PATRICIA L. PRADO-OLMOS VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN MARCOS
Striking in the middle of a semester, with commencement just around the corner, the coronavirus pandemic has presented an unprecedented challenge to America’s colleges and universities. Cal State San Marcos has risen to the challenge with the spirit and solidarity that our regional community has come to expect.
On March 11, CSUSM made the difficult but necessary decision to begin the transition to virtual instruction for the remainder of the spring semester. After a period of adjustment for everyone, students and faculty returned from spring break in early April to an educational model that would have been unfamiliar to many of them only a few months earlier, with Zoom classes the predominant mode of teaching and learning.
At the same time, campus was closed to all but essential personnel in mid-March, and the vast majority of staff members are working from home, becoming intimately familiar with programs like Zoom for meetings and Microsoft Teams for administrative duties.
CSUSM also made the hard decision to postpone its commencement ceremony, which was scheduled for May 15-16, due to the COVID-19 crisis. The university, though, remains committed to moving the important milestone to a date later this year when it is appropriate and safe to do so.
In early April, CSUSM announced that, based on guidance from the California State University Chancellor’s Office, it would move its entire summer course schedule for both sessions to virtual instruction. In addition, plans for in-person events through June will be hosted in virtual format or rescheduled for a later date.
During the crisis, the CSUSM campus community continues to come together even from our socially distanced locations. While students were on spring break, multiple campus entities quickly collaborated on the creation of a new Student Relief Fund. In the span of just a few hours, it raised nearly $20,000 to support students with funds for tuition, fees and books. As of April 6, the fund had received more than 100 gifts, totaling more than $58,000.
Amid the disruption caused by COVID-19 at CSUSM, there are plenty of cases of positivity, kindness and everyday heroism to be found. In early April, the university’s Safety and Health team helped coordinate the delivery of essential supplies to regional hospitals. That included four ventilators, over 40,000 pairs of gloves, nearly 1,000 N-95 masks, as well as hundreds of face shields, surgical and procedure face masks and other critical medical supplies.
In a similar vein, Michelle Harvey, a 2002 business alumnus of CSUSM, was so moved by the shortage of masks in hospitals that she founded the San Diego Face Mask Sewing Group on Facebook. Within only a couple of weeks, it had attracted more than 700 members and donated hundreds of face masks to frontline health workers.
In response to these and other examples, the university has a launched a new hashtag, #CSUSMgratitude, to share examples of positivity, caring, innovation and generosity on social media. We are focused on our educational mission and will emerge from this crisis stronger and united. We’re grateful for all of you!