Chancellor Venkat Reddy and campus leaders addressed campus at the eighth virtual Town Hall of the year on Nov. 18.
Chancellor Reddy and a panel of campus leaders provided updates on budgetary and personnel matters, spring enrollments, equity, diversity and inclusion priorities and the critical importance of protecting one’s physical and mental health.
“Please remember to extend compassion to yourself and others,” Reddy said. “Safeguard your mental and physical health; they are your most important resources. Please check on those in your circle – especially the ones who seem strong and unshakeable. We are all facing challenges that may be invisible, and we all need a shoulder to lean on sometimes.”
Updates presented by Chancellor Reddy and campus leadership included additional key takeaways.
Here’s what you need to know:
- UCCS will consider four criteria to determine its operations for the spring 2021 semester. Planning is underway. Learn more >>
- After Thanksgiving, campus will remain open for research and residential students who choose to stay. Learn more >>
- Students traveling out of state over the Thanksgiving break and returning to campus will undergo mandatory testing. Learn more >>
- The UCCS COVID-19 dashboard and UCCS COVID-19 website have both been revised with additional information and answers to frequently asked questions. Learn more >>
- The campus Zoom license will be available starting in the spring semester, and additional classrooms will be equipped with audio and visual equipment to support quality hy-flex and remote teaching. Learn more >>
- Chancellor Reddy continues to strive to restore furloughed salaries to their pre-furlough levels. Learn more >>
- New positions proposed by the $500,000 mental health funding from the CU Foundation will increase mental health services and access, direct UCCS students, faculty and staff to mental health and wellness resources in times of crisis and after, reduce wait times at the Veterans Health and Trauma Clinic and more. Learn more >>
Chancellor Reddy also shared that thanks to support from the Presidential Initiative and CU Foundation, UCCS has received funding to expand the MOSAIC physical space as well as its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts; the UCCS civics initiative; cybersecurity and computing research; the proposed annex for the Engineering and Applied Science Building; the new Career Center; and mental health support for students, faculty and staff.
In addition, Governor Jared Polis’s fiscal year 2021-22 budget proposal will restore major budget cuts made to higher education institutions including UCCS.
“Thank you all for your support in keeping our campus strong and supporting our students,” said Chancellor Reddy in closing remarks.
“I leave you with a wish to have a very happy holiday next week, with the encouragement to follow local health guidelines around social gatherings. It will take all of us working together to turn the tide of this pandemic.”
Members of the UCCS community may fill out a survey response to the event.