Thanksgiving 2020

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

Dear Colleagues,

These last eight months have tested us.

We have witnessed science devalued. Proven health measures that save lives have been politicized.

Hand-in-hand, frustration and exhaustion have stalked us, so we are too quick to snap at those most important to us. We've shed tears, together and alone, in the dead of night and in daylight. We've been angry and scared and yet beheld bravery and self-sacrifice, inspiring us to be our better selves.

Despite the tumult, we are still together. Together transforming the futures of students, their families and our stakeholders in their most difficult circumstances. While watching grim images of overrun hospitals and bodies stacked in refrigerated trucks, we are also facing up to the most pernicious and insidious issues in academia: racism, gender and age discrimination, and elitism. Now the light is on these issues; let us not squander our opportunity by letting them return to the darkness. We have called them out and we must actually do something.

As with past great challenges our generation has only learned about in history class, our best has emerged more often than our worst. With scant exceptions, you have collegially pulled together, inspired others, offered help and accepted it. You saved lives directly and indirectly. You have provided food and solace and, in too many cases, roused a critical effort in others to just keep going--to just keep living. You are life-changing and life-affirming.

But the tumult is not over. Our greatest challenges draw near. As fall gives way to winter, we will be in the darkest hours of this pandemic. Vaccines are coming, but we must clear our highest hurdle without them.

We will get through these worst of times, best, by doing so together.

As you can, take time out from your professional (non-) routine during the Thanksgiving break. Spend time on you and those you have been with these long months. Sleep!

On this very different Thanksgiving week, I want you to know I am most thankful to call you my colleagues, my community, and my friends.

Shane





My mask protects you; your mask protects me. We’ve controlled infectious diseases without vaccines for thousands of years. Wearing our masks means we can have a functioning economy and concurrently save thousands of lives.



All UA employees, students and visitors must wear a face covering inside all UA buildings, unless alone in a single occupancy office, and in UA outdoor spaces where continuous physical distancing of at least six feet is difficult or impossible to maintain.


Shane C. Burgess
Vice President for the Division of 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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P.O. Box 210036 | Tucson, AZ 85721-0036
Office: 520-621-7621
sburgess at cals.arizona.edu<mailto:sburgess at cals.arizona.edu>
alvsce.arizona.edu<https://alvsce.arizona.edu/>
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The University of Arizona is located statewide on the ancestral homelands of indigenous peoples.
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