November 6, 2024

Dear Members of Our Campus Community,

I am writing to ask departments to begin the process of formalizing their Winter break plans. 

Our 2024-2025 winter break will run from Monday, December 23, 2024, through Wednesday January 1, 2025.

  • December 24, 25, 31, 2024 and January 1, 2025 are paid university holidays (if eligibility is met).
  • December 23, 26, 27, 30, 2024 are the four (4) designated curtailment days. 

Due to the wide-ranging responsibilities of academic appointees, it is anticipated that some academic appointees will continue to work over winter break. Additionally, some staff employees may be required to work during some or all of winter break due to the nature of their jobs.  

Each division will have flexibility to make decisions with respect to office closures and allowing staff to perform meaningful work during the curtailment days. In areas where there are designated office closures and work available, managers and supervisors should consult with their divisional control points to approve staff to work over curtailment days, regardless of work location, including non-international remote work.  

In the event of a complete department closure (curtailment) between Monday, December 23, and Monday, December 30, 2024, employees may use, in accordance with university personnel policies and existing labor agreements, vacation, accrued compensatory time off, or leave without pay.  
For employees who may not have sufficient accrued vacation hours, up to four (4) days of vacation leave may be used in advance of the actual accrual during the curtailment period of December 23-30, 2024. Those employees who are required to wait six (6) months before using accrued vacation will be permitted to use their vacation hours even if the required waiting period has not been completed.

Once planned office closures are determined, departments should report their proposed plans as follows:

  • Non-academic departments should report proposed plans to their respective vice chancellors.
  • Academic departments should report proposed plans to their respective deans, who in turn should report to the executive vice chancellor.

Office closure plans should be reported to deans or vice chancellors by November 22, 2024. We will examine the plans to ensure that any proposed office closures do not create unnecessary hardships for faculty, staff, or students.

If you have any questions regarding the development of your winter break plan, please contact Ann-Marie Musto, Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Human Resources Officer, at ammusto@ucsb.edu.

I hope you enjoy this much-deserved break.

Sincerely,

Henry T. Yang
Chancellor