This message is sent from Dr. Judith Quander to all Faculty.
Dear Colleagues,
I have been receiving questions regarding Executive Order GA-48: Relating to the hardening of state government and its relevance to faculty travel, teaching, and research. As a reminder, this
order concerns state employees traveling to China, Cuba, Hong Kong, Iran, North Korea,
Russia, and Venezuela (recently added). Our direction from the UH System is as follows
regarding this order:
This order requires all public institutions of higher education that submit reporting
on foreign gifts and contract disclosures to the U.S. Department of Education under
Section 117 to submit the same reporting to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating
Board. Travel to China (including Hong Kong and Macao), Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia
or Venezuela (Nicolas Maduro regime) for professional reasons is suspended and personal
travel must be reported. (see Governmental Relations – Useful Links – Federal -State Changes published on 2/19/25)
What this means for faculty is as follows:
- Faculty should not travel to these countries for professional reasons.
- Any personal travel to these countries should be reported. (See UH System International Travel for directions on reporting).
- If traveling to these countries, university-issued devices should not be taken, the university VPN should not be accessed, and any university systems such as Canvas, People Soft, Microsoft 365, Zoom, etc. should not be accessed from these countries (See UH System International Travel). As such, this makes remote teaching from these countries not permittable.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.
Thank you,
Judith
