GRAD REBEL MENTOR May 2020

A Message from Dean Kate Korgan Dear graduate faculty colleagues, Hello! I hope you and your loved ones are well, and finding your way through this time of social distancing. I have missed seeing everyone, but I am grateful that our distance is successfully flattening the curve. As we wrap up the most unique semester any of us have ever collectively experienced, I’d like to share my gratitude and admiration for the way you and every faculty member shifted gears incredibly quickly to ensure the safety of our campus community and the continuity of our operations and mission. With teamwork, flexibility, patience, and out-of-the-box thinking, you pivoted to safeguard the health and wellbeing of this community, while continuing to help our students progress. Working through his pandemic alongside all of you has been another terrific reminder that “Rebels Make it Happen” doesn’t just apply to students. Graduate faculty grit has been evident through it all and your perseverance and leadership have been noticed, appreciated, and impactful. Because of you, most of our graduate students have persisted through the semester, our GAs adapted to remote work under your guidance and direction, and we stand poised to graduate the largest group of doctoral students in our history. I hope one thing we can take away from this pandemic is a laser focus on student support. Perhaps this can be a launchpad for us to continue to innovate, to rethink the way we do things, to accommodate students in need, all in an effort to serve our population in the best ways possible without being tethered to old assumptions about what we must do and how to do it. After what we have experienced locally, nationally, and globally, I believe it’s what will be expected of us and what we should strive to achieve together as we look ahead beyond COVID-19. Our students are lucky to have such dedicated, concerned, and supportive faculty members. On behalf of them and the Graduate College team, I thank you. We’ll be here all summer, remote or onsite, and I’ll stay in touch with continued updates, accommodations, and plans. You deserve transparency and access to information, so I’ll be erring on the side of more outreach rather than less, even in summer. All emails and new information will be added to our COVID-19 webpage for your easy reference, and please be sure to scroll down and click on the accordion for Faculty/Staff near the bottom of the page. Please take care, be well, and reach out if there’s anything we can do to help. I wish you a healthy and happy summer, and I look forward to seeing you in the fall! Kate Korgan, Ph.D. Dean, UNLV Graduate College