Values in Action: Expressions of Gratitude for Those Around Us

Dear Cal Lutheran Community,
 
We are more than one full year into the pandemic. When we vacated our campuses and our classrooms last March who would have imagined that the world we knew then would be disrupted at this level for this length of time? Over the last twelve months, all of us have become innovators and change agents. I know that we are tired. I know that it is difficult to sustain the creative energy necessary to maintain excellence in our teaching, our administrative work, our service to students, and our coaching over such a long period of time. But we have made it this far, and the light at the end of the tunnel shines a little brighter and in slightly less filtered ways each day. 
 
With both the light metaphor and the Lutheran value of gratitude top of mind, let me spotlight a few groups that deserve a special thanks this week.

• Thank you Enrollment Management and Marketing team for developing a campus tour app, a self-guided walking tour, and safety protocols that have allowed prospective traditional undergraduate students to do what college-bound high school seniors should be doing this spring: touring campuses. Your entrepreneurial spirit has made it possible for prospects to visit the campus and see, first hand, the outdoor spaces on our Thousand Oaks campus and to walk around some of the key buildings and speak to staff who are stationed there. Your creative energies have given our applicants and admitted students the chance to see who we are in as much of an up-close and personal way as possible this spring. 
• Thank you Advancement team and your 70 partners throughout the university who have spent weeks preparing for our April 7^th CARES Day. We appreciate the efforts you have made to collect, collate, and circulate stories of how our community cares for each other. Your videos, social media posts, and website stories have created a compelling case for supporting our 2021 Cares Day Stronger Together campaign.
• Thank you to the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Management faculty for preparing to shift to indoor, mask-to-mask instruction next week. I appreciate the extraordinary effort you are making to adjust your classes mid-term. And thanks to the Digital Learning team for all of the instruction you are providing to prepare faculty to return to the classroom. 
• Thank you ITS, Housekeeping, Facilities, the Registrar’s Office, Student Affairs, and other departments throughout the university for helping us bring to life the type of face-to-face connections our students deserve. 
• Thank you Campus Ministries for “Ashes on the Go” Wednesday and worship occasions on demand throughout the pandemic. Thank you to the PLTS Worship Team for offering an Easter Vigil on Facebook live Saturday, April 3.
• Thank you Athletics for your ongoing commitment to our student-athletes and their well-being during this unprecedented detour from competition over the past year. We celebrate that our teams are returning to practice and play this spring. A special shout out to our trainers and strength and conditioning staff who have instituted rigorous health and wellness standards, including a robust COVID testing program. 

It’s been a long year. I get it. But that year is behind us, and the future looks a little brighter today than it did yesterday. If you live close to the Thousand Oaks campus, please come out on Monday to grab an iced tea, sparkling water, and a snack as part of Merry Morning Cheer from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Kingsmen Park. It’s a great way to start the week and to welcome back to the main campus those who have been gone for a while. The campus is brighter with all of us here.

Lori E. Varlotta, Ph.D.
President