Dear Campus Community: Earlier this summer, the Instructional Continuity Workgroup consulted with the Academic Senate about instructional planning for Winter quarter. At the time, the Senate recommended planning for a return to normal in-person instruction and we have since been scheduling Winter quarter classes accordingly. Last week, I again consulted with the Senate’s Executive Council...
Dear Colleagues, Over the summer quarter, I held regular campus office hours. Each week, I spent time chatting 1:1 with faculty, staff, and students. It was a refreshing way to learn about this campus, hear what was on your mind, and get to know many of you directly. I was pleased to see nearly every...
Dear Campus Community: When UCR last reaffirmed our accreditation in 2018 with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges: Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), the commission requested a Special Visit in 2022 to follow up on issues that were identified during the 2018 reaffirmation visit. In preparation for the visit, WSCUC also requested that...
Dear Colleagues: The Instructional Continuity Workgroup (ICW) recently decided to allow changes to the fall 2021 course delivery modes currently listed in the schedule of classes (i.e., in-person vs. remote instruction), through an approval process starting in the home department that is offering the course. These course modality changes are limited to instructors who either...
Dear Colleagues Thank you for your patience as the Instructional Continuity Workgroup has discussed and refined UCR’s fall quarter instructional guidance, now that the August 16 deadline for the vaccine mandate has passed. The guidance is now available on the Campus Return website, and I strongly encourage everyone to review it closely. As you know...
Dear Campus Community, The coronavirus pandemic wrought substantial devastation on our nation and community since the first diagnosed U.S. case in January 2020. In the 18 months since then, Congress has passed three rounds of stimulus acts, each of which offered financial relief to institutions of higher education. Chancellor Wilcox and I, in consultation with...
Dear Campus Community: I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Daryle Williams as UCR’s next dean of the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Dr. Williams, a prominent historian and current associate dean for faculty affairs in the College of Arts and humanities at University of Maryland (UMD), will assume his role...
Dear Campus Community, It’s been an eventful first month for me as your provost. Although I’ve moved into my office in Hinderaker Hall, I’ve spent most of my time on Zoom! I have managed to get outside now and then: I’ve had lunch at the Sub Station, I’ve watched the women’s soccer team practice, and...
Dear Campus Community, I invite you to participate in an interactive session about coronavirus transmission on campus with infectious disease modeler and one of the leaders of UC San Diego’s Return to Learn Program, Dr. Natasha Martin. Dr. Martin’s presentation will be this Thursday, May 27th from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. and is open to...
Hello Highlanders, It is with great pleasure that I officially join the UC Riverside family today as Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor. There are few universities as well-positioned as UCR to take on the complex and intersectional challenges confronting our world today, and even fewer that can take pride in their core values and inclusive...
Dear Campus Community, Welcome to spring quarter! It is hard to believe that it has been more than a year since we quickly moved nearly all of our academic operations to remote platforms due to COVID-19. While we will continue to be primarily remote through summer, the recent and ongoing improvements in pandemic conditions are...
Hello Campus Colleagues, Thank you for attending my March 12th office hours which had a focused discussion on fall instruction and fall planning. I was glad to see high attendance and to hear your comments and concerns. While we were able to answer a lot of questions within the hour, we certainly were not able...
Dear Campus Community, We are pleased by the recent announcement from Governor Newsom and legislative leadership that the state will restore permanent funding to the University of California to its levels from July 1, 2019. This funding restoration, which is subject to full legislative approval, would take effect July 1, 2021. As a result of...
By Interim Provost Thomas Smith and VC Gerry Bomotti |
Dear Campus Community, In early February, UCR faculty and students were surveyed to better understand their preferences for fall quarter instruction, assuming Riverside would then be in the state’s Yellow tier. Overall, respondents were strongly split on their instructional mode preferences. Written comments expressed both support for returning to in-person instruction as well as concerns...
Dear Campus Community, Over the past 18 months, more than 100 UCR campus and community members have worked to develop a strategic plan to guide our path forward. These faculty-led working groups engaged a variety of stakeholders throughout their report-writing process, soliciting ideas and priorities through town hall meetings, focus groups, interviews, and surveys. We...
Dear Campus Community, Thank you to all the UC Riverside employees who provided feedback about the President’s Job Protection Program. This program would, in effect, implement some level of one-time temporary salary reduction during the 2020-2021 fiscal year, based on an approved salary tier. The intent for these one-time savings would be to contribute to...
Dear Campus Community, As I reflect on the past year, I am reminded of our individual and collective resilience. We have faced the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, senseless police shootings of Black Americans and the subsequent civil unrest, and uncertainty in the face of a financial crisis. We have grown, adapted, and continued to rise through...
Dear Campus Community, Please see the UCOP Office of the President’s statement on Fall 2021 Instruction: UC Plans Fall 2021 Person Instruction Across Its 10 Campuses Tom Thomas M. Smith, Ph.D. Interim Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor 4148 Hinderaker Hall University of California, Riverside
Dear Campus Community, Three months ago, I wrote to you about improving COVID-19 conditions in Riverside County and the possibility of relaxing constraints on instructional activities if conditions continued to improve. Instead, conditions worsened significantly. The third wave of the pandemic hit California particularly hard and Riverside County regressed back into the Purple tier. ICU...
Dear UCR Community, We are now one month away from the start of winter quarter and I am writing to provide updates on our winter instruction plan. A total of 50 courses have been approved for in-person instruction with remote options for winter. This represents only 2-3% of UCR’s overall course offerings. Consistent with state...
