Happy new year! I hope you had a safe and restful winter break. After the year we have endured, I know that the few days gave me a renewed sense of purpose and optimism in the new year. Spring semester classes are set to begin next week and it's time to welcome our students back. Throughout the fall we heard students concerns over finances and their struggles to balance academics while taking care of their physical and mental well-being. We know that they missed on-campus experiences and interactions in the fall semester. The spring forward plan that I shared with you last month was in response to those concerns. There are four main areas we are focusing on. Number one, making registration easier by providing a virtual one stop over winter break to answer student questions and removing some registration holds. Making sure that NKU remains affordable, many fees have been waived. For spring 2021, tuition will remain unchanged and parking garages will be free. Third, supporting student health and wellness particularly mental health, and finally greater engagement opportunities both virtually and on campus. Next Friday, we hold our second annual student success summit and then we will join together for our third annual MLK Day of Service on January 18th. Both events will be virtual this year so please make plans to join us. Later that week, students get a chance to pitch a program. As long as their ideas have an on-campus component and follow the Norse Nine principles and other safety protocols, their program will be considered. This creates a unique experience with events designed by our students, for our students. There are other exciting things planned this semester like our esports rocket league tournament in February and the grand opening of our esports arena in March. Our Tik Tok team has started to produce fun content and they're looking for more students, faculty and staff ambassadors. Check out our account at nkuedu1. As we reflect on 2020, let us not forget our commitment to evolve as an inclusive and equitable campus and community. A crucial part of that commitment is a new online training course in diversity equity and inclusion. In the coming weeks, a link for this training will be sent to the NKU community from Everfi entitled NKU Diversity Equity and Inclusion training. Whether you're faculty, staff or an administrator, the goal of this diversity and inclusion course is to empower you to help create a more equitable and respectful community. Please be on the lookout for that email and join me in completing this training. The spring semester is about to begin but we're already looking ahead to Fall 2021, our first post-pandemic semester. As planning is underway we must take a fresh look at the NKU experience; learning from everything we have seen over the last 10 months. Part of our foundation is being nimble, agile and innovative. This is the legacy we must leverage to evolve in the post-COVID world. Let us continue working together to deliver on NKU's vision of becoming a more student-ready, regionally engaged university. I'm encouraged by several things this year: the strength and resilience of our faculty, staff and students, the imminent availability of the COVID vaccine later in spring and the fact that our fundamental values of democracy endured despite an unprecedented assault. I hope you're excited and energized as we begin a new semester. What we do at NKU affects the lives of the students we serve, their families and future generations. Our work has a lasting impact. Best wishes for a safe and rewarding spring 2021 semester and I hope to see you around campus!