April 19, 2018
Dear UT Community,
The University of Texas was founded nearly 140 years ago, and throughout our history, thousands and thousands of dedicated staff members have worked to bring our campus to life. Waking up early. Staying on the Forty Acres into the late hours of the night. Doing it all, so that our students and faculty members can flourish. Our UT staff members always do more for us. Now, it’s time for us to do more for them.
Today, I’m writing to introduce the Exemplary 140 initiative to honor extraordinary staff members.
The goal is for 140 outstanding UT staff members to receive up to four days of paid time off in recognition of their service each year. These are days to spend with family. Days to spend with loved ones. Days to travel, rest and reflect. It’s a small gesture of gratitude to those who deserve it most.
In the past, an average of only 25 staff members per year would receive these days off in recognition of outstanding work. We’ll be increasing that number by nearly 500% to better celebrate our hard-working staff members.
I’ve asked Senior Vice President and CFO Darrell Bazzell to inform all managers during the next few weeks so they can begin implementing this new initiative later in the year. Each unit on campus will distribute its hours differently, so please check with your management for details and guidelines.
This is a new way to help acknowledge all that staff members bring to the university — an appreciation of UT’s very best.
Sincerely,
Gregory L. Fenves
President