Dear members of the UCCS community,

I hope you’re all doing well.

It has been a busy month, not least because we invited the final candidates for our Provost position to interview with campus. Because we asked for so much of your time for the Provost candidate meetings, we decided not to host a virtual Town Hall meeting this month. In lieu of a Town Hall, I wanted to share a few updates with you and highlight important information from recent announcements.
 

Provost search

It was with great excitement that we welcomed three finalists for virtual campus presentations and interviews with campus citizens over the past two weeks. If you participated in those sessions, thank you for submitting your feedback. We will provide further updates after the search committee reviews campus input.
 

UCCS POD

UCCS has been approved to offer a closed point of vaccine distribution, or POD, for faculty and staff who are currently eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Faculty and staff who qualify for the COVID-19 vaccination clinic on campus received an email from Stephanie Hanenberg, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Health and Wellness, with the option to schedule an appointment to receive the first Moderna vaccine shot tomorrow, March 30, and the second shot on April 27.

In addition, Governor Polis has announced that all Coloradans will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine as soon as Friday, April 2. We will keep the campus community updated with information on how faculty, staff and students who do not qualify for the UCCS POD can register for community vaccine clinics.
 

Fall announcement

As I announced recently, the accelerating rollout of vaccines has allowed us to plan for a fall 2021 semester that will include a majority of in-person and on-campus classes and experiences. We are actively reaching out to prospective, current and former students with this news, and enrollments are trending ahead of where they were this time last year. I am optimistic about new student interest in the fall and look forward to sharing more news on enrollment as students confirm their attendance. 

A big thank you to our faculty and staff for doing everything possible to help our students receive the best educational experiences possible. 
 

Future of Work Taskforce

The pandemic has taught us many valuable lessons about how to work effectively in a remote environment. Determining how we will apply these lessons to the university’s work environment will be paramount to our success in the long run. The Cabinet and I are in the process of forming a Future of Work Task Force, to be headed by Carlos García, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, to provide us with recommendations on our “new operational normal.” 

The task force is comprised of representatives from campus including governance bodies. It will leverage lessons learned during the pandemic to imagine new ways of working productively in the future without losing the essence of the Mountain Lion community spirit. Please be on the lookout for more information on the task force representatives and their progress.
 

Online initiative

Online learning is a vital part of our academic offerings. Even as we expand in-person classes in the fall, we will continue to provide online and hybrid options to meet our community’s needs. To bolster our efforts, the CU Online program is scheduled to launch in fall of 2021 with a small number of UCCS programs to be included.

I have recently signed the service agreement between our campus and the systems’ Office of Digital Education for enhanced programs to outline the roles, responsibilities and financial arrangements between UCCS and ODE. Our next step is to sign the respective program term sheets for each program under consideration and the service agreement for standard programs. We will continue to provide regular updates as the initiative progresses.
 

Incentive-based budget model

As we shared earlier this month, we are committed to moving forward carefully and thoughtfully with progress on the new budget model. In order to run a parallel year with our existing and future budget models, we will continue the simulation of the model into next year with the implementation planned for July 1, 2022. You may stay apprised of progress through the budget model website.
 

MOSAIC Office

Finally, I am very pleased to share that the physical expansion of the MOSAIC Office continues to take shape. We will soon share news of the office’s two new staff members and are planning for the office to re-open in its new space in the coming months. Our deep thanks go to the CU President’s Office for the initial funding that helped to make this progress possible for our students. 

While there is much good news to celebrate, I recognize that many members of our community may still be feeling the effects of the tragic events in Boulder. We continue to send our condolences, our strength and our support to our CU Boulder community. I hope you were able to join me in a moment of silence this afternoon to honor those whose lives were lost, or impacted, during last Monday’s event. 

Thank you for being a part of the phenomenal Mountain Lion Family. Please continue to take good care as we look forward to seeing each other again soon. 

Respectfully,

Venkat Reddy
UCCS Chancellor