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Hi everyone, I'm Jim Ryan. This has been a
long and extraordinary week filled with

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plenty of sadness and sacrifice, but also
dedication and determination as well as

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kindness and compassion. As we close a
chapter on this historic week I'd just

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like to take a moment to recount what
we've all been through and also, most

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importantly, to thank all of you. This has
been a week of sadness and loss for

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students who learned we would be online
all semester and would not be able to

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proceed with graduation. For faculty and
staff who were told to work at home if

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they could and who will have to forego
seeing their friends and colleagues in

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person and for members of our community
who are facing financial hardship. For

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all of you, I am genuinely sorry, at the
same time I'm grateful for those of you

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who are willingly making sacrifices for
the benefit of others and that's

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especially true of our students. As you
well know the steps we're taking and the

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steps you're taking are less about you
than they are about helping others who

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are much more at risk from the virus, but
make no mistake your sacrifices, even

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if it's not immediately apparent to you,
are undoubtedly saving lives, but this

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just hasn't been a week of sadness and
sacrifice it's also been a week of

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Herculean effort and innovation. Consider
the students who, even as they process

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their own grief, created the Hoos
Helping Hoos network that connects

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students who need assistance with
members of the community who can offer

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it or consider the spectacular faculty
and staff who, with creativity, intense

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work and good cheer, found a way to take
4200 classes online in a week. A week!

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That seemed impossible just seven days
ago or consider the faculty from across

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Grounds who've offered their expertise
on a range of topics from the physics

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professor who posted a video on social
distancing to the history professor who

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encourages students to create a record
of life during the pandemic to the

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faculty who have shared advice and
everything from home school and your

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kids to coping during a quarantine and
this has been a week of remarkable

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dedication. We saw staff from Student
Affairs, RMC, Facilities Management

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and the police department pull
together to help students move out of

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their dorms. We saw a team from Student
Financial Services who, in less than 24

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hours, created a system to help students
who need financial assistance traveling

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home. We saw a team from across the
entire University work together to get a

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COVID19 Clinic up and running in record
time.

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And we saw colleagues from Information
and Technology Services work to prepare

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for and support online classes from 6:30
in the morning until 9:00 o'clock at

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night every day this week and this has
been a week of remarkable support and

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compassion. Our alumni have reached out
asking how they can help and have

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offered to host students who need a
place to live. Our parents have

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encouraged their students to come home
and have donated to the Student Life and

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Leadership Fund which is helping to make
sure that every student has what they

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need to finish the semester away from
Grounds. And if I may pause to offer a

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special word to our parents with three,
yes three, college-age sons at home, I

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share your joy at having this unexpected
time with your children, your

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apprehension about how long that joy
will last and your sorrow for what your

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children are missing, but I also share
your confidence in their resilience and,

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like you, I'm hoping that we will be able
to figure out a way to host graduation

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ceremonies at UVA at a later date as I
would very much like the opportunity to

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march down the Lawn with your children.
More on that particular topic soon.

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Finally, this week has made it clear just
how incredibly fortunate we are to work

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alongside the team at the Health System.
Our challenges and sacrifices, as great

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as they might be, pale in comparison to
those facing our Health System

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colleagues and they have more than risen
to the task. This includes those who make

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the Hospital run by, among other things,
stocking carts, cleaning floors and

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helping people get where they need to go.
It includes the researchers who have

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developed a test for the coronavirus on
Grounds, the first local test in Virginia

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and one that reduces the amount of time
it takes to get a result from days to

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hours and includes the doctors and
nurses who have volunteered to care for

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patients with the virus, potentially
risking their own health to save others.

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For this extraordinary week and for all
those who helped us through it, I'd like

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to extend my deepest gratitude. I know my
executive leadership team which includes

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our Provost Liz Magill, our COO J.J. Davis
and our EVP for Health Affairs Craig

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Kent, feel exactly the same way. This is a
week like no other, but in some ways it

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was a week that felt familiar as it
brought forth the values that are

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fundamental to this University at its
very best,

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selflessness, dedication, compassion and a
willingness to serve. Those values have

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always been a part of who we are and
this week they were on vivid display.

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This week was in some ways the end of
the beginning.

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We are facing something that none of us
ever has, something like a snow day that

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will last weeks or months. We still have
a long way to go and I'm sure it's going

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to get harder before it gets easier. Let
us proceed with compassion for others

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especially those who are most at risk
and most vulnerable. Let us proceed with

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understanding and forgiveness for those
trying to make the very best of a

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difficult situation and let us proceed
with recognition of our common humanity.

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So thank you once again for everything
you've done and everything you will do.

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I've been a part of this community for
thirty years, I have never felt more

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fortunate to be a part of it than I do
today. I've said before and I will say

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again that my highest aspiration for
this University is that we will be the

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ones of whom had said they are not just
great they are also good. This week I saw

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up close just what great and good looks
like. Thank you.