March 2021, marks one year since our University shifted to a mostly remote format. Across campus students, faculty, and staff met this and other challenges posed by the pandemic with confidence and resilience. Below are some examples of how we adapted while maintaining a primary focus on health and safety and keeping to our mission to empower every student for success:
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We opened the Emergency Operations Center.
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We centered all efforts on protecting the health and safety of our students, staff, and faculty.
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Across campus, all divisions worked towards helping support remote learning and work. We did so without an interruption in services.
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Human Resources help us successfully conduct recruitments, job interviews, and staff onboarding without ever having met candidates in person.
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Academic Programs transitioned immediately to 100% online learning across academic credit programs (with critical ongoing support from CTET).
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The School of Business strengthened partnerships with six community colleges in our service area and expanded the Business degree completion program into all six service regions. The School of Business also established and executed best practices for remote recruitment and advising to ensure continuity of operations and student success.
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Campus events, speakers series, and other programming were moved to Zoom.
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Training sessions and events were recorded on Zoom, making them available for use in the future.
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The School of Science and Technology developed procedures to allow for safe in-person fieldwork and lab research.
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Online simulation tools like iHuman and Labster were made available to students to replace laboratory and clinical experiences.
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Over 600 kits were prepared and shipped to students enrolled in biology and engineering labs, to allow them hands-on experiences at home.
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Faculty participated in summer boot camps to prepare for effective online teaching.
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The Green Music Center redesigned its regular season programming to online with a focus on deeply engaging interactions with artists. Inspired by the tradition of theater green rooms—a backstage lounge where performers relax—the GMC introduced The Green Room, an online series of revealing conversations and personal connections with artists and their performances.
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The Green Room's online engagement allowed free access to be expanded– 25% of the Fall programs were ticketed to all at no cost, and for Sonoma State Students as well as our first responder and essential worker audiences, 100% of the programming was free.
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Between September and March 2020, despite the pandemic, the GMC presented 21 artists in 25 Green Room shows, and hosted dozens of artist engagement activities with university classes, faculty, and local K-12 schools through online discussions and workshops: more than 630 Sonoma State students and more than 2,000 K-12 students and community members participated in these activities.
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The School of Extended and International Education (SEIE) added the use of Live Chat for students to contact campus staff. SEIE helped the Office of the Registrar, Disabled Student Services, and the School of Education to implement the Live Chat service for their communications.
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For Summer 2020, SEIE successfully pivoted to fully remote delivery for all classes and offered a 20% discount on all classes to help students. They also awarded 360 scholarships of $500 to students enrolled in summer classes. A total of 1,627 students enrolled in a summer course through SEIE.
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For Intersession 2020, SEIE offered a robust schedule of fully remote classes. 928 students enrolled and SEIE awarded 209 scholarships of $500.
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The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) transitioned to online classes quickly, with excellent summer 2020 enrollments, and a 30% enrollment increase from the fall to winter 2021 session.
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OLLI students, who are on average 75 years of age took to Zoom. We had one OCLI student on Zoom, who is 97-year-old and has participated in OLLI courses for over 15 years.
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International Programs successfully launched a new online international "WorldCHAT.us" program with a Japanese University and pivoted to virtual learning to serve international students wishing to improve their English language skills for academic success, serving over 40 international students from Japan, Karen, India, and Taiwan.
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Professional Development launched a free 16-week Pop-up Self-Care workshop for the SSU community.
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In partnership with the Chancellor’s Office CSU Courses for Causes and SSU faculty provided an 8-week Compassion Cultivation Training course for free for first responders and health care workers.