrific terrorist attack on Israel that has killed hundreds. The images and reports of violence, brutality, suffering, and loss of life are devastating and reprehensible.

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University (Downstate) strongly condemns these attacks, the indiscriminate killing of non-combatant civilians, and the taking of hostages, including children, the infirm, and the elderly. We extend profound sympathies to all impacted and strongly denounce the hatred and violence that have disrupted countless lives.

The tragedy and loss of life we continue to witness are deeply troubling and beg the need for dialogue and peaceful discourse.

The ongoing turmoil in Israel and Gaza has undoubtedly impacted our campus community. We understand that these unfortunate events may evoke various emotions and perspectives from those with strong views on this longstanding conflict.

We must remain together as a community to reflect on our shared values and the importance of compassion, empathy, and understanding. Downstate remains committed to these principles while also nurturing an environment where everyone feels heard and respected, regardless of our views or affiliations.

For any student needing support, please contact the Office of Student Life & Services at (718) 270-2187 or by email at studentaffairs@downstate.edu. All calls and emails are kept confidential.

Any faculty and staff member having difficulty and needing support resources, do not hesitate to contact the Employee Assistance Program at (718) 270-1489 or email Magda Alliancin, Ed.D. at magda.alliancin@downstate.edu. All calls and emails are kept confidential.

SUNY Launches Two-Week Free Application Period To Expand College Access

Anyone Applying through ApplySUNY or Common App to Receive Up to Five Free Applications Through Oct. 29 for Savings of Up to $250 Per Prospective Student

Many New York Families May Also Qualify for Free Tuition through New York State’s TAP and Excelsior Scholarship — Apply Here Now

For Immediate Release: Monday, Oct. 16, 2023

Contact: Holly Liapis, Holly.Liapis@suny.edu, (518) 477-0757; or Conall Smith, Conall.Smith@suny.edu, (518) 565-9580

Albany, NY – State University of New York Chancellor John B. King, Jr. today announced application fees have been waived for SUNY colleges and universities across the state for two weeks, from October 16 to October 29. That means prospective students can apply to up to five campuses free of charge. The potential savings add up to $250 per applicant, removing an early barrier to college access.

To learn more about applying to SUNY, visit suny.edu/apply. Applicants can apply at ApplySUNY or by using the Common App.

Those who use ApplySUNY will automatically have their first five campus applications waived on the payment page. On the Common App, prospective students must apply campus by campus and select “Yes” to the question: “SUNY is having a free application week. Would you like SUNY to cover your application fee?”

“There is a place at SUNY for every New Yorker, and College Application Month is the perfect opportunity for high school seniors to find their perfect SUNY match. By waiving the application fee for two weeks, SUNY is sending a message to all prospective students that you belong here,” said SUNY Chancellor King. “At SUNY, 53% of full-time New York State undergrads attend tuition free after financial aid. The chance to apply to up to five colleges during the free application weeks means prospective students might find programs they like at a school they may not have originally considered, which can open the door to success and upward mobility.”

Many New York State families may also qualify for free tuition through New York State’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) and/or Excelsior Scholarship. Students may apply for financial aid by filling out their FAFSAin December.

SUNY also offers ongoing fee waivers that apply to 60 percent of all high school seniors. Students in foster care, with military connections, students from low-income backgrounds, and students at 500+ designated high schools can apply at up to seven SUNY campuses for free, saving up to $350, throughout the year. Learn more about ongoing application fee waiver programs.

About The State University of New York

The State University of New York, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2022, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit www.suny.edu.

Have You Lost A Package? Unclaimed Shipments? Please Claim By 10/24/2023

It is our goal to provide deliveries of supplies that arrive through the Central Receiving Department in an expeditious manner. As we began the review of the department it has come to our attention that there are many packages that are undeliverable and remain in Central Receiving (no identification to allow delivery). Therefore, we completed a list (link below) of undeliverable items for your review.

If an item on the undeliverable inventory list is yours OR it is an item that could be used by your department, please claim it between now and October 24^th by following the instructions below:

To review inventory list, click here.
If you find an item you would like to claim please:
Click on this email link if the item belongs to you.
Click on this email link if this item will be beneficial to your department.
Copy and paste the item description from the inventory list on to the email and hit SEND!
We will send you an email with the next steps.

How to prevent this from happening? Key steps:

For shipments coming through the Central Receiving Dock (which is just about everything) please ask your vendor to insert the “ship to” information mentioned below:

For PCard - Communicate the “ship to” location and P-card PO# CCYY-PID-NNN e.g., CC23-238-061

CC = Credit Card – All PCard Purchases get this prefix.
YY = For Fiscal Year 2022-23 ending on 6/30/23, the YY is 23
PID = Department code, e.g., 238 for microbiology

NNN = Start the year with 001 and continues sequentially up to 999 – for your department only

For Paper Requisition - Populate the Mailstop and Final Delivery Point (Bldg. Room) e.g., MSC 0025 and BSB 4-005 (for Pathology)

For Lawson requisitioners - Populate the “deliver to” field

Research Foundation (RF) Orders - Communicate the “ship to” location and RF PO#

Here is the format that should be used when sharing the “ship to” location:

In the future:

On a monthly basis, an email will be circulated with a link to the list of undeliverable packages. If any parcel appears on the list, please claim it as per the previously defined process. You will be required to sign for the package. If the undeliverable package appears on the list for three months, it will be returned or discarded.

Timely deliveries happen when complete delivery information appears on the box or on the packing list.

For any questions, please contact Richard Bentley via CentralReceiving@downstate.edu

Thank you.

Mandatory SUNY Sexual Misconduct Prevention Training:
Submit By October 16, 2023

Sexual and Interpersonal Violence Prevention and Response Course, also known as “SPARC,” is a SUNY mandated training program that requires all members of the SUNY Downstate community to be trained on preventing sexual misconduct. This is an annual mandate. If you last completed the training in 2022, you are due to complete the training.

Members of the Downstate community can satisfy this SUNY mandate by reviewing the attached SPARC materials. TO CONFIRM YOUR COMPLETION OF THE SPARC TRAINING YOU MUST:

--Read the attached pdf or view the video presentation linked below. (Both available in English and Spanish)

a) SUNY Sexual Harassment Prevention Training (English) https://youtu.be/tr6PxRrmjos

b) SUNY Sexual Harassment Prevention Training (Spanish) https://youtu.be/ZgpCM6tHQGc

--REPLY to the email: ODISPARC@downstate.edu and;

--Include the reply: “I received and read the SPARC training.”

*For employees (i.e., staff, faculty, residents), include your name, title, and the department/office you work in.

*For students, include your name, college and/or academic program, and class year (e.g., College of Nursing, Class of 2026, etc.).

*If you are a contractor, consultant, agency employee, or volunteer, include your name, title, agency (if applicable), and the department/office you work in.

Please complete the training and submit confirmation on or before October 16, 2023. The Office of Institutional Equity has been charged with monitoring Downstate’s compliance with this mandate. All responses should be sent to ODISPARC@Downstate.edu.

Please feel free to email ODISPARC@Downstate.edu or call the Office of Institutional Equity at (718) 270-1738 with any questions related to the SPARC training.

*If you have previously received direct communication from the Office of Institutional Equity (OIE) and completed the SPARC training in 2023 AND sent confirmation of completion to the Office of Institutional Equity, you are all set and do not have to complete the training again. If you are unsure whether you completed the training, you can follow up with OIE to confirm.

View Sexual Harassment Prevention Training in English

View Sexual Harassment Prevention Training in Spanish

New York State Paid Parental Leave

Effective February 14, 2023, Governor Hochul announced that New York State will provide 12 weeks of Paid Parental Leave (PPL) to certain Executive Branch State employees to bond with a newly born, adopted, or fostered child. PPL is available to any gestational, non-gestational, adoptive, or foster parent who meets certain eligibility criteria.

Over the course of the past several months, Governor Hochul has expanded the PPL benefit to include various represented and unrepresented employees in the following bargaining units:

CSEA
PEF
UUP
MC

Please note that all other childcare leave benefits, including sick leave accruals, family sick leave benefits, Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) and Paid Family Leave (PFL) remain unchanged and available for use when applicable.

For questions about your eligibility and to apply for PPL please contact a member of our Benefits Team at benefits@downstate.edu.

View PDF

State Policy For Snow Emergencies

Only the Governor has the authority to close state agencies, which includes SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University. Local governmental officials, police, radio, and television stations do not have the authority to close State offices and facilities. Likewise, neither declarations of a state of emergency nor road closures are equivalent to the closure of State facilities.

In the rare occasion when the Governor issues an order of closure, you will be notified. When an announcement is made that only essential service employees are expected to report to work, those employees should make every effort to report. Presidents are authorized to cancel classes even when the Governor has not closed facilities. Presidents may also excuse non-essential employees from work where appropriate accruals may be charged.

Campus administration has the ability to exercise discretion to determine who is essential and must report to work based on specifics of an emergency or extraordinary circumstance. In general, essential employees shall be those whose duties include continuing care and/or safety of patients, students, property, or animals; maintaining mission critical systems; or emergency response, relief and recovery. Please note that all University Hospital-based employees are designated as essential.

This notification shall be sent to all employees, including those within the academic enterprise, at the start of the academic year. Supervisors may use the attached Essential Employee Notification form for this purpose. Once signed by the employee, the department should forward a copy to the Office of Employee & Labor Relations.

The Governor and the Civil Service Commission may retroactively excuse absences related to extreme weather by suspending the time and attendance rules. This determination is communicated to SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University following any weather emergency. Only when the Governor/Civil Service makes this determination may employees’ absences be “excused”. You will be advised of credits charged to cover related absences at that time.

State Policy for Snow Emergencies

New IT Service Ticket System Go!

Department of Information Services and Technology is pleased to announce that a new IT ticket system, TeamDynamix (TDX) will be in service starting August 29, 2023.

TDX is an award-winning cloud solution for IT Service Management (ITSM) and Portfolio and Project Management (PPM). It has been selected by a multi-department committee at Downstate, and also used by many other SUNY campuses.

What does this mean to you?

Starting on August 29, 2023, tickets for all new IT service requests will be created and managed in the new TDX ticket system. You can continue to create new service tickets by sending emails to help@downstate.edu or by calling IT Customer Services Center at (718) 270-4357. Updates regarding these tickets will now be communicated through a new email address ITHelpReply@downstate.edu. You can view an example HERE. Please bear in mind that while this email address is dedicated to updating existing tickets, it should not be used for initiating new ones.

We are also pleased to introduce a new client portal accessible at https://services.downstate.edu, offering you the convenience of creating and tracking tickets online. This portal requires authentication using your Downstate email address and password.

Navigate through the client portal is straightforward. Please view this knowledge base article for a quick guide.

We are diligently constructing a knowledge base accessible from the client portal that will soon provide a comprehensive self-service portal, catering to the diverse needs of Downstate users.

Furthermore, please note that tickets created prior to August 29, 2023 will continue to be managed in the legacy ticket system until their resolution. They will not be shown in the new client portal.

Need more information?

To learn more details or need assistance, please visit the new client portal, or email the IT Customer Services Center at Help@Downstate.edu.

Register Today For An Upcoming AVERT Active Shooter Training

AVERT, short for Active Violence Emergency Response Training goes beyond active shooter training by teaching emergency bleeding control techniques, warning signs of a potential aggressor, quick response in a violent situation, escape, evade, or attack in critical seconds during an event, and staff confidence needed to respond. University Hospital at Downstate is now a training center with 14 certified instructors that includes staff from Emergency Management, University Police, the HAZMAT team, and the ED.

Please RSVP by using the link below to register for an upcoming Active Shooter Training:

Event Address: University Hospital at Downstate
Exact location will be emailed after registration is complete
For more information, contact Jennifer Guzman at Jennifer.Guzman@downstate.edu
Register for an upcoming event here: https://downstate.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3Da7gRVrzTWnjzU