Dear Campus Community: On Friday, Governor Newsom released his proposed fiscal year 2022 budget. If signed into law, the proposed budget would increase the University of California’s ongoing funding by $136.3 million from current levels. I am grateful that discussions of higher education spending are now headed back in the right direction and am...

Dear Colleagues, As many of you know Tamica Smith Jones, director of intercollegiate athletics at UC Riverside, will be leaving us at the end of this month for a leadership position at Kennesaw State University Athletics in Georgia. I have asked Wes Mallette, currently senior associate athletic director for external relations, to serve as interim...

Dear Campus Community: Since November, California has regularly continued to break new records for most COVID-19 cases reported in a day. The same is true in Riverside County where reported cases, deaths, and hospitalizations are also breaking daily and weekly records while high positivity rates for COVID-19 tests indicate widespread infection. In...

Yesterday, as the attacks on the U.S. Capitol unfolded, I issued a statement condemning the grotesque assault on our nation’s values. Since that time, I’ve had the opportunity to further reflect on the disparities exposed by yesterday’s events. Images show how little protection was in place at the Capitol, in comparison to the forces present during...

Dear Campus Community, Three months ago, I wrote to you about improving COVID-19 conditions in Riverside County and the possibility of relaxing constraints on instructional activities if conditions continued to improve. Instead, conditions worsened significantly. The third wave of the pandemic hit California particularly hard and Riverside County...

Dear Campus Community, I am pleased to announce an open national search for the next Associate Vice Chancellor for Auxiliary Services. The position has been posted to the UCR jobs board, and the job advertisement is attached for your review. I am grateful to the following individuals for agreeing to serve on the search advisory committee: Drew...

Dear Campus Community: In compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, also known as the Clery Act, the University of California, Riverside has published our 2020 Annual Security & Fire Safety Report. The purpose of this report is to provide crime and other safety-related information to...

The UC Office of the President concluded a 30-day consultation period in late November on a proposed 2020-21 “curtailment” program that was proposed in October, as one option among many available to address economic challenges created by the pandemic. The final program was titled the Job Protection Program. Each campus was asked to evaluate the...

In December 2020, UCPath is planned to move to a new cloud hosting system from Oracle to Amazon. Due to the Amazon Web Service migration, the UCPath system will need to be offline for a period of time. While we don’t expect any problems, if you experience any issues, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Campus Support Center (CSC) using the...

In the summer of 2018, the appearance of Bird and Lime scooters on campus and across Southern California reinvigorated the campus discussion regarding the use and regulation of all types of wheeled devices on the UCR campus, to include skateboards, scooters and bicycles. The most critical concern related to safety was voiced by the many staff...

Due to technical difficulties on Nov. 29, the UC undergraduate application deadline for fall 2021 has been extended to 11:59 p.m. PST on Friday, Dec. 4. However, we do encourage applications to be submitted as soon as possible.

Dear Campus Community, The process for accessing UC travel discounts for personal travel has changed. The “Find It” tool will no longer be supported after 11/30/2020. Office of the President is working on a replacement personal travel portal for future deployment. In the meantime, there are two options available to assist active UCR employees with...

Dear UCR Community, We are now one month away from the start of winter quarter and I am writing to provide updates on our winter instruction plan. A total of 50 courses have been approved for in-person instruction with remote options for winter. This represents only 2-3% of UCR’s overall course offerings. Consistent with state guidelines, the...

Dear Campus Community: Like many holidays, Thanksgiving has a complicated history. Its existence suggests we pause, enjoy a meal with friends or family, and make a gratitude list—three behaviors routinely lauded by mental health experts for contributing to wellbeing. However, the storytelling and imagery about Pilgrims and American Indians is a...

Dear Campus Community: I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Elizabeth Watkins as UCR’s next provost and executive vice chancellor, subject to approval by President Drake. Dr. Watkins is dean of the graduate division, vice chancellor of student affairs, and professor of history of health sciences at UC San Francisco. Dr. Watkins’...

Dear Campus Community, I am writing to provide a brief update on our Strategic Planning efforts as our timeline for publishing our penultimate draft and hosting community forums has changed. Over the past several weeks, we have incorporated some initial feedback and details from the working groups’ final reports into our latest draft of UCR’s...

Dear Campus Community, This week, the United States saw its deadliest day for COVID-19 while California’s 102% increase in positive cases over the last two weeks triggered a return to broader restrictions statewide and implementation of a limited stay-at-home order. Additionally, last Friday, the State of California issued a travel advisory stating...

Dear Campus Community, We write to provide an update on the annual budget process and campus planning over the next two years. The impact of the COVID pandemic and ensuing budget crisis cannot be overstated. While the campus has built robust health and safety protocols to address the pandemic, we must be equipped to navigate our collective budget...

The UC Systemwide Title IX Director is requesting assistance with the draft Guidelines for Responsible Employee Investigations. An important provision in the systemwide Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment (SVSH) Policy requires that all University employees who are not designated as confidential report possible sexual harassment (and other...

Dear Campus Community, UC Riverside has joined other University of California campuses and the California Department of Public Health to pilot a program aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19. All you need is your cell phone to activate the California COVID Notify exposure notification system. The technology, developed by Apple and Google, is...