March 30, 2020 Coronavirus Update from the Vice President and Dean

[Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension Weekly Bulletin]

Good afternoon, everyone.

Here we are on our third Monday at home.

You've told me over the last two weeks about how you've scrambled to adapt to online teaching, that your professional plans are dashed, your research is messed up -- and you are worried about our students.

We've been confused, fearful, stressed, angry and in disbelief. Vacation plans are ruined, and we fear for loved ones at great distances. We've struggled to help our children adapt to these changes.

Many of you are extremely worried about the economy and what that will mean to UA's finances and your job security. I don't want to minimize your concerns; they are valid, and I share them. Our guiding principles, what we focus on and how we position ourselves still determine our future.

The academic unit heads, Experiment Station directors and superintendents, the Extension director, CEDs, associate and assistant deans, institute/center directors and I are laser-focused on you, especially on preserving your jobs. I am asking all these leaders to be even more imaginative, more innovative, and more entrepreneurial than ever - in other words, business as usual in an unusual environment.

It's important you actively try to be optimistic. I want to ask you to stop and take 30 minutes today to actively think about how you will do more to take care of yourself and your loved ones. Here are some of the things I've tried over the past two weeks; perhaps they'll help you:

  *   Stay focused on the big picture - this will be over, and you want to be best placed, not just with your work but in all areas of your life.
  *   Make social connections - daily 10-minute video check-ins or phone calls with the people in your life.
  *   In virtual meetings, ask your colleagues to say one positive thing that happened that day.
  *   Establish a new routine.
  *   Get some daily physical fitness. In my case, this may be the time to hit those health goals that too much road time hasn't allowed.
  *   Actively keep work/life separation.
  *   LAUGH

My best regards to all of you.
Shane




Make our long haul shorter: keep healthy and keep people working-- lead by example to suppress SARS-CoV-2 transmission.



To decrease cortisol’s insidious health effects and also avoid burn out, I’m back to regular email practices. Please use URGENT in the subject line of emails to me only if they actually are; when sending URGENT emails outside of our “normal hours” please text me to look at my email. Individual personnel SARS-CoV-2 INFECTION or overt COVID-19 is an IMMEDIATE PERSONNEL WELLBEING issue and must be marked URGENT, just like any other individual personnel wellbeing issues should continue to be.

Please use Time sensitive in the subject line of emails when appropriate but DO NOT text me.


Shane C. Burgess
Vice President for Agriculture, Life and Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension
Charles-Sander Dean of the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

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The University of Arizona is located statewide on the ancestral homelands of indigenous peoples.
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