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Most people would describe me as a pretty serious person, so it might surprise them to learn that––while I still read law review articles sometimes––I read a bunch more comic books! My mom took this picture when I was 5 years old. Each morning, she pinned a red towel to my shirt, and I became Superman. I’d ride my Big Wheel up and down the street, my cape furling behind me. As I got older, I put away the cape, but I still wanted to be a superhero. Years later, when my son, Ryan, was only 8 years old, I began taking him to see Marvel movies, and we watched all of them together. 

Every great superhero story forces the superhero not only to confront a huge challenge (fighting a supervillain, saving humanity), but also to overcome a personal weakness. If the story were just about someone showing off their superpowers, then no one would be able to empathize with the character. In one of my favorite stories, Spider-Man was trapped in a collapsed building, battered and broken, and the question was not whether he could beat up a bad guy, but whether he would find strength in the darkness, carry on when no one would blame him for giving up, and lift an impossible load.

By that definition, SRS has a lot of superheroes.

The last nine months have posed so many challenges to our country and to CU Boulder: COVID, financial uncertainty, social inequity and political strife. I’m so proud of how our SRS teams have found ways to face every obstacle, create solutions that no one would have imagined a year ago, and enable CU to fulfill its mission and enrich the lives of those whose study, research, work and live in our community. You’ve done that while grappling with tremendous personal hurdles––illness of friends and family, furloughs, remote work for some and in-person work for others, caring for children while schools are closed, addressing racism and discrimination in our own lives, and being isolated from those we care about. We’ve lost much, and we need to recognize the hurt we’ve felt, knowing that we’ve gained strength and resilience.

When COVID struck our community, we put this newsletter on pause, but the time has come for us to bring it back. As we do so, I hope it serves two goals:

• The first is to provide you with information about what’s going on in the SRS teams and to keep you informed.
• The second is to highlight some of the people in SRS who are doing cool things, both personally and professionally, whom we might otherwise not learn about.

Right now, there’s someone training to climb Mount Everest, volunteering at a women’s shelter or serving as a kidney donor for a neighbor. I’d love to know your stories and hope that you will share them with us by clicking on the “Share a Success Story” link in our newsletter.

There’s one other thing that superheroes do: They provide hope. You have given me hope that we’ll create a better, more inclusive workplace, hope that we can be kind to each other, hope that we can be strong in the face of adversity, and hope for CU Boulder’s future.

As for the future, it is with gratitude and appreciation that I share with you today that I have accepted an offer from Chancellor Phil DiStefano to serve as the university’s chief operating officer on a permanent basis. I look forward to working with you all to advance our priorities and to develop solutions for many of the unexpected challenges life throws our way.

Thank you for all you’ve done, all you’re doing now, and all that you’ll do in the future. It’s an honor to serve beside you.

Pat