NPC president outlines fall semester
While in the mode of “whatever it takes,” National Park College President John Hogan said the college is moving forward with plans to have students on campus in the fall, and they can expect to have a “safe experience” amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hogan spoke at the National Park Rotary Club’s weekly meeting via Zoom last Wednesday.
“We believe that our efforts are fundamental to the economic development and quality of life in the state of Arkansas and in the county and U.S.,” Hogan said. “We have a responsibility to do that; we have a responsibility to do that in a manner that’s safe for our students and as safe as possible for our students and staff.”
He said the college is budgeting for a declined enrollment in the fall, but are still hopeful for a “healthy” enrollment.
While the physical NPC campus has been largely closed to the public, Hogan said that on June 1 they started migrating back and had a second phase of migration on June 15. Currently, department heads are on campus making decisions on staffing levels needed, and prospective students are taking tours and registering for classes.
“Our motto has been we’re going to figure out how to provide students with a safe learning environment,” he said. “As safe as possible, to use social distancing, to use both educational and health care tools to provide them with the best possible experience that we can.”
One of the main physical changes within the classroom will be the option to attend a class via Zoom, a teleconferencing platform, as much or as little as a student desires.
As for on-campus living, Hogan said it will be available at the newly built Dogwood Hall; an apartment-style living space that can house up to 180 students who are full-time, part-time or SAU students taking classes on campus.
“It lends itself to social distancing,” he said. “Students would be able to live on campus in a brand-new facility that is laid out in apartments or pods, so in the event that we had a student who tested positive for COVID, we would easily be able to do contact tracing and quarantine in a pod, as opposed to sending everybody home.”
Move-in day for the campus will be Aug. 22 and classes will begin Aug. 24. The semester’s end-date is currently unknown. Hogan said depending on how the pandemic has progressed, the semester may end at Thanksgiving break instead of in December, to reduce the risk of an outbreak after students have left and returned to campus after the holiday.
When the pandemic first hit, Hogan said the college was prepared, but not ready, with a pandemic plan that was prepared during the administration of former President Jimmy Carter.
“We made the decision in March to go online with instruction for spring semester,” he said. “We did have to bring some students back under social distancing; we were trying to use common sense so they could finish their lab classes and clinical classes. … The college remained open in fulfilling its educational mission. So we achieved continuity of operations; in the summer, all of our course offerings were online.”
NPC recently held its first drive-thru commencement, which Hogan said he hopes is the college’s first and last drive-thru-style commencement ceremony.
“The way we did it wasn’t as important as the fact that we did do it,” he said. “There are some very traditional students who still want to march across the stage and shake (board of trustees chairman) Forrest Spicher’s hand, and hopefully we’ll be able to provide that opportunity to those students at a future time.”