Proper Care and Feeding of Students…
Vacation time and personal days
Vacations and personal days are important for your personal health and well-being, but you may feel like you are under too much pressure to take time away from your work. You are welcome to schedule vacation days that do not conflict with your GTA or GRA responsibilities. Also, it is often possible to take time off from time to time while working as a GTA or GRA by consulting with your supervisor and peers to arrange for a flexible work schedule. You should also feel free to take advantage of various university-wide break times.

Email Holidays
Some departments in Arts and Sciences have implemented a policy of email holidays, which are dates in the academic year when you should not feel obligated to be “on call”, and when you could enjoy a break from your research, teaching, and courses.
We recognize this exact timing may not work for everyone, but the goal is to establish some times that you can feel comfortable making plans and taking leave from work. If you need to submit grades or complete other work required by your employment during this time, please communicate with your advisor to find a substitute week where you can feel like you are free to not work or check your emails. When you have vacations planned at other times, you should feel free to use the out-of-office reply then as well.