From Dean Pagano: Welcome to Fall 2020
Good Afternoon,
Welcome to the Fall 2020 Semester at CUPPA. It’s not what we imagined, but we’re here. CUPPA is a community of change agents, a community of believers committed to bringing opportunities to everyone. I guarantee, that doesn’t change because of location. Together, we’re going to continue to build just, resilient, and livable communities.
If you are just returning or are new to CUPPA this fall, please take a moment to look at our statements on Black Lives Matter on our CUPPA website at cuppa.uic.edu.
While our mission stays the same, there are a few new things happening around us. Read on.
The Building:
CUPPA Hall and AEH follow UIC COVID-19 safety measures and are now open with swipe access only to CUPPA faculty and staff. Each individual, faculty, staff, or student, who comes to campus must
- complete the COVID-19 safety training,
- submit a daily wellness screening,
- wear a face covering in UIC buildings and outside on UIC property,
- wash hands/use sanitizer often,
- and practice physical/social distancing.
You can also find the Return to CUPPA Annex, Frequently Asked Questions, wellness screening, safety training, and links to helpful information on our CUPPA COVID-19 webpage here.
The People:
Today, you join the 500 undergraduate and graduate students and over 200 full and part-time faculty and staff in CUPPA and the more than 33,000 students at UIC!
In a major effort to recruit students, I encourage you to spread the word of our fantastic degree programs, minors, staff, and faculty in CUPPA. The COVID-19 pandemic shows us the ways in which cities and government agencies across the globe need our help. CUPPA is the place to develop the knowledge and skills to improve the health, management, governance, and planning of cities.
I also want to give a special shout out to our new faculty and staffers who have joined us since last August:
Linsu Abraham, Dean’s Office
Marisol Becerra, Postdoc, PA
Lawrence Brown, Postdoc, PA
Dominic Belcaster, UPP
Shelia Brown, IPCE
Dametrius Coleman, Recruiter
Amanda McDonald, IRRPP
Elizabeth Meza, PA
Nadine Naber, IRRPP
Doris Nelson, Dean's Office
Ana Puma, Dean’s Office
Jaeyong Shin, Postdoc
Catherine Tapp, Postdoc
Austin Zamudio, Census Project.
Congratulations are in order for Yonghong Wu, promoted to Professor, PA; Sanjeev Vidyarthi, promoted to Professor, UPP; and Stacey Sutton, promoted to Associate Professor with tenure, UPP.
The Departments of Public Administration and Urban Planning and Policy hosted well-planned orientations last week. We look forward to other events this fall to engage with our student family including virtual meet and greets, open forums, planned panels, and lectures.
AND MORE
Even though things look a little different this semester (through your computer screen), please know that you can still ask your department head or center director to see data, self-study reports and other information about the department or center. Everything is and should be transparent – we are investing in the future of the college. If you have questions or things don’t seem as they should be, please ask.
In the next few months, I plan to meet virtually with the various CUPPA constituents including staff, students, donors, alumni, and faculty and I will continue to emphasize the process of open communication within the college.
We will continue several communication strategies ranging from our college magazine, which will be sent to alumni and campus friends, to our weekly internal college email updates. We also host robust social media programming, which targets all of our various audiences. Do pay attention to the CUPPA10 email on Monday mornings in your inbox. Our college website will continue to feature media appearances, special events around the college, our CUPPA Careers blog, CUPPA Student Opportunities blog, and our national job tweets. We link to all units of the college.
Share, post, and tweet your experiences in CUPPA whenever you can and proudly wear your dedication and commitment to understanding and solving the challenges of cities and good government! #UIC #CUPPA; @MichaelAPagano, @UICCUPPA, @CUPPACareers.
Thank you,
Mike
Michael A. Pagano
Dean, UIC College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs http://cuppa.uic.edu
412 S. Peoria St. (MC 350)
Chicago, IL 60607
312-413-3375 (office)
312-401-1785 (cell)