March 29, 2020
To: Faculty, staff, students, parents and families
March 29, 2020
Dear Campus Community,
On Monday morning our students resume their studies after Spring Break, as they have for 15 years at UC Merced. And yet almost everything will be different.
Everyone is facing unprecedented challenges in our school, work and personal lives. The strength of cross-disciplinary education that the University of California provides will be even more important as we navigate a world that is changing, in some ways permanently.
Innovative production and delivery of food and medical supplies, design of new facilities and creation of the next wave of complex communication systems will require nimble engineers and bold business leaders with a strong understanding of history, psychology and ethics. Medicine of the future will depend on the genetic, biochemical and epidemiological research of today. The political scientists we educate today will help determine how governments learn from this crisis and respond to our next great challenge, and those in the humanities, social sciences and arts will help us understand and process human behavior and the impact it has on future generations.
There will be struggles and missteps. It is the first time many of our students and faculty have had to learn and teach in a 100 percent remote environment, the first time some of our staff have ever worked remotely, and the first time our researchers have been challenged to continue their efforts without access to their research facilities. We will need to be patient with one another and with ourselves. But I firmly believe, as the author William Faulkner opined years ago, that humankind will not merely endure, but prevail.
At UC Merced, I am proud and grateful to see our campus community pull together, forging ahead with conviction and passion. Our academic community is creating new knowledge and understanding of our world through continued research efforts. Our dedicated on-campus staff continue to provide food and clean spaces for those students who remain in residence, and a solid infrastructure to allow faculty and students to focus on remote teaching and learning. And the grit, resilience and persistence of our students will be more evident in the days and weeks ahead than at any other time before.
Remember you can find our communications and resources gathered at our COVID-19 Emergency Management site . If you have the ability and means to do so, please consider donating blood , and aiding our Student Emergency Fund to continue our ability to support student success.
And above all, keep yourselves and your families safe.
#BobcatProud
Nathan Brostrom
Interim Chancellor
This is an important message from UC Merced. Please share with colleagues who may not have ready access to email. If you require a Spanish translation, please email pr@ucmerced.edu .
