Dear Colleagues, As I noted in my winter campus update, the new union contracts with our academic researchers, postdoctoral scholars, graduate student researchers, and teaching assistants provide important salary increases and expanded benefits to these essential members of our academic workforce. Meeting the financial obligations of these...

Dear Campus Community, We start this new year with signed union contracts with our academic researchers, postdoctoral scholars, graduate student researchers, and teaching assistants. The contracts provide important salary increases and expanded benefits to these essential members of our academic workforce, and we all look forward to working...

Dear UCR Colleagues, We are writing to give you an update on the final outcome of the fiscal year 2022-23 UC Riverside operating budget. As we noted in last year’s letter, we once again have a lot of information to share, which makes this email a lengthy read. A RELATIVELY GOOD YEAR FOR REVENUES The University received a 5% increase to our state...

Dear Colleagues: This fall the UC Riverside campus has successfully returned to our most expansive in-person operations since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. With the wide availability of vaccines and boosters to Californians of all ages, high vaccination rates among employees and students, more COVID-19 treatment options, and continued...

Dear Campus Community, Each September, campus leadership kicks off the academic year with a day-long on-site retreat. The group consists of the chancellor’s cabinet and the provost’s cabinet, plus leaders from the Academic Senate and Staff Assembly. This year, we spent the day discussing undergraduate enrollment, because our colleagues in...

Dear Colleagues: As we look forward to the start of the fall quarter, we would like to confirm that the compassionate clause will remain in effect. The compassionate clause, which was in place last academic year, allowed for exceptions to normal course delivery modes through an approval process starting in the home department that is offering the...

Dear campus community, I am excited to announce the appointment of Dr. Joi Spencer as Dean of the School of Education. Her first day will be January 1, 2023. Joi joins us from the University of San Diego, where she is a Professor of Mathematics Education in the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES). During her 16 years at USD, Joi has...

Dear campus community, I am excited to announce the appointment of Dr. Mark Long as Dean of the School of Public Policy. His first day will be January 1, 2023. Mark joins us from the University of Washington, where he is a Professor in the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance and an Adjunct Professor of Economics. He previously served as...

Dear UCR Colleagues, While we await news on the final State budget and our allocation from the UC Office of the President for 2022-23, I thought I’d write to inform you about a number of financial decisions recommended by the Campus Finance Committee (CFC) and approved by the Chancellor and me since I last wrote in November about UCR’s 2021-22...

Dear Campus Community, In consultation with UC Riverside’s Public Health Advisory Committee, campus leadership, the Academic Senate, and other UC campuses, we have elected to temporarily reinstate UC Riverside’s indoor mask mandate, starting Monday, May 30. From May 30 through June 13, face coverings will be required in indoor spaces on campus and...

Dear Campus Community, The topic of this spring campus update is strategic planning. What has happened? Soon after I began as provost in May 2021, I pressed pause on the strategic planning process. While we had some of the best thinkers on campus engaged in strategic planning, some campus constituencies expressed disappointment with the penultimate...