Student Affairs

The Student Affairs Town Hall was held on Thursday, December 10th.  Thank you to Margaret Bumgardner, Alex Howard and Shannon Jordan for giving us important information on COVID-10 testing and Spring Re-entry.  After this, we broke into breakout groups and tried to answer the following questions: "What needs to be done to make Spring 2021 successful?"  Below you will find a brief summary from each breakout group.     

Facilities-Breakout Group 1

What was learned?

• Our social-distanced spaces generally worked - no transmissions that we are aware of
• People generally felt that our spaces (at least the union) were safe
• People got to a better place over time in terms of wearing masks
• Student staff were amazing about their willingness to clean all of the time
• Many comments from users who appreciated having a place to go, a place to work, a place to be around their peers
• Teams and relationships still formed among student staff
• Hand sanitizer in key locations was a win - people say they feel they used more often because it was “always available”.
• A strength was having people on staff (like Mary Hodges) who already had infection control experience prior to covid
• Positive was that the Union became a “one stop shop” for some students for class, online class, food and study space
• Accessibility to rec space was key for many in managing various levels of health
• Over-hiring student staff in the Union was a positive. It covered us as we lost students for a variety of reasons as the semester progressed.
• Sick pay for student employees was a big positive - hope that this can continue

What are things that we need to be successful in the spring?

• We need all involved to “stay the course” - must remain diligent
• Need to push information about all that is available to encourage more students to come out of res halls and spend time where there are other people
• URec reports challenges with hiring and retention of student staff - perhaps Brad’s comment about over-hiring
• Wanting to focus more on the students and individual relationships in the spring
• Making connections with students - finding ways to do this in the new environment
• Students are coming into these spaces because they are looking to be with other people
• Many employees have reported that the employment experience was their primary point of connection to the university
• New problem for Fall 2021 - student staff will have lost knowledge of how things operate in more “normal” times

Programmatic Opportunities (How are we engaging students broadly)-Breakout Group 2

• Winterfest
  • Wondeful human interaction
    • Primary concerns: Isolation and loneliness
  • In the spring, start summer prep for a SummerFest
    • Getting ready for Summer
    • Water safety
  • Use Convocation Center for larger events
• Wellness Ambassadors
  • Positive reinforcements
  • Social interaction
  • Handing out masks
• Importance of Collaboration
  • Thursday night spon on Howards Knob Patio
    • Very popular and will continue post pandemic
• Creating spaces around campus for indoor activities
• Homecoming
  • Activities-Drive-In-Movie was a big success-quick setup and students were very intersted in it.
    • March/April timeframe
• Classroom and Faculty Engagement
  • Mark Ginn-"Best practices for engagement in a digital world"
• Club Expo
  • What does this look like for the spring?  Virtual over multiple days?
• Random day off in Spring
  • Climate weather day
• Sick pay for students?

Direct Services-Breakout Group 3

What are things that we need to be successful in the spring?

• Traditional services are delivered differently, challenge of navigating that in the present
• Number of requests for legal service help is way down
  • Find alternative ways to promote and advertise
• UREC – students identified they utilized services this semester for wellness, fitness, stress relief
• EIT – Students having unrealistic expectations of managing 15-16 credit hours virtually   
  • Challenge of being seen, not able to blend in on Zoom
• Managing expectations for ourselves professionally
  • Pressure of trying to provide meaningful services, experiences, and other items for students
  • Concern of furloughs and layoffs
  • Pandemic mode all the time
  • Importance of self-care
• Reminding student employees that it is not their/our job to cure the virus
• We all need to try and take a break, during this winter break
• Is there a possibility for “Break Days” during the spring semester for students and us?

Communications-Breakout Group 4

• Parents want to engage, not be talked at
  • Parents would like resources to help
  • Parents want proactive educational resources
  • Parents want to be included, and feel heard or seen
• Timing of communication has been difficult. Because so many wor at the University, some parents hear from the rumor mill first. Staff do not know when they can share and rumor mill is not productive.
  • Agreed for students too. Communication so far has been very static, dry emails. I've seen other campuses do some really engaging things- regular video messages from campus admin, regular town halls via Zoom, Q&A/interview style videos among students/admin, etc. that are shared not only via email but also via social media.
  • It is unclear what needs to go to Ucomm and what doesn’t. Sometimes we deal with parents who know more than what we are approved to share, which makes our job challenging.
• An enormous amount of testing options have been available on our campus but there was a false narrative early on that not much testing was being done.   I think talking up what we are doing could/should happen more.
• Faculty Senate launched open records request from our own departments.
• Format delivery method of communication to students has been faceless when people are feeling isolated.  Thinking creatively about how we’re putting faces to names, sharing testing opportunities and face covering is an interesting thing to think about. Students respond to videos.
• The lawsuit is pushing the University in a faceless space. It gives us competing goals.
• The @appstate Instagram could be a very useful place to share that kind of information. It seems faceless and personless but could be a really powerful tool.
• We understand why we need to run communications through Ucomm, but sometimes it appears that they do not understand our work or responding to the volume of calls we do based on the communications that come out. It would help a lot if there was a threshold for approvals. We also do not get timelines, so we wait for a really long time. Additionally, the info. is dry and without the personality it has coming from offices or individuals.
• Please continue these Student Affairs Town Halls in Spring 2021 and beyond!
• The communications updates are too long! And about as fun as a legal brief!
  • Thinking along those same lines- How could we do more videos/social media/interactive communication from the division and our office accounts around how our work is continuing? I.e. video "tour" of how the regular testing works; weekly video about engagement opportunities on campus this week; video on how to engage online in creative ways with friends; video featuring safe recreation things to do outside, etc.
    • Housing did a ton of videos for opening. Ucomm partnered. How about the video model for fall?
  • Sending something after 5 on Friday is a terrible time
  • Will changes in housing contracts allow us to change messaging?
  • They will watch 3 hours of 1 minute long videos, but not a video that is more than 3 minutes
  • Do we need permission from 50 people to post a one minute video? Wellness has been a good model for this this year--DMing folks on social media to have them share things.
  • Is this an opportunity to utilize our Student Affairs UComm Liaison, Linda Coutant? So she can be our direct approval point from UComm for these projects? Use collective voices to ask for support specifically.
• Can we coordinate the Student Affairs accounts? 

Transitioning in the Time of COVID-19-Breakout Group 5

• Made phone calls to students prior to Fall 2020
• Communication to parents to ease their mind

• Use the same approach with new staff and students
• Trailhead could be a good approach due to physical connection
• Important for staff to make connections on zoom
  • Consider the cold weather
• New structure
  • Departmental contact
  • Creative ways for in person for introductions & welcomes
    • New staff and current staff can mix
    • Consider limitations
    • Host intentional small groups
  • Alternative services is a great way to know people
    • Find ways to get new professionals involved outside departments
    • Provide volunteer opportunities information
• In person and phone check-ins
• Connections:
  • Safe in person
  • Zoom meetings
  • Orientation & Follow up
  • Mix of both new and current staff connections
  • Creative opportunities
  • Provide volunteer opportunities in different departments
  • Encourage new staff could get involved with helping and planning campus events
  • Have a few staff specific fitness classes once a month.
    • Get a few seasoned staff to commit to being at a class and then we invite the newer staff to sign up.
    • Seasoned staff could help with introductions at the beginning and end of class. 
    • Would be optional, so those who are not comfortable with the experience would not have to participate. 
      • Plus exercise is always good for the mind and body.