Happy Groundhog Day! I just read that Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow this morning, predicting 6 more weeks of winter.
Save the Date! If the pandemic is under control AND if the University and the Statler allow AND if we can use discretionary funds… our 2021 holiday party will be December 15, 2021! It seems like a long way off, but I’m taking positive news wherever I can get it. Thanks to Tara Reed for getting us into a post-pandemic mindset.
SIPS-Wide Grad Student Recruitment we will hold a virtual recruitment event this week on February 4 and 5. A huge thank you to our DGS’s, GFA’s and current graduate students that are working to make this virtual event exciting and fun. There is a SIPS-wide virtual social hour at 3 PM Friday so feel free to join in. The social interaction platform wonder.me is being tested TODAY at 4:00 pm – click this link at that time to help test crowd capacity!
Strategic Planning
The SIPS Executive Committee is currently developing a draft outline of our new strategic plan. During the month of February, we will begin discussions of the outline with faculty, students, and staff. I’m looking forward to building out each of our grand challenges.
Spring 2021 Semester Updates
Classes start Monday February 8. If you have technology needs, you can complete this request form from CALS IT. You can also check out the results of a survey on Fall 2020 student learning experiences conducted by the Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. I found the results to be interesting and useful as I think about teaching this spring.
Renovation
Magdalen has added some information on the Plant Science Building Cornice Repair to our ‘Renovation Updates’ webpage. Bottom line – the repair will take longer than originally expected (shocking, I know) and we hope it will be completed by mid-February.
Bradfield renovation is underway:
- Selective Demolition on the eleventh floor scheduled to begin on the week of February 1, 2021
- Access to floors 1 – 4 from the Tower Road and Loading Dock stair towers is now blocked
Congratulations to the following people who were recognized with a SIPS Kudos in the last month! Thanks for your effort and passion in support of SIPS.
- Building Mastery and Skill: Danielle Bushnell
- Going Above and Beyond: Karin Jantz, Brian Fish, Jessica Townley
- Strong Team Spirit: Kellie Damann, Sean Murphy, Kevin Ahern, George Stack, Kate Keagle
PLEASE remember to recognize people in our SIPS community that have gone out of their way to enhance our School. All you have to do is complete the brief form here
Take care,
Chris