The post Nutrition Clinic Grand Opening appeared first on ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï.

“We are happy to report that no existing appointments were canceled, and we were able to schedule new appointments with no delay in service,” says Tracy Newton, director of the Center for Academic Advisement and Student Success, which switched its main advisement sessions with students to Zoom.

Much was the same throughout the college, where the effort to transition many services that had long existed mostly on an in-person basis—from advisement to commencement, and now, student orientation—has mostly been smooth. Provost Ann Lopes has announced that the college will resume distance learning for the Fall 2020 semester, and many of these programs and offices that have supported remote learning are being refined.

Within the first couple of weeks of the quarantine, the college set up a Virtual Front Desk to field calls from students who wanted to speak to a live person. “In these times, having access to a real human being is more important than ever,” says Newton.

By early July, nearly 2,000 students had used the service, where they can also get information about emergency grants, laptop loans, and inquire about other technology issues. Offices like the bursar, financial aid, scholarships, personal counseling, enrollment services, and many more offered immediate access during regular office hours.

Ronald C. Jackson, the vice president for student services, says that some of the most significant hiccups came when making sure all students had access to technology. In some cases, Wi-Fi service providers who had offered deals for students were inaccessible to those living in buildings with thick walls. Jackson says the college was able to purchase some hot spots—which the Information Technology Services office is test piloting now—that may be loaned out to students in the fall. Some courses had to be adjusted to accommodate compatibility issues with the Chromebooks and iPads the college loaned out.

He says the college also experimented with the best way to get its messages and announcements out to as many students as possible, working with formats such as Instagram Live chats with President Michelle J. Anderson. The social sessions proved popular, with chats on financial aid, personal counseling, academic advisement, and the Magner Career Center.

“We’re trying some new things,” says Jackson. “Overall, the transition has gone well, but as we prepare for the fall, we continue to have discussions on what we can improve and build on.”

One of the biggest events the college had to retool was the annual commencement exercises. The virtual graduation ceremony featured keynote and valedictory addresses in addition to the usual greetings from politicians, professors, and others who wished the Class of 2020 well, in addition to a scroll of each graduate’s name across the college website’s homepage. The celebration got far and away more views than any of the other CUNY campus virtual commencement ceremonies with 9,000 views on YouTube, more than 60,000 impressions on Twitter and Instagram, and nearly 200,000 people reached on Facebook.

For the college’s new student orientation, a website was launched that includes a virtual campus tour, greetings from the president, Provost Anne Lopes, and the heads of the undergraduate and graduate student government. There are also videos on technology for remote learning, student clubs, and other topics like financial aid.

Magner Career Center Director Natalia Guarin-Klein says they have hosted 67 career sessions for nearly 1,500 attendees since the college moved to remote learning, including virtual job fairs, alumni and employer networking events, and career 101 programming. The center also created a Slack group with more than 200 students who are currently seeking jobs, and has been able to engage with more alumni in the virtual environment who otherwise would not be able to attend.

“While some of our services are delivered differently, the passion and commitment to help students have not been negatively impacted by the center being virtual,” says Guarin-Klein.

Many more offices, like the LGBTQ Support Center, the Veterans Affairs Office, the Black and Latino Male Initiative, and the Immigrant Student Support Office, are conducting regular Zoom meetings with the students they serve. Both Personal Counseling and the Health Clinic are offering tele-appointments.

Even services for the college’s Alumni Engagement office saw opportunities in the transition to the virtual environment, says its director Lisa Dicce. The office tried new engagement strategies on social media and around online events that were low cost and more accessible to a wider number of people.

“The world has changed, but our mission has not,” says Dicce. “We are planning for all things to remain virtual a while longer and are moving full steam ahead with those plans.”

The post Retooling for a More Remote World appeared first on ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï.

“Quiet,” he keeps saying as he makes a circuitous route through the West Quad Center and back to his post in the dean’s office of the School of Education.

He’s a little disappointed because he thrives amidst the bustle, which might be somewhat surprising to some because Watson is autistic. For a dozen years, he has been working in the School of Education, where he has cemented his role as a venerable and indispensable Guy Friday. He also volunteers for the men’s basketball team.

His presence on campus is conspicuous, not because of his disability but due to his omnipresence at college events, his well-worn bright-yellow L.A. Lakers jerseys, and his penchant for popping into various offices to debate the New York Knicks’ latest coaching quandary or to crack a few jokes.

But if Watson is a highly visible example of an autistic person in the college community, his peers in the student population are largely the opposite. According to the Center for Student Disability Services, there are eight self-identified autistic students on campus, but likely many more who either don’t identify themselves or who may be undiagnosed. Most have a high-functioning form of the disorder but may have some speech, social and executive function (planning, problem-solving, multitasking) deficits that typically warrant the need for support. Thanks to a $19,000 grant the college recently received from CUNY’s university dean for health and human services, those students can now receive more coordinated and holistic assistance.

If recent numbers reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention bear out, the college, and most other higher-education institutions across the country, may see many, many more students who are on the autistic spectrum in the future. According to a March report by the federal agency, one in 88 American children has some form of the disorder, a 23 percent increase since its last report in 2009.

The grant — which ends this month (although college officials who work with autistic students hope its legacy will be some institutionalization of their efforts) — funds training for faculty and staff members who work with autistic students, a mentor program for students with the condition, and some marketing efforts so that all students know that help is available.

“College students on the spectrum have to self advocate,” explains Susan Longtin, co-director of the Advanced Certificate Program in Autism Spectrum Disorders. “That’s very different from their experience in high school, where their teachers know about their diagnosis and they are given very specific support according to their needs. In college, they have no such network.”

Longtin and the co-author of the grant, Ilene Tannenbaum, director of the Health Clinic, are hoping to bring together departments like theirs, the Magner Career Center, Personal Counseling, the Center for Student Disability Services and the Learning Center to better coordinate support.

“Everyone has the right to reach their potential,” says Longtin. “Some people just need a lot more support than others.”

And some people, like Watson, prove that once given some support, they will give back a lot more.

Deborah Shanley, dean of the School of Education and Watson’s boss, remembers when she first met him, her first day at the college. “This man was sitting on a chair by the file cabinets and I asked him who he was,” she recalls. “He wouldn’t speak to me. He just sat there like a bump on a log with no eye contact. I told him I’m not moving until he comes around. One day I saw this little movement in his eye and I said, I gotcha.”

Watson, whose reticence is a part of his disorder, had been participating in ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï Transitions, a program housed in the School of Education that aims to help young adults with disabilities gain life skills and employment. Shanley, who has a background in special education, talked to officials with the program, as well as Watson’s mother, and decided that he could work for her.

Initially, Shanley and officials with the transition program helped Watson with some travel training and time-management skills. They gave him a beeper so that they could track his whereabouts. “I knew it would work,” says Shanley, known affectionately to Watson as Didi. “Michael showed us he could do it.”

He also showed them he could thrive. Through his love of basketball, he quickly found a home with the college’s men’s team as a volunteer, and from there he attached himself to most of the other sports as well.

Alex Lang, assistant director of , says that whenever there is an event or some work to be done for the teams, Watson often out-hustles the paid staff. “Mike will step in and help without being asked,” he says.

In fact, Lang believes there may have been no bigger ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï Athletics booster in the history of the college. In the time he has worked here, Watson — who every day sports a CUNYAC championship ring that he earned with the men’s basketball team in 2009 and 2010 — has missed precious few games, home or away. “He also remembers every single player who has ever played for any of our teams. He remembers people I don’t,” says Lang.

And, according to Shanley, he helps us remember what we value.

Ultimately, “Michael is helping us walk the walk,” she explains. “Not only are we supposed to be preparing our students to live and work among all members of society, but our strategic plan talks about fostering an inclusive community. I can’t think of a better way to model that.”

The post Institutionalizing Support for the Autism Community appeared first on ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï.