With the first two weeks of fall semester in the rearview mirror, administration has made the decision to eliminate several COVID-19-related housing guidelines and rules. Dillon Lockwood, Resident Director of on-campus apartments, explained in an email to students that these changes made were “based on hallway traffic, quarantine usage, location of bathrooms and style of living.” For apartments and suites—Fair Commons, South Campus Apartments and Myers Hall—some rules remain the … [Read more...]
Q&A: Sarah Neal
AU alumna Dr. Sarah Neal serves as a professor in the nursing department. This year, she has taken on a special role with the university as the lead of the “COVID-19 Task Force.” She has degrees in social work, nursing and public health. What is your role with our university? “As Lead of the COVID task course, I handle all kinds of COVID scenarios. That's coming up with policies and procedures and consulting with all the different campus constituents so that I can help every area on … [Read more...]
New kind of theatre creates opportunities
While the pandemic has created numerous obstacles for the musical theatre department, it has not prevented socially-distanced and masked rehearsals and performances. Although performances this semester will not have live audiences, they still provide unique and innovative opportunities for students. Among the fall productions is one unlike any show performed in AU’s history. Titled “Spoon River Anthology and Beyond,” students from the School of Music, Theatre and Dance are working with … [Read more...]
CAB focuses sights on student engagement
Amidst newly-introduced guidelines and mask mandates, CAB is anticipating another successful year of events on campus. CAB is led by Danie Adams and Kelsi Allen. Adams and Allen have been tasked with planning new events and reorganizing old events to comply with the regulations on campus. Adams, who is also the assistant director of student engagement on campus, explained how CAB went about planning events for campus this year given the circumstances. “This year, we … [Read more...]
Dance majors remain optimistic for coming year
Last school year ended in disappointment for many of the dance majors on campus. The cancellation of Spring into Dance, a professor-choreographed show put on by the dance department, stopped the senior dance majors from having their last chance to showcase their talents on the Reardon stage. For dance majors who did not graduate last year, the optimism of another school year remained. Meredith Haskell, a senior dance major, shared her enthusiasm for returning to campus after … [Read more...]
Students experience chapel in new ways
As students come back to AU’s campus and Christian universities begin to experience their first couple weeks together, it’s evident that spiritual life looks very different. Just like classes and most other events, chapel has switched to a more virtual-driven format. AU has transitioned to a completely virtual format, while also addressing that chapel will no longer be mandatory for students due to the inability to fit everyone in one place safely according to CDC … [Read more...]
Campus arts adapt to new performance guidelines
It’s no question that one of the biggest areas of entertainment affected by the coronavirus pandemic is music, specifically live performances. A normal weekend on AU’s campus consists of some kind of music performance, whether it’s a choir, a musical theater performance or a group performance in Mocha Joe’s. As students travel back to campus for the first time since March, the School of Music, Theater and Dance is working diligently to make these performances happen in a safe way for … [Read more...]
Social clubs continue building community on campus
Social clubs on campus will be looking to pick up where they left off last school year, while having to adhere to new guidelines. Assistant Director for Student Engagement Danie Adams is hoping that campus life will be prolonged as a result of the implementation of these recently introduced guidelines. “We hope that if we keep guidelines more strict than in years past, we will be helping students to stay healthy and, therefore, to stay on campus longer,” Adams said. “We are … [Read more...]
HCAC postpones all fall sports
On Wednesday, August 26, in accordance with recommendations and risk assessments from the NCAA, the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) announced their decision to shut down all athletic competitions for the fall semester. Previously, the low-contact sports of men’s and women’s tennis, cross country and golf were given the green light to compete, while high-contact sports, such as men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball and football, were postponed until the spring season. Now, … [Read more...]
President Pistole welcomes students back
By John Pistole Welcome back Ravens! We are so glad you’re back on campus or here for the first time. It’s been such a quiet, surreal time here these last five plus months. And it just confirms what we all know, or will soon learn, that AU is a relational campus community that does best when we can gather in person, augmented of course by online learning as needed and appropriate, as we did last spring. This fall of course is different—so very different—and I’m personally asking each … [Read more...]