IC News

For the staff on the college’s Move-In Committee, coordinating move-in for students was a bit like hitting a moving target.

Testing requirements, mandatory quarantines, and constantly changing data and state mandates meant that the staff on the committee had to constantly adapt their plans to getting students safely moved back into their residence halls.

The committee, chaired by Dean of Students Bonnie Prunty, was formed in the spring of 2020 with the intent of planning for a return to campus in Fall 2020. However, when the college made the decision to extend remote instruction, the committee quickly pivoted.

“When the decision was made to go remote for the fall, you would think that that might be a relief that we could have a little downtime,” Prunty said. “Instead, we thought, ‘how can we use this as an opportunity to practice and test out things so we’re ready when more students come back in the spring?’”

In the past 12 months, the Office of the Registrar has had to oversee two massive shifts regarding student learning. Last spring, Registrar Vikki Levine and her team put in countless hours of work to ensure students had an effective and smooth transition to remote learning in partnership with numerous offices across campus.

Students returning to campus hasn’t meant a return to normal for Levine’s staff, however. It’s simply shifted the challenges — and required significant collaboration.

During the registration process, Levine and her office worked closely with the college’s IT department to allow for live chatting and screen sharing with students, in order to help with any issues that arose.

“We wanted to make sure that we could take all the services we traditionally provide in person, and provide them remotely,” she said.

Ensuring students were enrolled in classes was the first challenge. The next one was even more daunting — ensuring that the classrooms were able to keep students and faculty safe and socially distanced. That required redefining what constitutes a classroom.

Working closely with the Office of Facilities, and Conference and Event Services, Levine and her team turned spaces that traditionally housed 100 people for large group gatherings into spaces for 30 to 50, such as Emerson Suites, Clark and Klingenstein Lounges and the Haines Forum in the Peggy Ryan Williams Center.

Now, Levine and her team have shifted their focus once again, to collaborating with the Office of the Provost to ensure everyone is prepared in the event that a coronavirus outbreak requires another shift, discussing how to communicate and help execute changes that may arise.

All of this collaboration has allowed Levine to grow in her job, while meeting new people in departments across campus.

“It’s been hard, but I have found moments of positivity,” she said. “There have been places for growth and places to make some new relationships and work really well with some new colleagues.”

The college’s facilities team has taken on the challenging task of reconfiguring campus spaces to comply with public safety guidelines.

Under the direction of associate vice president Tim Carey and led by Ernie McClatchie, executive director of facilities, grounds, and transportation, and Eric Nichols, director of facilities services, the facilities teams adapted their plans for a spring opening by taking stock of what worked and what didn’t work at other institutions that reopened in the fall.

“A huge component of this work has been building new relationships, and that continues today,” Nichols said. “I'm getting emails from folks that I've never interacted with before about the process, and I think the collaboration is the key.”

One of the largest projects was adjusting all classroom space to comply with social distancing guidelines for in-person learning. In the spaces that were scheduled to hold face-to-face classes, facilities employees went in and created computer-aided design (CAD) drawings of each space. They measured how many individuals could be in each classroom, rearranged desks and chairs as needed, and placed stickers where students can sit.

“There have been more than 3,000 chairs that have been moved and marked for students to sit in,” said Nichols. “There’s a lot of stickers on campus right now!”

The facilities department also worked alongside the print shop to create more than 15,000 wall signs and floor stickers to remind the students, faculty, and staff of guidelines like wearing a mask, only moving in one direction down the stairs, and standing six feet apart.

The facilities team also built the seven saliva test kit drop boxes placed around campus, fabricated more than 80 portable hand sanitizer stations and hung over another 300 hand sanitizer dispensers throughout college buildings.

Few things illustrate the challenges of preparing the Ithaca College campus like the state of Emerson Suites just before New Year’s this year.

To ensure returning students had meals when they arrived on campus, James Ward, catering manager for Dining Services, and his staff initiated a massive operation. Their mission: pack roughly 5,000 bags with shelf-stable products including peanut butter and jelly; snacks such as granola bars, chips, cookies, and pretzels; and assorted juices and bottled water, resulting in a sea of brown-paper bags lining the walls of Emerson Suites.

“You couldn't really understand the size and scope of it unless you were actually in the room,” Ward said. “It was a pretty impressive sight.”

Dining Services collaborated with the IT department to develop an online portal for on-campus students to order their food.

Upon their arrival, students received shelf-stable bags with food in their rooms. In addition, when they checked in, they received a bag of semi-perishable items, including 12 slices of bread, bagels, muffins, croissants and tuna and chicken salad pouches.  They also received Choose to Reuse carabiners and Grub Hub info as well as a branded Ithaca College silverware and straw kit.

Additionally, Ward and his staff packed separate bags for students with various dietary restrictions.

The Hammond Health Center has always served as the hub for keeping IC’s campus community healthy. Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, the staff at the Health Center has provided quality care, while diligently planning for the students’ safe return.

Medical Director Dr. Ellyn Sellers-Selin credits her staff for their outstanding work and the collaborative efforts of the entire IC community who have persevered while preparing students and faculty for an in-person learning environment this spring. 

Sellers-Selin and her staff are involved in campus-wide planning efforts to manage and contain the spread of the virus on campus. Together they work to put the best systems into place to ensure safety and accessibility on campus.

For example, Hammond Health Center staff have utilized pandemic modules to closely monitor students who may have been in close contact with a COVID-19 positive person or have symptoms of COVID-19. The health center has also rolled out a badge system to regulate on-campus clearance and access for students. In addition, one of their largest tasks is maintaining regular communication and receiving clearance from various health departments.

Sellers-Selin is a member of the Health and Safety Advisory Group and Public Health Task Force. These additional roles have given her the opportunity to meet with faculty and staff who have worked hard to keep the campus healthy and thriving during the pandemic. Sellers-Selin also works closely with Cayuga Health System to ensure our students and IC employees are given the best options for COVID-19 testing and care.

The role of liaison between the health department and IC fell to nurse practitioner Jennifer Metzgar, who has been with the college nearly 10 years.

In her role, Metzgar communicates daily with area health departments regarding new positive cases and the number of people in quarantine. She then works to inform students and campus partners to ensure timely and adequate isolation and quarantine procedures and organizes and shares procedures to close and disinfect affected areas on campus.

In January and February, the Ithaca College Department of Intercollegiate Athletics is usually busy with winter competitions and gearing up for the spring season. This year, the focus has shifted to ensure athletes arrived on campus safely and were cleared to practice and participate in their respective sports if the college and the Liberty League athletic conference resume competition.

One of the staff members who has been heavily involved with that process is certified athletic trainer Jessica Gammons’12, MS ’14. 

Another major component of return-to-play is coronavirus testing. Last fall, Getzin and Kathy Besemer, who supervises the lab at the Hammond Health Center, got approval to run a Limited Service Laboratory in the Hill Center in order to process a COVID antigen test.