Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Mary Croughan welcomes the campus community back: “I‘m so grateful for all that each of you contributes to our campus through your passion, your energy and your commitment to our university community and our mission.”

Dear UC Davis Campus Community,

I write to welcome you back after what I hope was a restful and restorative summer. Campus is buzzing again with activity. It is a joy to see so many people preparing for a year of teaching and learning, producing knowledge, and serving our communities. There is so much to do at UC Davis this fall, and I hope to see you all on campus. I urge you to reconnect with colleagues, to visit a remarkable exhibit, “Young, Gifted and Black,” at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, or to attend an event during the Mondavi Center’s 20th anniversary season.

UC Davis has always been a wonderfully collaborative university. Working together, we navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, perhaps the greatest challenge in our institution’s history. We are thrilled that the crisis is finally receding. Wastewater surveillance suggests that we are on the downward slope of infection with case rates declining. We must now learn how to live with COVID-19 as an endemic part of our lives. I recognize that this is a difficult goal — we will not always agree on every detail — but I know we can achieve it together.

I continue to strongly recommend wearing an N-95 mask when indoors. You can learn about proper fitting here. I also would like to remind you of the University of California’s vaccine mandate, including a directive to get the bivalent booster as soon as you are eligible. Vaccination remains our most powerful weapon against COVID-19, and bivalent boosters are now widely available. Testing is another tool we can use to fight COVID-19. Members of our community can still test for free with an appointment at the Davis campus at the Human Resources Administration Building, across the street from the Activities and Recreation Center. We also urge all employees to comply with CAL/OSHA regulations by filling out the Daily Symptom Survey whenever they come to campus. Students no longer are required to fill out the survey unless they are also a university employee.

Instruction will be in person this fall and, barring an unforeseen change, throughout the year. Instructors of record, TAs, and GSRs who seek accommodations to continue remote teaching can engage in the interactive process through Disability Management Services. As always, permanent hybrid or remote courses can be proposed through the Academic Senate’s  Committee on Courses of Instruction. For students looking for COVID-19 guidance, please see more information included in the relevant sections of the Campus Ready website.

I have been deeply heartened by how empathetic our community has been throughout the pandemic, supporting colleagues and students who sometimes have struggled with the effects, direct and indirect, of COVID-19. Should you, in turn, find that you need support, please do not hesitate to reach out to someone in the Academic and Staff Assistance Program. Even as I celebrate that better days are finally upon us, I recognize that we have all lost a great deal. Some of us have lost friends or loved ones. All of us have lost time together. The losses are, in some ways, immeasurable. They weigh upon us. We can and should mourn together.

I say that because we are never stronger than when we are together. We are never stronger than when we recognize that our research enterprise, our teaching mission, and our commitment to public service are all social activities that are best accomplished together.

Again, I hope to see you on campus this fall: waiting in line for lunch or coffee at the CoHo, cheering in the stands at a football or soccer game, or participating in an activity hosted by your home department. In the meantime, please know how grateful I am to all of you for your hard work and your irrepressible spirit. You are what makes UC Davis great.

All the best,
Mary Croughan
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor