Comets United Reimaging
REIMAGINING
Just after spring break in March 2020, shelter-in-place orders and public health guidelines went into effect, and campus operations were curtailed, sending most UT Dallas faculty, staff and students to work and learn remotely. Videoconferencing and other technological assists were the backbone of content delivery as virtual events became the centerpiece of the reimagined university experience.
Telehealth at Callier Center
As UT Dallas moved classes online in spring 2020 and closed most campus offices due to COVID-19, another decision had to be made about the University’s Callier Center for Communication Disorders — how to continue treating its 4,000 patients and how to facilitate the clinical experience needed by graduate students to complete their degrees.
The Callier Center is one of the University’s few centers where patients — both children and adults — are seen regularly. It also provides hands-on training for graduate students pursuing degrees in speech-language pathology, audiology or speech, language, and hearing sciences through the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences.
Dr. Andrea Gohmert, Callier director of audiology clinical operations, said the clinical team moved quickly to a telehealth model.
“We did about 10 years of work in 10 days,” she said. “We identified a safe platform to provide every possible service that didn’t involve actual contact with a patient.”
Security was the primary concern of the transition to online services; the system had to meet medical privacy standards. By the first of April 2020, the telehealth program was in full use, allowing most Callier patients access to audiologists, speech-language pathologists and clinical staff.
While diagnostic testing cannot be done remotely, audiology patients have received basic services, such as hearing-aid adjustments. For most hearing aids, the audiologist can make modifications by accessing the patient’s individual prescriptive programs remotely.
“It’s still not ideal; face-to-face would be better. But I can’t tell you the angst a parent must feel. They may be home all day with a child who can’t hear, so they need that hearing aid working properly,” Gohmert said.
Most therapy services also transferred well to the telehealth environment.
Another major part of Callier’s role at UT Dallas is to provide hands-on clinical experiences to graduate students training to be audiologists and speech-language pathologists.
Students have been able to earn clinical hours by joining clinicians on telehealth visits and by using an online case-management system that presents various patient scenarios for students to work on together.
Three-year-old Ben Wallace watches as Callier Center speech-language pathologist Paige Burkink works with him via telehealth.
From her home in Massachusetts, visual and performing arts senior Melinda Kalanzis prepares to record a scene from “Faust.”
University Theatre Turns to Radio
While theater companies and musical organizations around the country shut down productions during the COVID-19 pandemic, UT Dallas’ theatre program creatively improvised, ensuring that “the show must go on.”
The program’s spring 2020 production, “Faust,” was planned to be a big stage event, with a guest director, two professional actors, outside costume and scenic designers, and a guest composer — all complementing the student actors, musicians and production crew. In mid-March, however, it became clear that the production could not occur as planned.
Shelby Hibbs, clinical assistant professor in the School of Arts and Humanities and producer of the production, said it was important that the play continue for a number of reasons, one of which was that it was a new version, translated by Dr. Zsuzsanna Ozsváth, professor of literature and history, and Dr. Frederick Turner, Founders Professor of literature and creative writing, both of whom retired last fall.
Very quickly, a solution was found: The stage play became a radio play, complete with student-generated music, audio effects and a robust website to provide the audience with the feel of the play’s period.
“I wanted to honor the work that the translators had done,” Hibbs said.
Although the participants were all restricted to their homes, rehearsals continued through videoconferencing and recording software. High-quality microphones were distributed to the actors, who worked in groups to record various scenes.
“It was a herculean effort to put this together,” said Raphael Parry, guest director of “Faust.” He said the cast and crew worked diligently to pivot the production, although the technical issues of working remotely were sometimes a challenge.
“There were certain tactical things we couldn’t control,” said Parry, who is the executive and artistic director at Shakespeare Dallas. “If we had a bad computer signal from one of the actors, then we would lose the entire take. Because of Wi-Fi issues, we lost a couple of evenings of work.”
Visual and performing arts senior Hayden Lopez said that while performing in a radio play was different than a stage production, it was fun to learn a new aspect of acting.
“In radio, attention to the spoken language has to be much more precise,” Lopez said. “You have to have a lot more inflection in your voice, and you have to be able to really paint a picture with your words because you lose the visual aspect.”
Summer Research for Master’s Students
In 2020 UT Dallas broadened the scope of its summer research activity with a fellowship program for master’s students.
The Office of Research and the Office of Graduate Education partnered to establish the Master’s Research Fellowship Program (MRFP), which encouraged UT Dallas master’s students to engage in research by awarding $1,500 each to 56 students across a wide range of disciplines. Because on-campus research operations were limited due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most projects were performed remotely.
“UT Dallas greatly values the master’s students who come from all over the world to our academic village,” said Dr. Joseph Pancrazio, vice president for research and professor of bioengineering. “This program aims to accelerate scholarly engagement between our outstanding international and domestic graduate students and our world-class faculty.”
The COVID-19 pandemic left many students in financial difficulty. The fellowship program not only provided educational opportunities but also a crucial infusion of resources.
“The Master’s Research Fellowship Program came at the right time, when so many were struggling with the effects of the pandemic,” said Dr. Juan González, dean of graduate education and the Francis S. Johnson Chair for Graduate Education. “It provided our master’s students an incentive to expand their research activities while pursuing their degrees, and it increased faculty-to-student interactions.”
González, who also is a professor of molecular and cell biology, believes the program can have a long-term positive effect on the profile of students attending UT Dallas for graduate studies.
“The Office of Research should be praised for its timely recognition of the opportunities and help that this fellowship program can bring,” he said. “I hope that it becomes a signature program that will help attract and retain top-quality graduate students from all over the world.”
‘Whooshing’ Away Hunger
Students in a sustainability service learning class at UT Dallas put their knowledge to work in spring 2020 with a virtual fundraising and donation campaign called #WhooshAwayHunger to support the North Texas Food Bank during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Students in the UNIV 3310 class Sustainable Development Goals: Local Action to Address Poverty and Hunger had zeroed in on hunger and food insecurity after studying the 17 Sustainable Development Goals initiated by the United Nations.
“We learned that poverty and hunger had the highest impact on people’s physical and mental health. You cannot sustain without food. If your basic needs aren’t met, you can’t contribute to society,” said Harshini Rallapalli BS’21, a new cognitive science graduate in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences who took the course as one of her electives.
When the coronavirus hit, the class quickly shifted gears to help with a real-life local problem and began focusing their efforts on supporting the local food bank.
The North Texas Food Bank works closely with more than 200 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters and other facilities in North Texas to get nutritious food to those who need it. As many businesses closed and more Texans became unemployed, the food bank needed additional resources. The sustainability class is part of the University’s growing community-based service learning program, which gives students the opportunity to explore new topics while serving as teachers and mentors in the community.
Anna Kurian, senior director of marketing and communications for the North Texas Food Bank, said the organization was grateful for the students’ help because the COVID-19 pandemic is unlike anything the region has ever seen.
“The need in the community is unprecedented, and luckily there is a caring community working to make a difference,” Kurian said. “Our team was thrilled to learn that our neighbors at UT Dallas wanted to get involved. Their innovative campaign to bring in donations of food and funds couldn’t have come at a better time.
We are grateful for their unwavering support.”
Students in the sustainable development goals service learning class, led by instructor Gary Cocke (fourth from right, rear row), raised funds for the North Texas Food Bank.
Virtual Orientations
Student orientation at UT Dallas is typically a time for students to familiarize themselves with the campus, meet other students and make new friends, complete course registration, and learn about the University’s services and resources.
With on-campus activities suspended due to COVID-19, UT Dallas helped new freshman, transfer and international students become acclimated to University life — even at a distance — through its first virtual orientations last summer.
“We wanted to capture a sense of community for them even though they couldn’t meet in person,” said Daniel Long, director of student transition programs in Student Affairs.
UT Dallas had a head start on transitioning to virtual orientations because for several years new students have received pre-orientation modules to complete online. Staff expanded those modules to include videos and interactive quizzes.
“We’re fortunate to have used e-learning for pre-orientation modules. We’ve had an existing platform for a few years, so we were ahead of many universities,” Long said.
Instead of in-person presentations that typically happened during summer orientation sessions, campus administrators provided video messages of welcome. Staff further engaged new students through virtual small group meetings using Microsoft Teams, which also was used for an online panel session for families of new students to ask questions and learn about campus resources.
During a virtual Comet Camp, staff and returning student lead-ers presented UT Dallas traditions, such as the Whoosh. They also provided tips on relationships, communication and success in college, and allowed incoming students to showcase their skills at a virtual talent show.
“One of the things that has been lost with COVID-19 is the sense of community and belonging. We wanted to help make that happen through small group meetings, interest-based lunches and presentations,” Long said.
A 2020 Ceremony for All Seasons
As with so many aspects of university life, the COVID-19 pandemic threw a curve at the traditional pomp and circumstances of on-campus commencement ceremonies and cast a pall on the fellowship with friends and family that typically happens during graduation season.
So UT Dallas adapted by recognizing graduates Dec. 14 in an expanded virtual commencement ceremony that included all members of the Class of 2020, whether they completed their studies in spring, summer or fall.
The University recognized 3,603 summer and fall graduates, but the virtual ceremony included a reading of the names of all 8,469 graduates from 2020, whose ceremonies were not able to be held in person earlier in the year. The University still plans to celebrate the Class of 2020 and spring 2021 graduates at an in-person commencement ceremony in August.
The main commencement video included elements of a traditional ceremony, including a congratulatory message from the president and remarks from the provost. A virtual tour of campus and a performance of the alma mater also were included in the online event.
Each of the University’s eight schools were highlighted in videos that featured remarks from the schools’ deans, and the reading and display of graduates’ names. Graduates’ names also were posted in a digital commencement program. The virtual commencement ceremony will be kept live for a year on the website.
In addition, each of the graduates had the opportunity to receive a special celebration package in the mail.
Back in the Game
The University’s 17 sports programs — including the new track and field program — were all in action when UT Dallas’ parent league, the American Southwest Conference (ASC), decided to provide fall sports with the opportunity to play a condensed schedule in spring 2021.
“The University worked with the American Southwest Conference to set up COVID protocols — policies and procedures that allow us to have a safe environment to host our teams, the teams that come in from within the league and limited seating for some fans,” said Bill Petitt, director of athletics for the University. “The fall sports played a half-season schedule. The spring sports have been fairly normal.”
The NCAA Sport Science Institute provided guidelines on COVID-19 testing of student-athletes, including twice-a-week testing in-season. In addition, the ASC required a negative test within 72 hours before competition.
“By the end of March, we’d conducted more than 5,000 tests since the beginning of the fall 2020 semester,” Petitt said.
Several UT Dallas teams are ranked in the top 25 nationally in NCAA’s Division III. The men’s cross country team won its third straight conference championship, while the women’s golf team won its first-ever conference title. The baseball team and women’s tennis team were also conference champions.
“It’s a credit to our coaches that even with this situation, our student-athletes are continuing to play at a high level,” Petitt said.
The track program officially debuted Feb. 27, 2021, with two men’s sprinters competing at Hardin-Simmons University. The women’s team debuted March 13 at UT Tyler.
Although the NCAA has allowed student-athletes whose seasons were affected by the pandemic an extra year of eligibility, Petitt does not anticipate more than a handful of Comets taking advantage, if any.
“Most of our student-athletes are anxious to get into the workforce,” he said.
Though Petitt and his staff continue to monitor the pandemic, he believes fall sports will be able to run at 100% capacity next semester.
“We look forward to our fall sports teams having the opportunity to again play a full-length season, with fans in attendance to support their Comets,” Petitt said.
Virtual Dissertations with a Degree of Success
Dr. Juan González, dean of graduate education, was excited at the prospect of UT Dallas having the largest number of dissertations in its history in the spring 2020 semester. So when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the University to move its classes and most services online, González and his team moved quickly to ensure that every eligible doctoral student would have the opportunity to make a defense, which is the final step in qualifying for a doctoral degree.
The day after spring break 2020 ended, all remaining doctoral defense meetings were moved online.
“Throwing in a monkey wrench like this at the last minute was difficult for these students,” González said. “They had been looking forward to the defenses, and their family members had been excited as well.”
Since online defenses had never been done at UT Dallas, students, faculty and the Office of Graduate Education (OGE) wanted this important moment to go without a hitch.
“It was a different platform than I was expecting. I was hoping to participate in an in-person meeting so I could see everyone and engage with them,” said Adolfo Lozano PhD’20, a mechanical engineering alumnus whose defense was moved online.
The OGE staff worked with each PhD candidate and each participating faculty member to ensure a smooth process. González said students could choose the videoconferencing platform they preferred so that they would be comfortable with the technology. Students who did not have Wi-Fi or a strong signal were helped to find better locations, and faculty members learned how to use various soft-ware functions, such as a virtual waiting room so that faculty could privately discuss the student’s defense performance.
Lozano said that despite his initial concerns, everything went well. “I think having the comfort of being at home helped some. Other-wise it was normal. I was still dressed up in a suitcoat and tie, although I told the committee that they couldn’t prove that I didn’t have shorts on,” he said.
One benefit of the online meetings was that more friends and family were able to watch and listen to the public portion. In all, 210 doctoral dissertations and 55 master’s theses were defended virtually in 2020.
While some U.S. universities postponed their dissertation defenses because of the COVID-19 crisis, González said that was never an option at UT Dallas.
“The first degree that this University awarded was a PhD in physics. This is who we are,” González said. “We have never had one semester in our 50 years of history without at least one PhD student graduating. We wanted to make this possible, and I’m glad we did.”
Adolfo Lozano PhD’20 (top) defends his dissertation, and Dr. Francesca Filbey (bottom), professor in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, participated in the virtual defense of Yuefeng Huang MS’17, PhD’20.
