Misti Motorkrass: rev and go!

[Bill Maurer]

    Dear all,

    Welcome to Week 4! I hope everyone had a weekend of relaxation, meditative
    time, exercise, family time, pets, house plants, eating, more eating,
    catching up with friends or on work... whatever you needed to help
    make our collective quarantine a little more bearable. Among other
    things, I participated in the third of three "support your local gym"
    workouts--a fundraiser, with... a workout!--and for about 15 minutes
    on Sunday I ranked in the 95th percentile for men my age. That's down
    to 80th, now... and based on past experience I'll fall to the 50th by
    the time all the other competitors complete the workout and enter their
    scores. I'll take it, though!
    
    I wanted again to remind everyone of the resources on the "Remote" site,
    remote.socsci.uci.edu. We're all facing so many uncertainties on top of
    the stresses and strains of working/living/doing everything from home,
    but some of the resources we've put together on that site can provide the
    comfort of planning and preparation--for when things morph into whatever
    shape they will take. The pandemic and its economic fallout are going to
    be with us for a while. Summer session will be conducted remotely; I'd
    place my bet on Fall being partially remote, too, if only because we'll
    need to introduce social distancing into our large lecture classes. So:
    to plan and prepare, you might want to take a look at some of the
    resources on the "Remote" site as you think about teaching, research,
    and the support those activities will require. We can still benefit
    from the services of instructional design guru Janet DiVincenzo, and our
    faculty coaches who are willing to help you plan for remote instruction,
    too; you'll find their contact info here.
    
    The CARES Act is bringing significant money to campus. I'll learn more
    this week about how those funds will be deployed, but I expect a lot
    will go directly to undergraduate student support. You'll see from
    this data that UC Irvine's commitment to access and affordability
    has redounded to our and our students' benefit, since the CARES Act
    funds distribution is determined in part by an institutions' number of
    Pell-eligible students. And our students keep telling us how much they
    appreciate our efforts on their behalf. I am sure that that is deepening
    your own sense of purpose in working at this great public university,
    too. It certainly is for me.
    
    And so I offer this tableau (below), courtesy of Carter, the young man
    Tom and I help co-parent. The blue car in the lead is Misti Motorkrass,
    in the Dinoco 400 (it's a race; it's in a Pixar movie--what? you haven't
    seen it??). Carter appears to be trying to capture the dramatic moment
    when Chick Hicks (Lightning McQueen's main rival) causes an accident
    to disrupt the race. Misti collides with Johnny Blamer (whom Carter is
    representing with Number 34, who is actually someone else). What does
    she do, in the wake of this serious collision? She revs up her engines,
    she adjusts her course, she keeps on going, and she finishes the race.
    
    Chick Hicks = coronavirus. Johnny Blamer = economic
    meltdown. Misti--that's us.
    
    Thank you for all you are doing. Stay safe and sane, and have a great
    week!
    
    Bill