From the Desk of Willie Brown V4N7
On Our Way to Fall 2022
We are now well into summer with fall quarter and move-in around the corner. The excitement has already started with the Freshmen Summer Start Program and Transfer Edge participants moving in a few weeks ago, and fall move-in planning underway. Instructions on how to sign up for your preferred move-in weekend shift was sent out to key points of contact in each area as was mentioned in a June 30, 2022 e-mail to all staff and a HomeBase announcement. If you have questions about how to sign up, please reach out to the director of your department. Thank you in advance for your partnership and support with this team effort of providing a warm welcome to our students!
Before the flurry of activity that comes with the start of a new academic year, we’ll be dedicating time on August 10 and 11 to our annual Strategic Planning think-tank. Each year we look toward the future of HDAE, how we can become a better organization, and how we can strengthen what we are known for. This year, we are focusing on our organizational culture. Weathering a pandemic, staffing changes, and two years with employees located in different places, on campus and off, brought new challenges to keeping the fabric of our organizational culture strong. If you have any questions or feedback about the Strategic Planning process or HDAE’s organizational culture, please feel free to contact me at willie.brown@ucsb.edu.
With the continued prevalence of COVID in the community, we must stay vigilant and nimble. In addition to wearing a mask, avoiding crowds and washing your hands, another tool to reduce the spread of the virus is UCSB’s COVID-19 Early Detection Testing and Monitoring Program. Until recently, only students were invited to participate in the program. To better represent the campus community in the data collected, the program has been expanded to include staff and faculty. Each week, a small number of staff/faculty members are randomly selected to receive email invitations to participate on a voluntary basis, along with information on how to arrange for and complete the campus test. I was recently selected to participate and the process is fast and easy. If you receive an invitation, your participation contributes to the success of the program’s effort to reduce the spread of COVID-19. This is a team effort, and I thank you for your partnership and continued support as we address the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Be well and stay safe HDAE Team!