Closing our Day of Reflection

Roadrunners,

Today, we did something at UTSA that we’ve never done before by pausing classes for a full day to center on our community’s mental health and well-being with a Day of Reflection.

As we look at the engagement on campus today and continue to observe reactions across social media, we have a clear sense that our community valued the time to reflect, share concerns and support one another. We are also mindful of the concerns and recommendations that you have shared with us to further improve our efforts. These improvement efforts are the focus of the Enhancing Wellbeing Task Force and the Employee Success Center.

We are grateful for all that we’ve seen and how our Day of Reflection has unfolded, and we thank our entire community for their heartfelt participation on this day.

Also, we would like to take a moment to remind our community that our efforts in this space will continue to evolve with intentional focus. As we shared yesterday, the following programs are already planned, and more details will soon follow:

Students

• Student listening sessions – Offered online and in-person to hear directly from our students. These sessions will be offered in collaboration with the Wellbeing Enhancement Task Force.
• Daily mental health support resources at the Sombrilla – Stop by Nov. 11 – Nov. 15 to meet the Student Affairs Wellbeing Services team and receive free resources and support. 
• Enhanced student programming – Students can engage in ongoing meaningful mental health programming on topics ranging from healthy body image, recovery, therapy animals and more. Learn more about upcoming wellness programming on RowdyLink.

• Daily mental health support resources at the Sombrilla – Stop by the Central Plaza from Nov. 11 – Nov. 15 to learn more about wellness resources offered at UTSA for employees. People Excellence team members will be available to answer employee questions and provide support. 
• Enhanced employee programming – The UTSA Employee Success Center will offer leadership programming focused on well-being through the month of November.
• Additional training for faculty and staff
• Additional resources for faculty and staff

As we take the next step forward from this Day of Reflection, we want to say this again: If you are struggling, reach out. If you’re hurting, we want to hear from you. If you have an idea to strengthen our work in this space, share it with us.

With gratitude and appreciation,

Taylor Eighmy
President

Veronica Salazar
Executive Vice President for Business Affairs and Chief Enterprise Development Officer

Heather Shipley
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs 

Melissa Hernandez
Associate Dean of Students - Wellbeing Services

Katy Madden
Associate Vice President for People Excellence