To Mark the Start of a New Semester and New Year
My Dear Students, Faculty and Staff:
It is with an optimistic mind and open heart that I welcome you to this new semester and to 2022, the year we configure our new normal at your National University. I trust you had a relaxing break from the challenges of last year and have prepared to forge into this new semester with renewed focus and resilience. May you all continue to convert the challenges of the pandemic into strengthened character and may your improved selves heighten your respect for and sustenance of the human condition all around you. The best lesson I have taken from 2021 is the need for us to be more caring of ourselves and of those around us. We are reminded with every breath how much we are social beings and must work together for the community to succeed, thrive and survive. Let us use our renewed commitment to personal success and growth to combine our energies and see our dear university achieve the glory of optimal performance.
During this semester, I look forward to guiding the construction of a new strategic plan for the entire university system and I invite each of you to look for more information about our inclusive process and how you can place your mark on its development. Our Interim Vice President, Dr. Sherlene Enriquez-Savery, is leading another initiative this semester that will assess the relevance and strength of each of our academic programs. These studies will also include faculty and student inputs as well as those of industry and public stakeholders. The results of this initiative will chart our program delivery for the next ten years while assuring success in our long-standing quest for academic accreditation. You will hear more about our accreditation application as we prepare our presentations to the Southern Accreditation Council in the United States (SACS).
Students, we will slowly re-build our services and support programs for designed especially for you as we look forward to re-opening our campuses in August of this year. We thank our vibrant and resolute student governments for all they continue to do in the middle of adversity and look forward to continuing to work with them to improve everyone’s university experience. I ask each of you to focus on what you have available in your lives and at UB to help you achieve your education goals rather than focusing on what you don’t have or what you miss. Continue to use our established avenues to communicate your questions, concerns, recommendations or gratitude to your faculty, support staff or administration. As we work together this semester with our renewed commitment to taking care of each other, may you find that every day we can rebuild our existence so that it is more fruitful, resilient and impacting. That is my dream for all our new normal at the University of Belize.
I wish you all a very productive and fulfilling semester. Let us all take courage and inspiration from the silver lining that gets bigger every week around whatever dark clouds may appear in our lives.
All the best for 2022!
Dr. Vincent Palacio
Interim President
View/Download the Message HERE
