Susquehanna University has been training faculty to effectively work remotely, using innovative technology to track potential COVID-19 hotspots on campus and working with students to provide them with needed technology.

For months leading up to the start of the fall 2020 semester “we’ve been rethinking how you safely operate a campus in times of COVID-19,” said Chris Bailey, director of facilities management.

Leading the coordinated effort is biology professor David Richard who said the university is taking a “data-based approach.

“We are committed to providing in-person, face-to-face education. It’s what our students want and we’re motivated to have them here so we’re overbuilding the systems as best we can,” he said.

On Thursday, about 200 student leaders and employees returned to campus in the start of a phased reopening process. They will be followed by 597 freshmen and the start of in-person classes for them Aug. 24. On Sept. 5, about 400 seniors will arrive and start class Sept. 7. The final phase will be 900 sophomores and juniors returning Sept. 19 and 20.

Student Life Vice President Susan Lantz said about 200 students chose to study remotely. Less than 1 percent of the student population chose to defer admission or take a leave of absence unti spring.

Lantz said students have questions, mostly about food and housing arrangements, but a majority are looking forward to being on campus.

“They’re concentrating (on finding out) what they can do,” she said.

The university has created an additional coffee lounge that can accommodate up to 25 people and all students — on-campus and off — will be able to connect with clubs and organizations through planned virtual activity fairs, Lantz said.

Since the 6-foot distance rule is “overly simplistic,” Richard said, the maintenance staff has installed new filtration equipment and added UV-C air sterilizers to dorm rooms and are using backpack units to spray disinfectant over large areas to keep indoor spaces as clean as possible.

To ensure social distancing at mealtime, all food will be packaged and several new dining areas have been created, including a 240-seat dining room using one-third of the field house.

The school will treat students living in dorm rooms as a family unit, since all students are being tested for COVID-19 before being allowed on campus.

In addition to the family unit designation, mealtime changes, extensive cleaning and disinfecting, reduction of classrooms to 40 percent capacity and the use of outdoor classrooms, dining and meeting spaces, Bailey pointed to innovations and technologies the university will use to monitor the virus.

He said sewage samples will be collected and tested every two days from seven dorms and campus buildings as part of an experimental early warning system meant to address potential surges in cases.

Another major change, Bailey said, is the addition of 11,000 signs — telling students, faculty and staff which door or stairway touse, where to stand and reminders to follow social distancing guidelines, like masking and washing hands.

Faculty have been in training all summer, learning how to interact with students in different ways using technologies new to them.

Jennifer Servedio, chief information officer, and her team of 15 IT employees are the unsung heroes on campus, several university staff and faculty said.

In March, when the pandemic disrupted normal life, Servedio said calls to her department “quadrupled.” In the months leading up to the start of the fall 2020 semester, she said, workshops were developed and held to train teachers to use new technologies.

About 80 percent of SU’s faculty and staff will be on campus this fall with the remaining 20 percent working remotely or having a hybrid presence, spokeswoman Amanda O’Rourke said.

Matthew Duperon, an associate professor of religious studies and director of SU’s Center for Teaching and Learning, has spent the summer with staff developing training modules used by faculty who needed to learn how to teach online, including the use of new technologies such as Blackboard, for streaming and recording classroom lectures and discussions, as well as how to help students through the health crisis.

The main concerns teachers have expressed is how they can effectively use technology to connect with students and how to manage their time to be able to serve all the students’ varied needs, he said.

“They are dealing with uncertainty” as well, said Duperon who is teaching one small class this semester.

All of his students will be on campus and he’s preparing to teach them in outdoor venues and also record class discussions for students unable to be there in person.

“This is a challenge and as stressful as it has been it’s a huge opportunity to enhance our teaching,” said Duperon. “There has definitely been a lot of people who have struggled, but what really matters is making connections with the students.”

While SU administrators, faculty and staff have been trained to work efficiently and safely during the health pandemic, Bailey said, students will also have to do their part by wearing masks when necessary, practicing social distancing and following rules.

“This is going to be a shared responsibility,” he said.