Dear Research Faculty,

​The second phase of reopening was announced by President Khator on June 2 in her email to the UH community. On Monday, June 8, employees can return to work on campus or access their offices on a voluntary basis, after they (1) complete the COVID-19 mandatory training; (2) inform their chair/supervisor about their desire to work from their office; and (3) pass a self-health screening test every day prior to coming to campus. The general guidelines for sanitization and protective measures and specific guidelines for research in shared spaces remain in effect.

We updated our COVID-19 website to reflect Phase 2, and you can find details on how this affects research on the Phase 2 Reopening page. Below, I would like to highlight some of the changes.

Who can come to work?

Anyone who would like to work on campus or access their office can do so provided that occupancy does not exceed the Governor of Texas most recent Executive Order GA 26. President Khator, in her email, continues to encourage employees to work remotely if they can perform their duties fully without access to campus.

What do I need to do prior to coming to work?

Prior to coming to work, you must complete the mandatory HR training modules. If you have not done so already, complete the required online training modules SH2005: COVID-19 Return to Work and SH2006: Coronavirus 19 Protocol Certification before returning on campus. To access the training, log into AcccesUH , and click on the TAP Employee Online Training icon. If you do not have access to the training, contact your department chair and Raysa Caba (rwcaba@central.uh.edu) with the name and PeopleSoft ID to be added manually to the training module. 

What has changed?

DOR no longer requires the completion of the access request form for research teams. Instead, you must contact your chair/supervisor to get permission to come to campus. This step is needed to assure that the occupancy level can be managed to meet the State-mandated limits. This might mean that you can only access the campus during specified times, and you may have to make changes to your current lab schedule to ensure that the maximum occupancy of your lab does not exceed the State limits at any time.

Access to Services

Buildings will remain locked. If you need to access a building, you can have access privileges added to your Cougar Card by contacting your department and following their process.

The Libraries will remain closed but have services and staff available in the MD Anderson, Health Sciences, Music, Architecture, and Design and Art libraries.  

The Research Stores will continue to operate Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.–3:30 p.m. You should continue to coordinate with the UH Research Stores for delivery of chemicals and other sensitive items that need special handling.

Human Subjects and Animal Research

The safety precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to human subjects and animal care staff during the Reopening Research phase remain in place and are included on the Phase 2 Reopening page.

Best regards,

Amr Elnashai, FREng  
Vice President for Research and Technology Transfer