Faculty hiring will resume during the Spring 2021 semester, Provost William Tate said during a presidential town hall for faculty and staff this Friday.
The university implemented a hiring freeze last year on April 9. President Caslen said faculty and staff should limit the hiring of personnel to only "critical personnel" in a letter last spring.
"Critical personnel" was not defined.
"I'm appreciative of the opportunity to bring on more colleagues who will add value to our instruction and research missions and service mission," Tate said.
Vice president for human resources Caroline Agardy said some exceptions to the hiring freeze were allowed if schools remained within their budget.
"They have to get ready for fall classes and offers must be made in the spring in order for our faculty to be here and ready to teach in the fall," Agardy said.
Tate also said he expects face-to-face classes to make up 95% of instruction during the Fall 2021 semester.
"We expect that we will be back to a residential context in the fall, which also means face-to-face teaching, which is what students really want," Tate said, "Let me be clear, it is what they say they want."
There were numerous questions about if faculty and staff would fall into the 1b category of vaccine recipients. Executive Director of Student Health Services Deborah Beck said faculty and staff should defer to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control's (DHEC) definition of 1b.
According to DHEC's website, those who "work in the educational sector" are able to get the vaccine. This includes daycare workers, teachers and support staff.
Faculty and staff age 65 and over are also now considered eligible for the 1a group and are able to get their vaccine at the Student Health Center.
"It could be someone's turning 65 today or tomorrow and they may not be on the list. We were able to pull a list of faculty, staff and students that were 65. However when we pulled that list it was a stagnant list in that point in time," Beck said.
Those eligible for the vaccine can go through MyHealthSpace and book an appointment. Beck said standards of which people are included in the different vaccinations groups are changing as clarification comes from sources such as the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
"We don't think its going to be the same today as it is next week and so on," Beck said.
Agardy said the possibility of faculty and staff salary raises is "being assessed on a regular basis."
"We know staff has been working so hard during this time," Agardy said. "There's been positions that haven't been filled in areas and we know and appreciate the dedication of our staff. Hopefully we will have good news as we continue to see things level out."