WFH | Happy news from your colleagues
Molly Johnston, an administrative associate in Planning, Design and Construction, found positive messages written by neighbors on a sidewalk during a recent morning walk. (Photo courtesy of Molly Johnston)
Steve Allvin, senior mechanical and plumbing inspector in Planning, Design and Construction, shared this photo of a sunset in an email to colleagues. The message and photo prompted many PDC employees to respond with their own photos. (Photo courtesy of Steve Allvin)
Jessica Bassi, space planning manager in Planning, Design and Construction, shared a photo of one of her "neighbors." (Photo courtesy of Jessica Bassi)
Jill Cox, an executive assistant in Planning, Design and Construction, shared this photo of flowers from her backyard. (Photo courtesy of Jill Cox)
Eliza Zamora, a senior accountant in Planning, Design and Construction, shared a view from her front door. (Photo courtesy of Eliza Zamora)
Danielle Oxnam, executive assistant in the Office of University Initiatives, prepares a shipment of personal protective equipment to the Navajo Nation. (Photo courtesy of Alex Robie)
Despite having our lives upended in many ways, a good number of University employees are seeking – and finding – reasons to be happy.
Last month, Lo Que Pasa asked the University community to share happy news – random acts of kindness, gratitude for a colleague, a recent interaction that made your day, or just something to make us smile.
Here's what we have received so far.
Do you have happy news of your own to share? We'd love to hear it. Please email your news (in 200 words or less) to Kyle Mittan at mittank@email.arizona.edu.
Peter Dourlein
Assistant Vice President
Planning, Design and Construction
Planning, Design and Construction is a unit of just over 50 people. Most are working from home and some still need to come to campus locations to do things like inspect construction projects. But all of us, like everyone else, are working in a new paradigm! Recently, we posted an email update of what's going on and included some nature photos with spring starting to bloom because it made us feel a little more normal – and more connected. This small action bloomed into an entire department sharing photos: views out their windows, pictures of their kids playing or studying at home and many pet companions in their home work environment. The result? Feeling much more connected and less alone in all this. People are resilient! And this new current world has opportunities yet to be realized.
(You can see some of the photos shared by PDC colleagues in this article.)
Suzy Brown
Research Administrator
Research, Innovation and Impact
One of my colleagues sent me this cartoon. It really made me laugh out loud!
Douglas W. Cromey
Associate Scientific Investigator
Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
It's not from the UA, but this video fits the current issues on faculty members' minds. A modified version of the tune "I Will Survive."
We all need a laugh.
Still working in my office on a mostly empty floor.
Raquel Givens
Director of Liaison Committee on Medical Education Accreditation
College of Medicine – Tucson
In response to the request for happy content, I'd like to submit the College of Medicine – Tucson medical students' initiative (inspired by a national movement) to support our health care providers (faculty), residents and peers during this time when they are on the front lines during the pandemic, and life still goes on, but yet, schools across the community are closing and it's all-hands-on-deck. So, our students have organized to provide child care and other assistance (grocery shopping, pet care and rides or deliveries).
Emily Litvack
Science Writer
Research, Innovation and Impact
I love my team and, honestly, I'm missing them. (Don't tell them I said so). The good news is we've been using Slack for almost five years now, so we're no strangers to the art of the instant message. We have a Slack channel called #petz, wherein we share exclusively photos of our pets. Each time one of them shares a photo of one of their dogs or foster dogs, it's a little spark of joy.
Danielle Oxnam, Executive Assistant
Alex Robie, Project Director
Office of University Initiatives
After learning of the severe COVID-19 outbreak on the Navajo Nation, several departments from across campus along with members of the Tucson community quickly came together to provide support. The result? A shipment of more than 13,000 gloves, 300 masks, 200 bottles of hand sanitizer, medical-grade cleaning supplies and an assortment of nonperishable food. The gloves were generously donated by Campus Health and Arizona Athletics, while nonperishable food was collected from faculty and staff across campus. The masks were sewn by a local Tucson seamstress (SalvagedByChrystine) and hand sanitizer was produced by the V&V (Gayatri Vedantam and VK Viswanathan) Lab in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The University is continuing to respond to requests from other Arizona tribes as our community bands together to fight the virus. Individually, each donation may feel like a drop in the bucket, but collectively, this project is showing us that when Wildcats come together, we can make a big difference.