Reflecting on a year of working from home

University Communications
March 10, 2021
Nina Bates, director of operations and strategic initiatives in the Office of the Provost, shared this picture last year of her ironing board/standing desk.

Nina Bates, director of operations and strategic initiatives in the Office of the Provost, shared this picture last year of her ironing board/standing desk.

It was Friday the 13th in March 2020 when many University employees last worked in their offices. That afternoon, President Robert C. Robbins sent an all-campus email asking students to not return to campus from spring recess and encouraging employees to begin working from home.

It's hard to think of an aspect of our lives that hasn't changed in some way because of the pandemic. Some of the changes have been unwelcome, such as the missed birthday dinners, holiday gatherings and coffee meetings with colleagues. But some have been – dare we say – pleasant and even energizing.

Do you feel that you have grown professionally while working from home? Maybe you learned a new skill or were stretched with new responsibilities?

Is there a colleague or campus leader who helped you navigate the transition to working remotely or teaching online?

Has your relationship with your spouse, partner, children or other family members changed in positive ways? What about your relationships with colleagues, students, supervisors or direct reports?

If you would like to share your story with other Lo Que Pasa readers, please send it to us at uaatwork@email.arizona.edu by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 17.

  • Include your name, title and unit.
  • Please limit your story to no more than 150 words. Longer stories will be trimmed.
  • If you have a photo, drawing or other image that helps illustrate your story, you are welcome to include it. For photos that include people: If they are colleagues, please provide names, titles and units. If they are human family members, please provide names and kids' ages. If they are furry family members and more than one is pictured, please let us know which names go with which pets.

Submissions will be posted on the UA@Work website and published in the March 24 issue of Lo Que Pasa.

Enjoy these other work-from-home collections that you and your colleagues have helped us create over the last year:

 

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