Menlo Magazine Summer 2021

Page 6

The Learning Process Continues A Message from the President — Steven Weiner

T

he pandemic disrupted education at every level. Menlo College, like so many schools, moved at lightning speed in order to continue delivering a quality education while also adapting to our students’ accelerated needs for resources, some as fundamental as access to good technology and a good internet connection. Students across the globe stepped into a new world that required technical skills and new social abilities. The young fantasy writer Kara Barbieri wrote in her debut novel White Stag : “The oak is the strongest tree in the forest, but the willow bends and adapts. When the fires and storms hit, it is the willow that survives.” In that context, the pandemic was our equivalent to fires and storms, but we oaks proved Ms. Barbieri wrong – we bent and we adapted.

Micah Ka-ne, Chair of the Menlo College Board, Ka’ilihiwa Ka-ne ‘20 and President Steven Weiner on the jumbo screen at the 2021 commencement ceremonies.

Adaptation became our watchword. Throughout the pandemic, we redoubled our commitment to pay attention to the whole student. Shortly after the onset of the pandemic, we identified a panel of public health experts to advise us on a testing, tracing, and quarantine program that would best protect those members of our community who needed emergency housing on our campus; we chartered a Pandemic Planning Team under the leadership of Vice President Angela Schmiede; we implemented a Covid-19 ambassador program to promote safe behaviors among our students; and we created multiple opportunities to engage and support our students, independent of their location.

Throughout the year, faculty and staff volunteered to call students for informal check-in discussions. Dean Melissa Michelson and our Student Affairs team hosted weekly Community Circles to provide a safe space for students to express concerns about barriers to their success, and all of our student support services – mental health counseling, librarian assistance, academic advising, and tutoring – provided virtual support to ensure our students had access to needed resources. Our Distance Learning Committee held professional development classes to help faculty get the most out of features on Zoom, the testing program called Respondus, Google drive, and countless applications and platforms. Six of our classrooms were fitted out with new cameras and connections to allow faculty to teach from campus in safe isolation, and our coaching staff found new ways to engage our student-athletes through Zoom teambuilding events, virtual workout sessions, and more. To adaptation, we added assessment of student and faculty needs as another watchword for the Covid-19 era. Through surveys and social media outreach we were able to understand what was working for our faculty and our students, and what wasn’t, and to modify our efforts accordingly. We were not alone in recognizing the challenges that were confronting young people everywhere. The

3 SUMMER 2021


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Articles inside

New Residence Hall

2min
pages 62-64

In Memoriam

4min
pages 60-61

Pandemic Play

0
pages 58-59

Lady Oaks

2min
pages 56-57

Athletes Shine Off-Field

2min
page 55

Charles Jordan ’70

3min
page 54

Recent Graduates

5min
pages 52-53

Ten Campus Secrets

3min
page 51

Lu -’au Online

1min
page 50

International Students

4min
page 49

Oral Communication

2min
page 48

Keeping Students Safe

1min
page 47

Cosette Fitzgerald Speaks

4min
page 45

Dean of Student Affairs Rease Miles

3min
page 46

Commencement 2021

8min
pages 38-42

Class of 2021 Valedictorian

2min
pages 43-44

Salary Negotiation Workshop

3min
page 37

Internship Search

2min
page 36

New Minor: Equity and Justice

4min
pages 32-33

The Menlo ROI

2min
page 35

Reading as Critical Thinking

5min
pages 24-25

Faculty News

8min
pages 28-31

E-Portfolios

2min
pages 22-23

Menlo Serves All

2min
pages 20-21

New Course Explores Racism

4min
pages 26-27

Executive Education

2min
page 34

Coping and Resilience

3min
pages 18-19

Distance Learning

2min
pages 14-15

Pandemic Problem Solvers

2min
page 13

Letters to the Editor

2min
pages 8-9

Welcome Back

1min
pages 4-5

The Learning Process Continues

3min
pages 6-7

The Future of Teaching

5min
pages 10-12

Individual Attention

5min
pages 16-17
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