Bakersfield College held another webinar as a part of the Presidential Virtual Forum Seminar Series on April 6. 

Faculty members of BC that are a part of the campus’s instructional workgroup at BC shared their thoughts on the campus reopening.

 BC President Sonya Christian opened the webinar event and shared information about the BC vaccination clinic held on March 26.

 President Christian then introduced the panelists of the webinar; Rich McCrow BC’s Dean of Instruction; Joe Saldivar, the department chair of biology; Rony Recinos, an automotive technology professor; Jordan Rude, a professor of psychology; and Christie Howell, who is also a professor of psychology.

 “It’s certainly exciting as we start trucking towards some changes again in our life, like coming back together,” said McCrow and shared details about the coming fall 2021 semester. 

 McCrow shared that just like the changes at BC at the beginning of the pandemic, such as management, it will continue to change to adjust to the “new normal.”

 McCrow then went on and had a Q&A session with the rest of the panelists to share their reopening thoughts. 

 Recinos was asked to share his opinion on what the new normal would look like when faculty and students return to campus. Recinos said the engineering department had laid some expectations for students, such as requiring face masks, washing their hands, and scanning the BC pass app QR code. 

 “Don’t be scared of coming back. It’s fun,” added Recinos.

 The next question was directed towards Howell. She was asked what are some ideas faculty are would use to help ease the anxiety and fear students could have when returning to campus.

 Howell said that talking to the students like regular people is essential for easing that anxiety to let them know that faculty is there for them.

 Saldivar was asked what the difficulties students are that they face when it comes to communicating. “I can’t wait to go back to the classroom,” he shared.

 Saldivar added that building relationships with students happen in their lab time in a science course. Not being able to do labs physically is like a “punch in the gut.”

 Rude was asked how personal challenges would impact the capacity of empathizing with students. 

Rude said that being transparent with his students was helpful and shared ideas on how he centered himself before he could center his students. 

 Rude added that he created a discussion post for his students to discuss a new hobby they picked up and share their progress with their classmates.

 “Do something and have a plan for yourself and if it works, share it with your students,” shared Rude.

 The webinar ended with McCrow telling the rest of the panelists to share their final expectations and thoughts on returning to campus.