Prayer, partnerships and planning during a pandemic
Published: April 13, 2021
Greenville University kept COVID-19 at bay and returned students to campus thanks to prayer, partnerships, and planning.
According to a case study from Dynamic Campus, GUs IT outsourcing partner,the University already had an idea in February 2020, that COVID-19 would likely turn into a global pandemic. GU faculty heard news about the virus directly through GUs international students from Wuhan, China.
In those early days, GU President Suzanne Davis, then executive vice president, began talking with a board member of the University of Illinois, her graduate alma mater. Their conversation centered around how to theoretically manage a global pandemic.
That conversation and connection led to a series of events between February and August 2020, which enabled the University to ultimately invite students back to a safe learning environment.
According to the Dynamic Campus case study, as the pandemic spread in the spring and summer of 2020, U of I researchers developed a rapid response saliva-based test that identified coronavirus 99.8% of the time, with few false positives. Better still, the test cost 70-80% less than the prevalent nasal swab test, and it delivered results in less than 24 hours.
U of I President Timothy Killeen suggested a potential research partnership between U of I and GU to extend efficacy testing by gathering data on a small campus environment like GUs, in addition to U of Is larger, urban environment.
At the time, there was a great deal of concern across the country that college and university students returning to campuses in the fall would pose greater risk to small towns than to larger cities. President Davis and other GU leaders convinced U of I to include GU on its list of potential testing partners.
Greenville University CIO Patrick Farmer says they were finding campus safety issues to be the most compelling thing people were researching,no matter where they were in the process of coming to an institution,because many institutions were going online at the time.
We decided we were going to have in-person classes because in terms of our mission and who we are, we needed that interaction with students to be who we are, to prioritize things like mentorship and character building and service, Farmer says.
While there was no manual for how to conduct in-person classes safely during a global pandemic, GU made it happen.
Our first day of testing went on without a hitch, says Geet Vanaik, then dean of academic, international, and student services at GU. That was so critical . . . It created this buy-in from our campus that we did not have before.
Smooth testing eased fears in returning students and staff and helped them conceptualize the testing process.
Based on this testing capability and Greenvilles focus on masks, social distancing, and hand washing, the University was able to conduct classes and events in person throughout the fall semester,even after Thanksgiving break, at a time when most institutions remained fully online or offered a combination of in-person and online learning.
As of January 29, 2021, GU has administered over 26,000 saliva tests with 122 total positives.
GU President Suzanne Davis frames the COVID testing, data collection, and analysis with scripture: Truth and understanding cast out fear . . . It gave us a little bit of boldness . . . We didnt have to be fearful.
She adds that character and service have been in GUs mission statement for 128 years, and this presented an opportunity to live out those values and be good citizens for the county. We were able to look beyond what wed gain as an institution and really care for the needs of our studentsandour community.
