I am very delighted to welcome each of you to a new year and a semester filled with opportunities at The University of Texas at Arlington. I hope you were able to have an enjoyable and relaxing holiday break and a chance to rejuvenate. As we continue to navigate challenges and an everchanging landscape of learning, research, and working, I am inspired by your resiliency and compassion.

During the past year, you have demonstrated a lot of adaptability and innovation in the face of unforeseeable circumstances. Moving into the spring semester, it is imperative we maintain this can-do, adaptive attitude, while remaining dedicated to the health and safety of our Maverick community.

At UTA, we will stay the course to continue minimizing the on-campus presence of our employees and maximizing the use of telework while ensuring business continuity, all to reduce the spread of COVID-19. I encourage you to discuss with your supervisor the on-campus staffing expectations for your unit or department.

I ask each of you to please continue to steadfastly adhere to our face-covering protocol and daily self-monitoring checklist every time you come to our campus. The UTA mobile app provides a convenient, confidential tool to assist with conducting the daily self-assessment.  If you are not feeling well or have symptoms, please take precautions and stay at home so you do not unintentionally expose colleagues or students to COVID-19.

Should you test positive for COVID-19 or come in close contact with a COVID-positive individual, you should use the important information we have prepared to guide you through next steps. We would also like to remind you to complete the Close Contact or Personal Diagnosis Form.

Some of you have asked what UTA’s plans may be with respect to COVID-19 vaccines. UTA currently has not acquired vaccines during the initial phases of deployments in order to allow community distribution to prioritized populations. However, we are continuing to actively assess the availability of the vaccines and the projected state and health agency distribution plans for them.

If you are interested in getting one of the COVID-19 vaccines when they become available within your community, please check the UTA COVID-19 vaccination and information resources website for more information regarding eligibility and availability.

The Coronavirus information page remains your go-to site for information about UTA’s response to the pandemic. We have placed a number of resources there, such as Faculty FAQs,  Staff FAQs, and Student FAQs to support our campus community. For further information on planning, resources, and precautions for this semester, you can check out our COVID-19 2021 Campus Operation Plan.

In these stressful times, it is important that we all prioritize taking care of ourselves. We are a Community that Cares and one that emphasizes compassion for each other, as well as ourselves. Our Employee Assistance Program has a number of resources to support you with any personal obstacles you may be facing. I encourage you to ask for help whenever you may need it.

I am immensely proud to soon kick off another great semester at UTA. Thank you for your commitment to our students and continued health, safety, and success.

Mav Up!