{"id":138623,"date":"2021-03-15T12:20:09","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T16:20:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=138623"},"modified":"2021-04-05T21:15:14","modified_gmt":"2021-04-06T01:15:14","slug":"help-from-theater-and-computers-to-a-purposeful-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2021\/03\/15\/help-from-theater-and-computers-to-a-purposeful-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Help! From theater and computers to a purposeful life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A technology support specialist creates safe ways for students to solve their computer problems. A technical director for theater and dance finds a surprising way to provide offstage guidance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And an associate director at the Center for Purposeful Work and her colleagues respond to the pandemic by doubling down, being even \u201cmore engaged, more intentional, more thoughtful, more purposeful.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether students are feeling down, or need help getting their feet back on the ground, they get the support they need from the Bates staff, whose work helps position students for success in their work with the equally talented and devoted Bates faculty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each week for the next five weeks, we\u2019ll continue to share three portraits of Bates staff members who have responded to the needs of our students during a time of crisis. Totaling 21 staffers, from 19 different college offices, these Bates people rise to the challenge when students need somebody \u2014 not just anybody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keith Hord<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A technology support specialist at the Help Desk in Ladd Library, Keith Hord manages 25 students who work in-person and remotely to triage and answer technology questions from the entire campus community.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Keith
Keith Hord<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like so many businesses and operations everywhere, the pandemic has forced the Help Desk to develop no-touch services. So when someone brings their computer or phone or other device to the Help Desk, we can help them with software issues without touching the device. All they need to do is plug a single cord into the computer and we can control it in a safe environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve also created and support a virtual desktop infrastructure for our Bates clients. VDI allows students to gain remote access to a computer \u2014 one that might have special, proprietary software \u2014 without needing to physically visit a computer lab. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With users interacting with us in different ways, we\u2019ve tried to simplify what can be complicated steps for some technology solutions, creating easy-to-follow instructions to expand and evolve our self-service experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effective customer service means you have to meet your client\u2019s expectations. Before the pandemic, folks expected that they would just stop by the Help Desk and wait in line if necessary. That\u2019s not safe in a pandemic, so we\u2019ve educated our users to expect that they\u2019ll need to make appointments with us. We\u2019re also offering more remote support so they don’t need to physically come to the Help Desk at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justin Moriarity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Technical director for the theater and dance departments, Justin Moriarity taught his first theater course at Bates during the fall semester, on stage management.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Justin
Justin Moriarity<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A year ago, on Friday, March 13, we got word that Bates would move to remote learning due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That evening, with the curtain closing on our in-person semester, around \u200c100\u200c \u200cof\u200c \u200cus\u200c \u200cgathered\u200c \u200ctogether\u200c \u200cin\u200c \u200ca\u200c \u200cbrightly\u200c \u200clit\u200c \u200cGannett\u200c \u200cTheater\u200c \u200cto\u200c \u200cshow\u200c \u200cour\u200c \u200csupport\u200c \u200cand\u200c \u200cwatch\u200c \u200ca\u200c \u200cremarkable\u200c \u200cgroup\u200c \u200cof\u200c \u200cstudents\u200c stage \u200ca\u200c \u200cfar\u200c-from\u200c-\u200ccompleted\u200c \u200cproduction.\u200c <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200cThe\u200c \u200cset\u200c \u200cwas\u200c \u200chalf\u200c-finished.\u200c \u200cLights\u200c \u200cstill\u200c \u200cneeded\u200c \u200cto\u200c \u200cbe\u200c \u200chung\u200c \u200cand\u200c \u200cfocused.\u200c \u200cThere\u200c \u200cwas\u200c \u200cso\u200c \u200cmuch\u200c \u200cstill\u200c \u200cto\u200c \u200cdo.\u200c \u200cNo one\u200c \u200cwas\u200c \u200cready\u200c \u200cto\u200c \u200cgo\u200c \u200cdark\u200c, \u200cand\u200c \u200cso\u200c \u200cwe\u200c \u200crallied\u200c \u200ctogether\u200c \u200cand\u200c \u200cdid\u200c \u200csomething\u200c \u200cunforgettable.\u200c \u200cI\u200c \u200cremember\u200c \u200cbeing\u200c \u200cunmasked,\u200c \u200claughing,\u200c \u200ccrying,\u200c \u200cpacked\u200c \u200cin\u200c \u200ca\u200c \u200cdusty\u200c \u200cblack\u200c \u200croom with what\u200c \u200cnow\u200c \u200cwould\u200c \u200csound\u200c \u200clike\u200c \u200csome\u200c \u200cnightmare\u200c \u200csuper\u200c-spreader\u200c \u200cevent.\u200c \u200cWe\u200c \u200cloved\u200c \u200cabsolutely\u200c \u200cevery\u200c \u200cmoment\u200c \u200cof\u200c \u200cit.\u200c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our\u200c \u200cstudents,\u200c \u200clike\u200c \u200cso\u200c \u200cmany\u200c \u200cof\u200c \u200cus,\u200c \u200cjust\u200c \u200cwanted\u200c \u200cto\u200c \u200cfeel\u200c \u200cconnected.\u200c \u200cThis\u200c \u200cis\u200c \u200cwhy\u200c \u200cwe\u200c \u200clove\u200c \u200clive\u200c \u200cperformance.\u200c The\u200c \u200cspace\u200c \u200cwe\u200c \u200ccreate\u200c \u200ctogether\u200c \u200cis\u200c \u200csacred.\u200c <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We returned in the fall to a \u200cnew\u200c \u200cworld \u2014 where\u200c \u200c16\u200c \u200cpeople\u200c \u200cwill\u200c \u200cbe\u200c \u200cour\u200c \u200cnew\u200c \u200cmax\u200c \u200ccapacity\u200c \u200cin\u200c \u200cGannett,\u200c \u200cwhere\u200c \u200cair\u200c \u200cfist\u200c \u200cbumps\u200c \u200creplace\u200cd \u200cthe\u200c \u200clong\u200c \u200cheld\u200c \u200cembraces. So it was even more important to do what we do best. Treat\u200c \u200ceach student\u200c \u200cas\u200c \u200can\u200c \u200cindividual\u200c. Look for\u200c \u200cways\u200c \u200cto\u200c \u200chelp them succeed, but also encourage\u200c \u200cthem\u200c \u200cto\u200c step\u200c \u200cout\u200c \u200cof\u200c \u200ctheir\u200c \u200ccomfort\u200c \u200czones\u200c \u200cand\u200c \u200cfail\u200c \u200cbrilliantly.\u200c <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u200cWith limited opportunities for in-person performance during the pandemic, I\u2019ve looked \u200cfor\u200c \u200cinnovative ways\u200c to help students \u200capply\u200c \u200csome\u200c \u200cof\u200c \u200cthe\u200c \u200cconcepts\u200c \u200cto\u200c \u200ctheir\u200c \u200cindividual\u200c \u200cwork\u200c \u200cand\u200c \u200cpersonal\u200c \u200cinterests.\u200c \u200c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example was in October, when two students in \u200cmy course, \u201cStage\u200c Management for the Performing Arts,\u201d were an integral part of a public protest on the Coram Terrace \u2014 a Bates place that actually served as a venue for public theater long ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because ideas about power, privilege, and difference are built into this course, as well as anti-racist theater practice, we as a class referenced the student protest and connected it to the specific course content we were studying, event production, along with the larger role that artists play in social movements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We watched \u201cFive Ways of Understanding Black Lives Matter<\/a>,\u201d from Broadway for Black Lives Matter<\/em>, in which Frank Leon Roberts references the role artists play and how we are geared for this type of organizing and presentation of thoughts and ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To\u200c \u200cput\u200c \u200cit\u200c \u200cvery\u200c \u200csimply,\u200c \u200cI\u200c \u200ctry\u200c \u200cto\u200c \u200cmeet\u200c \u200cstudents\u200c \u200cwhere\u200c \u200cthey\u200c \u200care\u200c \u200cand\u200c \u200crespect\u200c \u200cand\u200c \u200chonor\u200c \u200cthe\u200c \u200cknowledge\u200c \u200cthey\u200c \u200cbring\u200c \u200cto\u200c \u200cthe\u200c \u200cwork.\u200c \u200cI\u200c\u2019m a \u200cguide\u200c \u200con\u200c \u200cthe\u200c \u200cside\u200c, \u200cas\u200c \u200copposed\u200c \u200cto\u200c \u200cthe\u200c \u200csage\u200c \u200con\u200c \u200cstage\u200c, \u200coffer\u200cing \u200cwhatever\u200c \u200cexpertise\u200c \u200calong\u200c \u200cthe\u200c \u200cjourney.\u200c \u200cIt\u200c \u200cnever\u200c \u200cgets\u200c \u200cold\u200c \u200cand\u200c \u200cis\u200c \u200calways\u200c \u200crewarding.\u200c \u200c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hoi Ning Ngai<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hoi Ning Ngai is wearing two Bates hats these days. She\u2019s an associate director for employer engagement and business advising for the Bates Center for Purposeful Work, and also an interim associate dean with the Office of Intercultural Education.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hoi
Hoi Ning Ngai<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Our motto at Purposeful Work throughout the pandemic has been, \u201cWe\u2019re here for you.\u201d But that\u2019s always been our motto. We’ve always been responsive to students and their needs, so the pandemic has simply pushed us to be more ourselves than ever before \u2014 more engaged, more intentional, more thoughtful, more purposeful.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last March, as soon as we learned that Bates would move to remote learning, we pivoted everything we did, from in-person to virtual platforms. In some ways, it\u2019s been a boon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students who are off campus for whatever reason have better access to us and our programs, and we\u2019ve been able to \u201cbring to campus\u201d alumni and employers for panels and information sessions without the challenges of travel, time, and cost. We\u2019ve recorded the majority of our programs and placed them on our website for convenient, password-protected access to Bates students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For individual student appointments, we\u2019ve leaned on Zoom for virtual meetings and, to the degree that the weather permits, the outdoors for in-person meetings. I\u2019ll always remember sitting with a student on the porch at Canham House, our headquarters, as freezing rain came down around us last fall. (I\u2019m pretty weather resilient, but that was my last in-person appointment of the semester!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had great Zoom conversations with first-year Bates students from China, Pakistan, and other faraway places. I mean, community is community. Even across the screen, we can create that \u2014 at least some<\/em> of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students have been doing their best to navigate the new way of life at Bates in 2020\u201321. That said, they\u2019re simply worn out and Zoomed out \u2014 as all of us are. Their inboxes are overrun, their eyes are strained, all of their days blend together. This isn\u2019t the college life they signed up for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re helping students craft their COVID resilience stories to share with interviewers for internships and jobs.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

There are no perfect solutions to any of these challenges, especially when we\u2019re all <\/em>experiencing them. What we can<\/em> do is inject levity when possible, acknowledge the need for rest, listen as students tell us about their struggles, be as responsive as we can be, and connect students to internal and external resources as appropriate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As our students look ahead to opportunities where they can hone in on what feels purposeful to them, we\u2019re helping them craft their COVID resilience stories to share with interviewers for internships and jobs. Interviewers always ask us to talk about how we’ve dealt with unexpected situations \u2014 if the pandemic isn\u2019t the best example, I’m not sure what is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that’s what we need to help students focus on: The world continues to turn, so they need to show how they\u2019ve faced ongoing uncertainty with critical reflection and thoughtful action. In so many ways, students have been resilient \u2014 we need to help them see and highlight that resilience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week’s portraits of Bates staff who help students in unprecedented times feature a technology support specialist, theater technical director, and a Purposeful Work staffer helping students “see and highlight their resilience” during the pandemic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":138632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[1,130,14,11009],"tags":[12243,12239],"class_list":["post-138623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-batesnews","category-collaboration","category-faculty-staff","category-the-college","tag-help-2","tag-staff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138623"}],"version-history":[{"count":31,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138854,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138623\/revisions\/138854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}