The Tower Fall 2020 - 10

From the Desk
of Dr. Timothy
Bianchi
Vice President for
Academic Affairs

he fall 2020 semester has been unlike anything we
have experienced in recent memory at Thaddeus
Stevens College of Technology. We have all been
personally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic - at work,
at home, how we connect with friends, how we shop, even
how our children and grandchildren attend school. I would
be remiss if I did not spend a few minutes explaining the
College's fall schedule and Health and Safety Plan, and
how together, these plans protect the health, safety, and
wellbeing of our students, faculty, and staff, while continuing
to advance the Mission of the College.
The fall schedule can be described as a hybrid model.
General education courses are delivered through a
combination of synchronous and asynchronous online
learning. Five of our 24 technical programs meet completely
online, and a hybrid model is being used for the remaining
19 programs. These 19 programs were identified as involving
more hands-on and experiential learning, requiring face-toface instruction for topics where online instruction was not
feasible. The remaining lecture portion is completed through
an online modality.
Program shops and labs were dedicated for use by the
sophomore class for the first seven weeks. At nearly midway into the semester, the sophomore and freshmen classes
rotated, with the freshmen coming on campus. This allowed
us to provide both groups with hands-on experience while
minimizing the risk of COVID-19.
The Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology " Health and
Safety Plan, " provides the framework for our operations
during the pandemic. We continue to make a concerted
effort to minimize the spread of COVID-19 on our campus
locations, and there have only been a few positive cases.
Those that were affected are doing well. It is our first priority
to keep students, faculty, and staff safe.
The College is following all CDC, PA Department of Health,
and PA Department of Education guidelines. I encourage
you to read through our Health and Safety Plan, which is
posted on the College website on the Fall2020 update
page (https://stevenscollege.edu/fall-2020/). This is a fluid
document that is updated on a continuous basis as needed.
The guidelines in the plan are strictly enforced. This includes
adherence to wearing facemasks, practicing physical

10  The Tower

distancing, sanitizing hands throughout the day, and surface
cleaning. All faculty, staff and students are screened daily
for symptoms of COVID-19 using an app called, " LiveSafe, "
and through daily temperature checks. Those who " fail " the
daily symptom screening are directed to stay home and
contact Health Services or a personal physician for further
direction. In addition, students complete a health and safety
questionnaire before coming on campus or leaving the dorm,
and have their temperature checked prior to entering the
classroom.
Contact tracing is done in the event of a positive case.
Within the College community, all employees complete a
daily contact tracking log. This information is consulted
by Health Services to identify other faculty or staff who
may have been in contact with a positive student or staff
member.
This strict adherence to our protocols, combined with
our custodial and facilities team doing an outstanding job
of sanitizing, has been critical to preventing widespread
outbreaks on our campus. The Leadership Team offers a
special thanks to our Custodial and Facilities Teams for their
dedication. Together, we are part of the solution and we are
Stevens Strong.
The College is ensuring that supports for learning as well
as classroom materials to promote academic, social, and
emotional learning are available to all students, with an

The faculty have done an
awesome job pivoting to
strengthening students' active
learning through distance
education.

https://www.stevenscollege.edu/fall-2020/

The Tower Fall 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Tower Fall 2020