15 October 2019
Douglas Androsiglio
While students have a winter break lasting over a month, the university does not shut down during break.
In previous years, UCCS faculty and staff received only Christmas day and New Year’s Eve off.
This winter, UCCS employees will have the entire last week of the year off. The extension, announced in November 2018, will entirely close campus from Dec. 24 to Jan. 1.
Campus will be unavailable for student use during this week.
To make the winter closure possible, a combination of both administrative leave and vacation leave from employees will be used. “A pair of proposals,” states the original announcement on UCCS’ Communique, the official university publication, “addressed the two situations of two-day and three-day work weeks between the paid holidays of Christmas and New Year’s Eve.”
“One day of administrative leave will be used in both scenarios for all employees,” the Communique explains, “while vacation leave would be used for the remaining one or two days depending on the year. As in recent years, if the Governor grants an additional day of administrative leave for state employees, that administrative leave would replace an employee vacation day.”
In the case that the Governor does not grant an additional day of administrative leave, 12-month faculty and staff should plan to have and use two personal vacation days to cover the gap in holidays on Dec. 26 and 27.
Any required work or campus activities during the winter closure will need to be approved in advance through their director, vice chancellor or dean. Human Resources will help employees during the winter closure if they have any unique situation or are a new hire.