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Dear Students,I can't believe that it has already been a week of classes. I'm guessing you have had a wide range of experiences, from classes that are taking a slow start to those that hit a load of content in the first week. As we head into week two, keep in mind that things will continue to build as the semester progresses. Many lab classes will ...New School Year’s Eve Resolutions
Dear Students,Welcome to the start of a new year in the College of Natural Sciences! As happens at the start of every new year, there is a lot happening at once. So I'll focus on four key ideas:As a chemist, one of the most important lessons I've learned is: Safety first.I encourage you all to keep safety at the front of your minds. Whether you are...Are you wearing a tie and bunny slippers?
Dear Students,I have been working from my bedroom for a while now with regular meetings throughout the day on Zoom. Every day, when I get up and "go to work," I also generally put on a tie. In my virtual meetings, I get asked a lot of questions about my tie. Are you wearing pajamas pants? You probably have on bunny slippers that no one can see, rig...Summer is for...
Dear Students,We are just two weeks away from the beginning of fall classes, which means summer is still very much here. What has this summer been about for you? Many of you who made the most of this unusual summer by taking some classes. For those of you in this camp, keep up the good work! You're nearly to the finish line with summer courses...A New Normal
Dear Students,Most weeks, I send College of Natural Sciences students a note like this one. It has a message especially for you, a corny science joke, a picture and some happenings in the college. And once a year, I get to use this space also to welcome a new group of students into our Texas Science community. So: Welcome, Class of 2024! Our return...Deadline Approaching (and All’s a Blur)
Dear Students,Quarantine conditions helped bring the concept of Blursday into our lives. But somehow this fall, when your classes start, everything will happen on a schedule. This Friday, July 31, is the deadline for schedule adjustments. So if you haven't yet, please check in to see what your schedule looks like this fall. Here's how:Log in and se...No Student is an Island
Dear Students,Are you starting to feel like campus may be a little different? I'm picturing UT-as-archipelago – our Natural Sciences community fanned out across lots of little islands – instead of UT on Forty contiguous Acres. We are still together. We are just a little more spread out.The best way to make the most of our physically distanced time ...Here’s What Counts
Dear Students,It's 104 in Austin today, and that is as much bad news as I have room for in this message. I have decided to focus instead on Some Good News: Student leaders made a difference. You will have seen the news from President Hartzell earlier this week about UT's work to create a more diverse and welcoming campus. Included in these importan...A Dispatch from Campus
Dear Students,I have had a chance to go to the Forty Acres a few times since things shut down in March. A lot is different: With so few people around, turtles from the turtle pond have wandered all the way to the entry of W.C. Hogg. But other things are still the same: Domino the cat continues to soak up sun outside the UT Tower, and that ornery op...Leadership = Courage + Curiosity
Dear Students, So often we think of leadership as leading a team toward an endpoint. A to B. However, more often than not, leadership is more about making sure to look around as we move toward our goal. How we arrive at that goal is just as important as getting there.When we pay attention to how we go about our work, leadership looks different. For...Leading Change
Dear Students,This week I offer you all three pieces of wisdom that I've learned over the years about being agents of change. Our society is in need of people to step up and lead. What I know is, combined with your incredible work ethic and sense of duty to change the world for the better, you're excellent candidates to be the changemakers our worl...Being a Better Ally
Dear Students,I have struggled with what to write this week that would not sound like the same message I sent last week. I have wondered if you need to be hearing from me at all right now and how I can work to pull other voices into the weekly emails. While I'm working on ways to do that, I have also been asking myself how I can be a better ally to...The Hard Work of Change
Dear Students,One of the reasons I write to you each week is to keep us connected as a community, especially when our community is suffering. Part of being a community is recognizing the fact that our Black students, faculty, and staff experience the world in inequitable ways, and this happens because of racism and injustice, which demand our colle...Takeaways
Dear Students,I know I wrote up most of my end of semester thoughts last week, but I wanted to send a note of encouragement this week too. As you're finishing up finals and projects, please be sure to think about one tangible thing you got out of each of your classes. Maybe you found a new calling in life because the content excited you so much, ma...Read It Now
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