Five Questions With: Bob Samuels

Bob Samuels is Rhode Island School of Design’s executive director of integrated health and wellness. He spoke with Providence Business News about how the school is keeping students healthy through the pandemic and his optimism for the upcoming year.

PBN: In addition to keeping students healthy through COVID-19, how is RISD using integrated health and wellness services to meet students’ needs?

SAMUELS: The exigency of COVID-19 required rapid development of protocols and significant innovations in every aspect of life at RISD. Every decision was focused on health and wellness. We created a “well clinic,” a respiratory clinic to evaluate symptomatic students, and a separate site for testing all RISD community members. Our Counseling and Psychological Services went completely remote. Campus housing was de-densified to allow the majority of students to live in singles. Campus services prepared studio spaces and classrooms for physical distancing, and courses will continue to be taught in three different modes: core studio and shop-based courses happen in person, while other courses are offered either via fully remote means or in a hybrid mode. Before winter, many classes were held outside, including, for a time, utilizing a closed-off section of Benefit Street.

 

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PBN: With contact limited on campus, how is RISD working to keep students connected?

SAMUELS: RISD faculty have been working since last spring on developing distinctive course content and critiques that maintain, as much as possible, the function and feel that is uniquely RISD. A major component of that continues to be the interactions between students and faculty, whether in the virtual realm or at 6 feet with masks and other safety protocols in place. The Center for Student Involvement, Health Education and Promotion, as well as Residential support staff, continue to expand programming and activities to also creatively make use of the digital environment.

PBN: Along with the physical effects on a person’s health, COVID-19 can impact mental health. What is RISD offering students and staff to support their mental health through the crisis?

SAMUELS: While we are telling our community members that they must keep physical distance, we are also emphasizing the importance of social connection and making sure our students and staff have the support they need. Counseling and psychological services offers both individual and group sessions remotely with same-day appointments during periods of high stress, such as the end of the semester. For our staff, we offer a confidential employee assistance program that is available 24/7. Accepting the disjunction of simultaneously being present and absent has challenged all of our usual coping mechanisms.

PBN: What challenges is RISD still addressing to meet students’ wellness needs during the pandemic?

SAMUELS: The greatest challenge is that COVID-19 is still very much a part of our daily lives. COVID fatigue is real. People are tired of following restrictions and of being scared. Our winter session is underway remotely and it is an opportunity for the community to take a collective deep breath and regain the energy and commitment we had throughout the fall semester. Vaccines have started rolling out across the globe. We know what to do to keep safe. We must encourage and support each other to not only survive this semester, but to reach toward thriving in this new reality.

PBN: Are you optimistic that the pandemic will subside this year?

SAMUELS: Yes. Two vaccines have been approved. It appears that there may be as many as six or seven available worldwide before midyear. We have never seen this type of international single-minded effort in resolving a global crisis. My expectation is that we will have this pandemic managed by year’s end. My hope is that people will use this same type of energy to resolve other plagues of the human condition.

James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.