To the Campus Community:<\/p>\n
I am writing to again thank university faculty, staff and students for your response to the Waldo Canyon Fire as well as to provide an update on our community and university response. This morning\u2019s official announcements about the fire prompt my last campus update.<\/p>\n
At this morning\u2019s press briefing,<\/strong> officials announced that the fire is now 90 percent contained and that fire crews are in transition from type 1 to type 3 firefighters. Full containment will likely happen soon as helicopters douse remaining flames on Blodgett Peak. Today\u2019s briefing was the last in Parking Lot 8. Media and public inquiries will now be handled through individual telephone calls.<\/p>\n Other key information that was shared included:<\/p>\n UCCS continues to support first responders and evacuees.<\/strong> Last night, UCCS housed 133 off-duty Colorado National Guard members. We expect those numbers to decline during the weekend. I want to thank those campus community members who volunteered to help make the stay of these individuals as comfortable as possible.<\/p>\n UCCS supports students.<\/strong> The Division of Student Success, as well as many faculty members, has worked individually with students affected by the fire who were enrolled in summer classes. If you know of students whose off-campus work was affected by the fire (for example, a layoff at a business affected by the fire), please encourage them to contact Jevita Rogers, director, Office of Financial Aid and Student Employment, jrogers3@uccs.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n A week condensed to 16 minutes.<\/strong> Steve Moraco, son of Donna Moraco, director, Center for Excellence in Languages, completed a video of the Waldo Canyon Fire from the family\u2019s Monument home. To see the video, visit http:\/\/youtu.be\/ZBA7eHY022k<\/a>.<\/p>\n At this morning\u2019s press briefing the incident commander, Rich Harvey, said that in his 30 years of firefighting he had never seen such a positive community response as Colorado Springs has provided. I am honored that UCCS was part of that response and that each of you responded in a way that represented you, the university and our community in such a positive and memorable way. <\/p>\n Pam Shockley-Zalabak, chancellor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
\nRespectfully,<\/p>\n