La Sierra University moves online in ongoing response to COVID-19

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Faculty, staff, students pull together in cyberspace as the campus responds to pandemic.

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. – As the world and the nation reel from the COVID-19 pandemic, its impacts have been felt at La Sierra University where most campus operations have shifted online through the end of the school year. 

The actions, designed to ensure the safety of the campus and community, come amid a statewide ‘stay-at-home’ order issued March 20 by California Governor Newsom. They also follow a Riverside County Department of Public Health mandate on March 17 which extended a previous schools closure order through April 30. The legally-binding order shutters onsite operations except for essential functions at all public and private schools from kindergarten through higher education. To allow faculty and students more time to adjust to remote operations, the university lengthened spring break by one week. Spring quarter now begins on April 6. (Update: On April 2, the Riverside County Public Health officer extended the schools closure order to June 19. La Sierra subsequently postponed its June commencement weekend.)

As the public health crisis unfolded over the preceding weeks, the university issued a variety of messages informing the campus of the spread of the virus, how best to avoid contracting it, what to do in the case of illness, guidance on departments’ online accessibility and other pertinent information. Prior to the campus’ closure, all university-sponsored travel outside of the country was suspended, as well as recommendations for those traveling abroad on personal trips to avoid campus for 14 days after returning. Non-essential domestic travel was also discouraged. 

Presently there are no known COVID-19 cases on La Sierra’s campus.

Despite the fluid situation and rapid, disruptive changes, university departments are transitioning quickly into online mode and engaging in creative problem-solving.

A composite image created by Assistant Psychology Professor Christophe Le Dantec of himself, top left, and his department colleagues on video conferencing platform Zoom. Continuing left to right top to bottom, Department Chair and Professor of Psychology Paul Mallery, Assistant Professor of Psychology Shelly McCoy, Associate Professor of Psychology Suzanne Mallery, Professor of Psychology Leslie Martin, Administrative Assistant Diana Ek, and Professor of Psychology In-Kyeong Kim.

"The university gave us access to Zoom and we are all confident that it should be a good tool to communicate with the students for the quarter to come.” 

-- Christophe Le Dantec, Assistant Professor of Psychology

The university’s Department of Online Learning by the third week of March had completed multiple faculty training sessions on video conferencing platform Zoom and provided resources for online labs. Staff departments also congregated in online Zoom video meetings and began adjusting to a cyberspace working world dominated by communication on email, text messages, Slack messaging and other platforms. The Office of Spiritual Life likewise offered students a meeting scheduling platform by which they can set appointments for conversations with chaplains online or by phone, and Student Wellness Services provided phone-in medical risk assessment services and teletherapy sessions.

Faculty in the arts and sciences are scrambling to find creative ways of holding classes and labs remotely that would normally require significant hands-on activity, and academic departments around the campus are making adjustments. Faculty members in the Department of Psychology & Neuroscience are now set up to teach on video conferencing platform Zoom.

“The transition is a work in progress and for the most of us, teaching online is a new experience,” said Assistant Psychology Professor Christophe Le Dantec. He compiled an image of computer monitor screens showing his department faculty colleagues waving from different locations while on Zoom video conferencing. "The university gave us access to Zoom and we are all confident that it should be a good tool to communicate with the students for the quarter to come.” 

Le Dantec, who conducts research in neuroscience, plans to also use a program call PsychoPy3 for his students’ research projects. “This is a free program based on Python programming language that is very easy to handle, so I am confident that as soon as my students will be proficient with it, they will be able to … use it appropriately.”

“Like people and organizations everywhere, La Sierra has been deeply affected by this unprecedented situation that has required quick changes to our operational plans,” said La Sierra University President Joy Fehr. “Every day university leadership is greeted with additional issues that need to be swiftly addressed as we navigate our new online reality.  This has required multiple virtual meetings in which our administrators, directors and staff members participate from their homes. But we know in Whom our faith rests and we are not afraid. We are in fact privileged to serve our students and campus family in the best possible way to ensure their wellbeing and academic success, and we look forward to helping them prepare for the brighter future that is coming in the months ahead.”

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists Dan Nyirady, Student Wellness Services director, and Student Wellness clinical therapist Melissa Williams recently provided a list of ways individuals can handle anxiety stemming from the public health crisis and stay-at-home requirements including reaching out to friends on Skype or Facetime, seeking teletherapy support services, starting a YouTube workout challenge, learning a new skill, and journaling or vlogging about the current experience. Their tips on handling anxiety can be found on the university’s COVID-19 response and information page noted above.

“The life we have been accustomed to does not look the same any more, and we feel like things are changing by the minute,” Williams and Nyirady note. “We are struggling to identify who and what we can trust and wanting to find our footing. Now is when it is most important that we take care not only of our physical health, but also our mental health.” 

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