A Message from Our VP, November 2020

Nov. 3, 2020

Dear Friends,

This is the final Division of Student Affairs staff newsletter message from me in 2020—a year that’s been—to say the least—challenging. Summing up what we’ve been through—what we’re still going through—is impossible. It’s too big, too unprecedented, too bizarre.

So, instead, I’d like to use this space to tell two stories about two of your Division of Student Affairs colleagues.

First, Christina Pearce, who’s worked for University Housing and Dining for five years, supporting the dining operations. In April, when the pandemic hit campus in earnest, she worked long hours to help reinvent the way students and faculty accessed food on campus. With her fellow team members, Christina assisted with logistics for curbside delivery, to-go ordering, sudden menu changes, etc.—all while maintaining the level of quality and quantity our campus deserves.

Then her husband got COVID-19.

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“You just don’t know what’s going to happen. Is he going to be OK? We had all these things going through our minds. It was scary, stressful, unnerving. Through it all I was glad to have my coworkers and the security of knowing I was still going to have a job — both in the realistic sense and the emotional sense.”

—Christina Pearce, Administrative Associate for Retail Operations, University Housing and Dining

Her husband fully recovered, and Christina and her daughter—a junior studying psychology—managed to avoid the virus. And thank goodness, because Christina was eager to return to the office. She missed the social interactions that her work requires. She worked diligently throughout the summer to ensure that student housing and dining facilities would reopen safely and securely in the fall semester.

Meanwhile, at the Texas Union, David Martinez was hard at work as usual.

David has worked as a jack-of-all-trades University Unions team member for nearly eight years—first as a student employee while taking classes at Austin Community College, then joining the team full-time as a mechanic/technician. He follows a family tradition, as his father David worked for UT Austin for nearly three decades before recently retiring. As a first-generation American, David remembers visiting his father at work and running up and down the hallways of the Texas Union as a child. “UT Austin is,” he explains, “a home for me.”

David has been a cornerstone of keeping the Texas Union humming along, helping with electrical, plumbing and heating/ventilation/air conditioning maintenance. But when COVID-19 struck the Forty Acres, he had to take on new maintenance tasks. As part of the facilities team, David spent the summer erecting plexiglass barriers, affixing decals on the floor to promote social distancing, and ensuring all basic operations were safe. A key element of this work was helping University Health Services establish the proper barriers for the Designated Respiratory Clinic, launched in March 2020 to triage patients with COVID-19 symptoms.

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“I am incredibly happy to be one of the ‘example schools.’ Our team has made the transition back to campus easy, and we hope that people feel safe visiting our spaces.”

—David Martinez, Mechanic/Technician,

University Unions

As remarkable as Christina and David’s stories are, the truth is we could’ve told your story and it would’ve been just as compelling. Because you, me, all of us—we’ve all found inside ourselves new depths of resilience, commitment and courage. When the pandemic is behind us—and it will be behind us one day—I believe we’ll think of these months as some of our proudest. We’ll look back on 2020 and recognize it as “The Year That Brought Us Together.” Simply imagining that future excites and inspires me, truly.

I hope you find ways to relax, refuel and reflect during the upcoming holiday breaks. Spend time with the people you love—whether face-to-face or virtually. Bake bread. Read books. Take epic afternoon naps and binge your favorite TV shows. But however you choose to close out 2020, I hope you know the Division of Student Affairs team is here for you as we head into 2021.

As always, please reach out if you need anything.

Best to you and yours this holiday season,

Soncia Reagins-Lilly

Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students