Dear Colleagues,

Welcome to the spring 2022 semester! Today, we launch another semester, working together to fulfill the mission of this great university as we seek to have the greatest impact possible on our city, state, nation and world. Thank you for your contributions — as researchers, teachers, writers, project managers, administrators, counselors, custodial workers, technicians and in a plethora of other roles, we all play a role in this important effort.

MLK Day

Yesterday, we marked the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., a scholar, student and activist who still has the power to model impact for each of us. As we look ahead to Black History Month, we continue to celebrate the contributions of Black men and women to both the American story and our story right here on the Forty Acres. In this same spirit, I’m happy to announce that we are dedicating one of our state-allocated holidays to Juneteenth (June 19), making it an official university holiday.

Omicron

As we move into the spring semester, we continue to monitor pandemic conditions. Preliminary evidence suggests the omicron wave may be peaking. I’m therefore hopeful February will see the full return of in-person learning, events and activities to campus. We are still actively promoting vaccination and boosters, we’ve expanded testing, and we continue to champion tried and tested measures such as mask wearing and hand washing. As with previous waves, we’re going to work through this together, we’re going to maintain our critical research and teaching functions, and as soon as prudently possible, we’re going to resume the residential campus experience that we value so highly.

Strategic Planning

Since announcing our strategic direction in September, we have continued to engage with hundreds of stakeholders across campus to gather and refine the initiatives that will underpin the UT Strategic Plan we will publish this spring. Recent highlights of this phase of the effort include over 1,000 ideas submitted through the Strategic Planning website, more than 15 in-depth workshops with greater than 200 thought leaders from across campus to generate ideas on specific content areas, and brainstorming sessions with more than 150 leaders in our recent Academic Leaders Symposium. I am encouraged and inspired by the depth and breadth of the ideas and support that the UT Austin community has shown through the effort. There will be more information to come on this, and you can keep up and learn more through the Strategic Plan newsletter and soon-to-be-launched podcast. Thank you for your input and commitment to making UT Austin the world’s highest-impact public research university.  

Moody Center Grand Opening and “What Starts Here” Campaign Launch

This is shaping up to be an exciting spring! April will see the grand opening of the new Moody Center, our multipurpose arena that will host our men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as first-class musical acts and other UT events. Upcoming events include John Mayer, Justin Bieber and George Strait. There’s also a band I last saw when I was in high school that I am sure is eagerly awaited by New Jersey natives Provost Wood and Dean Bernhardt — the one and only Bon Jovi! The arena looks incredible, and I’m proud of UT’s continued role in making Austin the “Live Music Capital of the World.”

In addition, we’ll launch the public phase of our “What Starts Here” fundraising campaign on Friday, March 4. You’ll be hearing more about how you can participate in the celebration in the coming weeks, but please mark that date in your calendars — we’re going to celebrate this ambitious and game-changing campaign with some special events to bring our community together.

My very best to you as we start this semester, and know that we’re in this together. As Gina says in the epic anthem, “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “We’ve got each other, and that’s a lot.”

Hook ‘em,

Jay Hartzell
President