University of Delaware Athletics
Helping Student-Athletes Continues Virtually for UD’s Academic Services Staff
5/15/2020 10:00:00 AM | Delaware Athletics
by Kevin Tritt, UD Athletics Communications & Creative Services
The fields and courts are closed. The weight rooms are quiet. The Green is mostly deserted. It's been that way for nearly two months, when the University closed its campus due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
But the classes go on at the University of Delaware, albeit virtually, meaning the work continues for the athletic department's Academic Student Services office. The six-person staff, led by director Tim Morrissey, is responsible for facilitating critical learning and monitoring the academic progress of UD's approximately 600 student-athletes.
While the nature of the meetings has changed (the department members, like most in UD athletics, have had more zoom meetings than they can count), the actual work remains mostly the same.
"The content and frequency of our meetings are pretty similar," said academic coordinator Jessica Spangler. "It was a little bit challenging at first to get people set up to do online appointments, but we're still doing the same work in the meetings, just in terms of checking in with students and monitoring their academic progress. We're still making their advising appointments that we'd normally be doing, but just online. So it's very similar in terms of the content we're doing; maybe not the delivery, but the content."
Morrissey agreed, although he noted that the nature of the meetings has been different, without the opportunity to sit in an office and having a student-athlete's undivided attention.
"I've had meetings where you can tell a student's entire family is in their room, I've had meetings where people are out in the middle of a field working out, I've had meetings where people said, 'Okay, let me hold off a second, let me find a corner in the grocery store'," he explained. "Even though they're scheduled for a meeting, they've got so many different things that they're doing. So it's been a little more challenging to hold their attention."
James Coleman, an assistant director in the department, says the key is to not use a cookie cutter approach to working with students.
"We like to get to know our students personally," he said. "So when the whole COVID thing hit, it was natural for us to reach out and see how they're doing and look at their circumstance individually. Because we know the students so well, it's easy for us to jump out there and say, 'Okay, let's try this technique. Let's try this way of doing things to organize your day so that you can be successful.'"
Academic advisor Lou Becht concurred that developing personal relationships with students is crucial during these times.
"To echo what James is saying, this has really been a test of the relationships that we were able to build prior to the virus hitting and our knowledge of the kid and his or her family background and things like that, because that's been the need to individually treat everybody in their own way," he explained. "I feel like we get to know everything about the kids' personalities and all of that, it's the holistic way that we operate. And I think that knowing all those things is what really helps. To be honest, most of my meetings have touched on academics 10 percent. Because 90 percent is that the students have really been stressed about all of these new external factors back in their home environment that we didn't have to deal with as much when they were on campus. And not only are they dealing with it, but then we're trying to help them deal with it as well."
For fellow advisor Nigel Brown, those relationships extend to students' family members as well.
"I've met more parents during this time that I haven't met in the past," he noted. "There have been more instances of 'Oh, you're Nigel, thank you so much for all the help you're doing.' So, I've met a lot of parents and siblings and cousins, so I feel like I'm already part of the family. I've already told our kids, once we get back to the new normal I need to go home with you guys, so we can have the barbecues and I can go do the fun stuff because I think I'm due for it."
Another positive aspect of virtual meetings was highlighted by advisor Bridget Burger, who has visited numerous countries through her computer screen.
"From my perspective, it's been kind of cool," she said. "I work with two very international heavy teams in field hockey and men's tennis so I've been to the Netherlands, I've been to Spain, I've been to France, I've been to Ireland, I've been to Sweden," she said. "I would never get to see anything like that if this had never happened."
Spangler, who has been virtually coordinating the Blue Hen Success tutoring program, has had similar experiences with her international students, while also echoing the relationship-building comments of her co-workers.
"I have a student athlete in Iceland, I think he can train in small groups. So it's been interesting how the pandemic has affected different areas," she noted. "Like Bridget said, just being able to see their views from home has been cool. And then also with our domestic students, I feel like we're hearing more about their home situation, just getting to know them more, especially their interactions with their families and just stuff that you probably wouldn't normally hear about when they're on campus."
In addition to helping Blue Hen students with their current semester, the staff is also currently assisting with fall registration, an incredibly difficult task considering the uncertainty of what the upcoming semester will look like.
"It's crazy right now," Morrissey said. "The academic calendar this semester got pushed back, so we're registering for the fall later than normal. Decisions (about the fall) are happening on a daily basis, so we know that we'll have to make adjustments to students' schedules. There are so many things that are still to be determined, so we'll just have to deal with all of the issues when the time comes."
("If I had $1 for every time I got the question of do you think we're going to be online in the fall, I would not need to be working at Delaware right now," Berger joked.)
Despite all of the challenges this semester has brought, the department continues to work extremely hard for the UD student-athletes.
"I want to stress that this team was built for this," Coleman said of his department. "From recruiting to when these athletes step on campus we become a part of our students' families, and we'll help them get through this."
The fields and courts are closed. The weight rooms are quiet. The Green is mostly deserted. It's been that way for nearly two months, when the University closed its campus due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
But the classes go on at the University of Delaware, albeit virtually, meaning the work continues for the athletic department's Academic Student Services office. The six-person staff, led by director Tim Morrissey, is responsible for facilitating critical learning and monitoring the academic progress of UD's approximately 600 student-athletes.
While the nature of the meetings has changed (the department members, like most in UD athletics, have had more zoom meetings than they can count), the actual work remains mostly the same.
"The content and frequency of our meetings are pretty similar," said academic coordinator Jessica Spangler. "It was a little bit challenging at first to get people set up to do online appointments, but we're still doing the same work in the meetings, just in terms of checking in with students and monitoring their academic progress. We're still making their advising appointments that we'd normally be doing, but just online. So it's very similar in terms of the content we're doing; maybe not the delivery, but the content."Morrissey agreed, although he noted that the nature of the meetings has been different, without the opportunity to sit in an office and having a student-athlete's undivided attention.
"I've had meetings where you can tell a student's entire family is in their room, I've had meetings where people are out in the middle of a field working out, I've had meetings where people said, 'Okay, let me hold off a second, let me find a corner in the grocery store'," he explained. "Even though they're scheduled for a meeting, they've got so many different things that they're doing. So it's been a little more challenging to hold their attention."
James Coleman, an assistant director in the department, says the key is to not use a cookie cutter approach to working with students.
"We like to get to know our students personally," he said. "So when the whole COVID thing hit, it was natural for us to reach out and see how they're doing and look at their circumstance individually. Because we know the students so well, it's easy for us to jump out there and say, 'Okay, let's try this technique. Let's try this way of doing things to organize your day so that you can be successful.'"
Academic advisor Lou Becht concurred that developing personal relationships with students is crucial during these times.
"To echo what James is saying, this has really been a test of the relationships that we were able to build prior to the virus hitting and our knowledge of the kid and his or her family background and things like that, because that's been the need to individually treat everybody in their own way," he explained. "I feel like we get to know everything about the kids' personalities and all of that, it's the holistic way that we operate. And I think that knowing all those things is what really helps. To be honest, most of my meetings have touched on academics 10 percent. Because 90 percent is that the students have really been stressed about all of these new external factors back in their home environment that we didn't have to deal with as much when they were on campus. And not only are they dealing with it, but then we're trying to help them deal with it as well."
For fellow advisor Nigel Brown, those relationships extend to students' family members as well."I've met more parents during this time that I haven't met in the past," he noted. "There have been more instances of 'Oh, you're Nigel, thank you so much for all the help you're doing.' So, I've met a lot of parents and siblings and cousins, so I feel like I'm already part of the family. I've already told our kids, once we get back to the new normal I need to go home with you guys, so we can have the barbecues and I can go do the fun stuff because I think I'm due for it."
Another positive aspect of virtual meetings was highlighted by advisor Bridget Burger, who has visited numerous countries through her computer screen.
"From my perspective, it's been kind of cool," she said. "I work with two very international heavy teams in field hockey and men's tennis so I've been to the Netherlands, I've been to Spain, I've been to France, I've been to Ireland, I've been to Sweden," she said. "I would never get to see anything like that if this had never happened."
Spangler, who has been virtually coordinating the Blue Hen Success tutoring program, has had similar experiences with her international students, while also echoing the relationship-building comments of her co-workers.
"I have a student athlete in Iceland, I think he can train in small groups. So it's been interesting how the pandemic has affected different areas," she noted. "Like Bridget said, just being able to see their views from home has been cool. And then also with our domestic students, I feel like we're hearing more about their home situation, just getting to know them more, especially their interactions with their families and just stuff that you probably wouldn't normally hear about when they're on campus."
In addition to helping Blue Hen students with their current semester, the staff is also currently assisting with fall registration, an incredibly difficult task considering the uncertainty of what the upcoming semester will look like.
"It's crazy right now," Morrissey said. "The academic calendar this semester got pushed back, so we're registering for the fall later than normal. Decisions (about the fall) are happening on a daily basis, so we know that we'll have to make adjustments to students' schedules. There are so many things that are still to be determined, so we'll just have to deal with all of the issues when the time comes."
("If I had $1 for every time I got the question of do you think we're going to be online in the fall, I would not need to be working at Delaware right now," Berger joked.)
Despite all of the challenges this semester has brought, the department continues to work extremely hard for the UD student-athletes.
"I want to stress that this team was built for this," Coleman said of his department. "From recruiting to when these athletes step on campus we become a part of our students' families, and we'll help them get through this."
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