1 00:00:00,250 --> 00:00:01,250 Hi, everyone. 2 00:00:01,250 --> 00:00:05,759 I hope this message finds all of you, your families, and your friends safe and well. 3 00:00:05,759 --> 00:00:09,550 We just finished classes this week, and I would like to mark the occasion by taking 4 00:00:09,550 --> 00:00:14,050 a moment to thank all of you—our faculty, staff, students, and alumni. 5 00:00:14,050 --> 00:00:17,700 This has been an extraordinary semester, in every sense of the term. 6 00:00:17,700 --> 00:00:20,530 It has, in many ways, been extraordinarily challenging. 7 00:00:20,530 --> 00:00:25,530 While the number of COVID-19 cases in our community hasn’t risen as dramatically as 8 00:00:25,530 --> 00:00:30,270 we had feared, we now have two dozen patients being treated in our Health System. 9 00:00:30,270 --> 00:00:34,390 Members of our community have been infected and some of our alumni have died from the 10 00:00:34,390 --> 00:00:35,450 disease. 11 00:00:35,450 --> 00:00:40,130 The economic impact of this pandemic has meant that we have had to make difficult decisions 12 00:00:40,130 --> 00:00:45,629 across the University, especially within the Health System, which has been hurt financially 13 00:00:45,629 --> 00:00:50,050 because it has been so well-prepared medically for COVID-19 patients. 14 00:00:50,050 --> 00:00:54,800 At the same time, many of our employees have had to juggle work and family, faculty have 15 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:59,110 had to adjust their courses and course plans to teach online, and our students have 16 00:00:59,110 --> 00:01:03,359 had to adjust to being both at home and online. 17 00:01:03,359 --> 00:01:09,280 All that said, in extraordinary times, extraordinary institutions do extraordinary things. 18 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:13,170 And this 200-year old institution is extraordinary. 19 00:01:13,170 --> 00:01:17,880 It survived the Civil War, two world wars, and the Korean and Vietnam wars. 20 00:01:17,880 --> 00:01:21,410 It survived 9/11 and the 1918 Flu pandemic. 21 00:01:21,410 --> 00:01:26,729 In fact, UVA didn’t just survive these crises and others—it has managed to thrive over 22 00:01:26,729 --> 00:01:27,729 time. 23 00:01:27,729 --> 00:01:32,800 And so it is and will be with this pandemic—which poses a challenge unlike any other we've 24 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:34,450 seen in our lifetime. 25 00:01:34,450 --> 00:01:40,190 We have risen to meet this challenge, which is to say that you--our students, faculty, staff, 26 00:01:40,190 --> 00:01:42,740 and alumni—have risen to meet it. 27 00:01:42,740 --> 00:01:46,439 You have faced this challenge with extraordinary dedication, creativity, and compassion. 28 00:01:46,439 --> 00:01:51,620 To cite just a few examples from literally hundreds: 29 00:01:51,620 --> 00:01:57,160 Members of the library staff scanned and delivered more than 64,000 pages of content to students 30 00:01:57,160 --> 00:01:58,570 and faculty. 31 00:01:58,570 --> 00:02:02,719 Teams from the architecture and engineering schools worked together to create a new way 32 00:02:02,719 --> 00:02:07,790 to make face shields for doctors and nurses treating COVID-19 patients. 33 00:02:07,790 --> 00:02:12,410 Faculty not only taught their classes in new and challenging ways but continued to mentor 34 00:02:12,410 --> 00:02:16,910 and advise students, including a faculty member from the college who has spent two hours a 35 00:02:16,910 --> 00:02:22,170 day for the last couple of weeks helping a student fine tune her thesis over video chat—something 36 00:02:22,170 --> 00:02:25,910 I learned from a letter sent to me by a grateful parent. 37 00:02:25,910 --> 00:02:31,000 A team of UVA employees and volunteers has provided aid to hundreds of furloughed contract 38 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:35,700 workers—and a group from the Law School volunteered to help them apply for unemployment 39 00:02:35,700 --> 00:02:36,700 benefits. 40 00:02:36,700 --> 00:02:41,650 A team of UVA faculty, lab professionals, and staff created the first local test in 41 00:02:41,650 --> 00:02:46,990 Virginia for COVID-19, and they can now test hundreds of people a day, not just those from 42 00:02:46,990 --> 00:02:50,240 UVA and Charlottesville but across the Commonwealth of Virginia. 43 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:56,370 Two Health System employees traveled to Tennessee to bring back a robot that is now being used 44 00:02:56,370 --> 00:03:02,099 to sanitize up to 6,000 N-95 masks per day, so that they can be reused. 45 00:03:02,099 --> 00:03:07,620 You have also supported each other all along the way, making it abundantly clear just how 46 00:03:07,620 --> 00:03:11,300 strong and connected this community is at its best. 47 00:03:11,300 --> 00:03:15,900 A group of students created Hoos Helping Hoos, a network that connects students who need 48 00:03:15,900 --> 00:03:19,390 assistance with members of the community who can offer it. 49 00:03:19,390 --> 00:03:23,670 And staff from Student Financial Services and Student Affairs have worked together to 50 00:03:23,670 --> 00:03:28,140 distribute nearly a million dollars in assistance to students in need. 51 00:03:28,140 --> 00:03:33,650 Construction crews working on the new UVA Health wing lined up at 6:30am to cheer 52 00:03:33,650 --> 00:03:37,760 health care workers on their way to work or leaving their shifts. 53 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:42,950 A group of alumni and parents in China came together to donate and ship 20,000 surgical 54 00:03:42,950 --> 00:03:45,269 face masks to the Health System. 55 00:03:45,269 --> 00:03:49,110 Members of the University Guide Service and Black Student Alliance have reached out to 56 00:03:49,110 --> 00:03:51,700 admitted students to tell them all about UVA. 57 00:03:51,700 --> 00:03:57,180 Finally, talented singers, dancers, musicians, and artists in our community have helped lift 58 00:03:57,180 --> 00:04:00,630 our spirits as part of our digital “Arts on the Hill” program. 59 00:04:00,630 --> 00:04:05,879 For all of this and more, you have my profound thanks and the thanks of my colleagues Liz 60 00:04:05,879 --> 00:04:11,830 Magill, our provost, JJ Davis, our COO, and Craig Kent, our EVP for Health Affairs. 61 00:04:11,830 --> 00:04:16,769 The semester isn’t entirely over, as papers and exams and grading still await, but thank 62 00:04:16,769 --> 00:04:19,810 you—and congratulations on making it this far. 63 00:04:19,810 --> 00:04:24,620 It hasn't been easy; it hasn't been perfect; and our work is not complete. 64 00:04:24,620 --> 00:04:28,770 But it's nonetheless been inspiring to be a part of this community, as it continued 65 00:04:28,770 --> 00:04:34,639 its inevitably imperfect pursuit of high ideals during a uniquely challenging time. 66 00:04:34,639 --> 00:04:38,870 As we look ahead, I know that many, if not all of you, are eager to know what the fall 67 00:04:38,870 --> 00:04:39,870 will look like. 68 00:04:39,870 --> 00:04:41,389 I am as well. 69 00:04:41,389 --> 00:04:45,150 We will certainly be open and offering courses; that much is clear. 70 00:04:45,150 --> 00:04:49,060 Our hope is that we will have students back on Grounds and that we will be teaching our 71 00:04:49,060 --> 00:04:50,750 courses in person. 72 00:04:50,750 --> 00:04:54,460 We are working night and day to figure out how we might do that safely. 73 00:04:54,460 --> 00:04:59,380 We are also making contingency plans in case not all students can be here in person and 74 00:04:59,380 --> 00:05:02,530 in case some courses will need to be online. 75 00:05:02,530 --> 00:05:07,310 This is a complicated task, but we have a remarkable group of faculty, staff, and students 76 00:05:07,310 --> 00:05:08,310 working on it. 77 00:05:08,310 --> 00:05:12,630 We will keep you posted on our progress and expect to announce our plans for the fall 78 00:05:12,630 --> 00:05:13,630 in mid-June. 79 00:05:13,630 --> 00:05:18,470 We already know that next fall will call on us to summon once again the flexibility, 80 00:05:18,470 --> 00:05:23,250 creativity, and resilience that carried us through this semester. 81 00:05:23,250 --> 00:05:27,510 Runners tend to overuse marathon analogies, so I apologize in advance for ending this 82 00:05:27,510 --> 00:05:29,090 message with yet another, but I can't resist. 83 00:05:29,090 --> 00:05:35,150 If you’ve ever run a marathon, you know that at about mile 11 or so you start to realize 84 00:05:35,150 --> 00:05:38,360 that marathons are long, and they are hard. 85 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:43,060 But you tell yourself, repeatedly, that there is a finish line, and that you will get there, 86 00:05:43,060 --> 00:05:44,490 even if you can’t yet see it. 87 00:05:44,490 --> 00:05:48,200 You just have to keep running, one step at a time. 88 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:52,460 And you have to remind yourself that you’re not actually in this alone—you know you’ll 89 00:05:52,460 --> 00:05:56,580 get support and encouragement from your fellow runners and spectators. 90 00:05:56,580 --> 00:05:58,380 We are at mile 11 in this pandemic. 91 00:05:58,380 --> 00:06:03,440 There is still a long road in front of us, and at times it will be hard. 92 00:06:03,440 --> 00:06:07,110 But there is a finish line ahead, even if we can’t see it yet. 93 00:06:07,110 --> 00:06:11,229 We will cross that line together, supporting each other the whole way. 94 00:06:11,229 --> 00:06:16,260 When we do cross that line, we will likely be a little tired and sore, and maybe even 95 00:06:16,260 --> 00:06:17,970 a bit bruised. 96 00:06:17,970 --> 00:06:22,960 But we’ll better and stronger for the experience, and we’ll share a bond that won’t soon 97 00:06:22,960 --> 00:06:23,960 be broken. 98 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:26,420 Thank you, and be well.