From the Desk of Willie Brown V6N3
As we arrive at graduation weekend, punctuated by the campus’ nine commencement ceremonies, it’s hard to believe the end of the academic year is upon us. As always, I am beyond grateful for the care, attention, and hard work each of you has put into this year – a year that marks a new strategic chapter in Housing, Dining & Auxiliary Enterprises with the launch of the student housing development projects and the leadership realignments that will strengthen our departments. At the end of May, we announced Nestor Covarrubias as our first Senior Executive Director of Auxiliary Services. Nestor will report to me and unify the vision for the auxiliary operations of the Campus Store, Conference & Hospitality Services—including The Club & Guest House, Transportation & Parking Services, and administration of the University Center and Events Center. I am grateful to those who participated in this search process and hope you join me in congratulating Nestor. HDAE’s future is bright ahead.
Improving employee engagement by focusing on work-life balance, career advancement, and staff appreciation and recognition was a top priority for HDAE this year. This was based on the feedback that we received directly from your participation in the 2022 engagement survey. On May 14, the work group teams came together to host Meet HDAE, an open house and resource fair with over 200 attendees. This culminating event demonstrates to me the power of thoughtful collaboration and embodies the WE CARE values. Thank you to our work group co-champions, Nestor Covarrubias, Gracie Huerta, Amy Jacobs, Camille Locklear, Whitney Morris, and Yasmin Quigley, and Shalauna Miller and Gabrielle Coulousi for their leadership, coordination, and focus on making this priority come to fruition.
Over the next few weeks, our staff across many departments will work around the clock to move out our current residential population and transition our facilities in time for conference season to start on June 24, while also celebrating the Class of 2024 at Commencement. I would like to highlight a recent example of our HDAE team going above and beyond: our Concessions team, led by Peter Pereda. They received a last-minute request to support the UCSB-hosted NCAA Regional Baseball tournament. The weekend event grossed about $47,000. Your hard work does not go unnoticed, and it takes all of us to ensure the needs of our campus community are met during these important milestones. Thank you for your agility and commitment to providing excellent service.
As we prepare to send off the Class of 2024, I hope you reflect on how far we have all come in the last four years of crisis, change, and resilience. These graduating seniors saw their proms, graduations, and end-of-year celebrations upended in 2020 by COVID-19, and yet, they continued to pursue their education and invested in their futures. Like all of you, keeping students at the forefront inspires my work and keeps me showing up each day to support their educational and extracurricular needs.
I look forward to sharing a comprehensive overview of our many successes from this academic year in our annual report in the fall.
Wishing you a very happy, healthy summer.