Hotline 10.12.20

President’s column: Moving forward through COVID

We’ve been extraordinarily fortunate at VCSU to have seen minimal cases of COVID-19 on our campus. Weekly testing events continue, and the number of active cases, as of this writing, is three — one off-campus and two on-campus.

While the trends and numbers of active cases have been kept to a minimum, we stress to our students, faculty and staff to remain vigilant. Having a low number of cases can create a sense of complacency, and with the new protocols on face mask use and quarantine requirements, we must continue to make wise decisions to ensure a continued successful semester.

As a reminder, if you’d like to monitor the campus COVID-19 data, those results can be found at www.vcsu.edu/coronavirus-information/covid-19-dashboard.

We haven’t been resting on our laurels at VCSU. We continue to move forward with focused drive and energy as an institution, while living up to our defining commitments and mission. Our students continue to attend courses in pursuit of their educational goals. Our athletic teams are practicing and successfully competing in the North Star Athletic Association, and our student leaders are especially active and engaged.

I’ve had the opportunity to visit with many faculty and staff members in the past weeks, and I continue to marvel at their positive attitudes, innovative spirit, and dedication to providing a positive and high-quality experience for our students.

Excellent progress is being made on the Center for the Arts construction. It’s exciting to see the foundation in place, and as construction continues, it will be even more exciting to see the facility take shape and rise into the skyline on the west side of campus. The addition of this building on our campus is going to significantly improve and expand the delivery of our arts programming, an area that we value highly at VCSU and Valley City.

Finally, I’d like to recognize the many contributions of one of our own who will be retiring on October 15. Greg Vanney, director of marketing and communications, will be moving on to enjoy retirement closer to his family and friends in Iowa. Greg has been an integral part of the President’s Cabinet, NDUS Public Affairs Council, and the Valley City Chamber of Commerce, and he’s been a valued colleague here at VCSU. Thank you, Greg, for your seven-plus years of service to our campus and community, and best wishes for a happy and enjoyable retirement.

Go Vikings!

VCSU Foundation’s online auction starts today

The VCSU Foundation and Alumni Office is hosting an online auction to raise dollars for scholarships
starting on Monday, Oct. 12. The auction opens at 9 a.m. on Oct. 12.and closes at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16.

Items included in this online auction:

• North Dakota deer license for 2020 season
• 12 large pizzas from Casey’s General Store
• Casino packages from Prairie Knight Casino and Shooting Star Casino
• Ring video doorbell
•  $100 Bookstore gift card with reserved parking at VCSU basketball

Check out our items and bid often at www.32auctions.com/VCSUscholarship2020! This is a
great way to help support scholarships at VCSU.  

For more information, email kim.hesch@vcsu.edu.

COVID-19 testing to be held today at Winter Show

A free COVID-19 testing event for the VCSU and Valley City communities will be held today, Monday, Oct. 12,  from 4-5 p.m. at the North Dakota Winter Show.

Preregistration at testreg.nd.gov is encouraged; one only needs to register once.

Battle of Badges Blood Drive to be held Tuesday and Wednesday

The 4th annual Valley City Battle of the Badges Blood Drive will be held Tuesday and Wednesday Oct. 13-14 from 11:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. at the Stoudt-Ross Ford showroom in Valley City.

Team Fire and and Team Law are sponsoring the blood drive. At least 188 volunteers are needed to donate blood while showing their support for their favorite first responders in Valley City.

Phone Vitalant at 877-25-VITAL to make an appointment or register online at www.bloodhero.com using the code “valleycity.”

Flu shot clinics for students and employees to be held Thursday

City-County Health District will hold flu shot clinics in the VCSU Student Center on Thursday, Oct. 15, and Thursday Oct. 22. High-dose and conventional vaccine will be available for ages 6 months through adult. See the influenza vaccine info sheet (2020-21 influenza vaccine info) for more information.

The Oct. 15 event will be held in the W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. The Oct. 22 event will be held in the Student Center Presidents Room from 10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Contact person
• Please preregister by emailing Betty Tykwinski (betty.j.tykwinski@vcsu.edu)
• Complete the VAR form (2020-21 flu var form) through the acknowledgment section and bring it, along with your insurance card, to the clinic

What to bring
• Insurance card required to receive immunization

Insurance info
• Medicare Part B recipients do not pay at time of clinic
• Billable insurance: BCBS, Sanford Health, Humana, Medica, Health Partners, Medicaid
• CCHD cannot accept United Healthcare insurance for immunizations

VCSU Health Services encourages everyone — faculty, staff, and students — to get their flu shot.

Tykwinski named Staff Employee of Quarter

Betty Tykwinski, director for health and wellness services, was named Staff Employee of the Quarter.

Tykwinski was recognized for her work keeping VCSU safe during the pandemic. One of her nominations read, in part, “Betty has worked tirelessly to insure the health and safety of our VCSU community in regard to COVID-19 this summer and as fall as started….  She has put in countless hours writing policy, testing, and taking care of students in isolation and quarantine. She has helped the NDDoH with on-campus and off-campus contact tracing as well as being the VCSU contact for faculty, staff and students when questions and/or concerns arise. Betty has had to give up her nights and weekends in order to manage the additional duties and protocols in place due to COVID-19.”

Congratulations, Betty!

Mircsov contributes to project share platform, exhibitions

Angela Mircsov, assistant professor of art, was one of the first contributors to the online publication What We Do Now Art over the Summer 2020. The online publication focuses on how art educators create projects with students during our current situations with COVID-19.

Mircsov’ piece “Land we Dream” is also part of Millikin University’s Virtual Alumni Art Gallery Walk, which runs Oct. 12-18.

“Land we Dream” was also part of the Jamestown (N.D.) Fine Arts Association Annual Art Show, which ran Sept. 12-Oct. 9 at the Arts Center.

Third-year faculty musings

Katie Woehl, Ph.D., assistant vice president for academic affairs

This year, the nine third-year faculty had such conflicting schedules that we have broken into two groups, each meeting every-other week. We began the year with discussions about the tenure and promotion process and have now moved to conversations about various aspects of faculty life. The readings and discussions are relevant to all faculty on campus, so we are sharing them here for anyone who wants to take a look.

Our first group started by reading “That Sound You’re Hearing is Classical Music’s Long Overdue Reckoning with Racism” and acknowledging that the contributions of people of color are often overlooked or ignored in many academic disciplines. Many of us had similar experiences of taking undergraduate and graduate courses that failed to address this issue so we all came to the realization at different points in our careers. We had a lively discussion about how we can intentionally work the contributions of underrepresented groups into our classes and curriculum and about the importance of talking to students about why we are doing so. For those interested in pursuing the topic further, the following book was recommended as a great place to start: Sensoy, O, & DiAngelo, R.J. (2017). Is Everyone Really Equal?: an introduction to key concepts in social justice education. Second Edition. New York: Teachers College Press. ISBN-13: 978-0807758618

Our second group focused on the use of virtual reality (VR) in the college classroom. We reviewed this article about VR in the classroom, this article about using VR in the midst of a pandemic, and this Teaching Professor article in preparation. We started with the premise that we want to keep what we do in the classroom relevant and engaging, to provide something students want to show up for instead of enrolling in fully asynchronous, online programs. Following that, much of our discussion focused on balancing the pros and cons of VR use. An obvious advantage to using VR in the engagement factor, but another advantage is the ability to bring someone into a location they may not otherwise be able to visit; when travel is limited for financial, time, or pandemic-related reasons, VR can help. However, in an age when our students are already immersed in technology for many of their waking hours, are we contributing to a problem by asking them to spend more time with technology? If we use VR to replace expensive field trips or overseas travel, do we risk giving students the impression that travelling via VR is just as good as actually visiting in person?

Put Care19 Alert app to work for you

VCSU students and employees are strongly encouraged to download a free smartphone app, Care19 Alert, to help stop the spread of COVID-19 by notifying users of possible COVID-19 exposure while protecting their privacy with technology developed by Apple and Google.

Care19 Alert uses Bluetooth proximity technology provided by both Apple and Google notification systems. The app provides proactive alerts and notifications to users based on anonymous keys exchanged between smartphones as users go about their daily activities.

Care19 Alert users will be notified if their device was in proximity of another device whose user tests positive for COVID-19. The app updates daily with positive COVID-19 results submitted by other users, which are then checked against the list of random keys that each device has encountered for more than 15 minutes in the last 14 days. 

People who use Care19 Alert must explicitly choose to turn on exposure notifications, and they can turn off the app at any time. The Apple-Google Notification System utilized by the app does not collect, use or store any device location, including for users who report positive results.

Users have the option to decide whether to report a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, and identities are not known to Apple, Google or other app users. The system is only used for exposure notifications by official public health authorities and is not monetized.

The free app is available to download through the App Store and the Google Play Store. For more information, visit ndresponse.gov/covid-19-resources/care19.

Coronavirus update

Campus coronavirus updates can be found at www.vcsu.edu/coronavirus-information. Here you can find updates with news of positives cases within the campus community, along with information regarding impact to campus activities and facilities.

A dashboard detailing COVID-19 isolations and close contacts can be found at www.vcsu.edu/coronavirus-information/covid-19-dashboard/. This information will be updated regularly as needed.

There is also a host of resources with detailed information for employees and students on OneStop at onestop.vcsu.edu/support/solutions/folders/10000082374.

A reminder that all students, staff, faculty, affiliates and campus visitors are required to wear face coverings when interacting with others on the VCSU campus. The VCSU Safe Operating Procedures regarding face coverings can be found at onestop.vcsu.edu/support/solutions/articles/10000052288.

Viking sports update

Football
Oct. 10: VCSU 42, Presentation College 13
Viking football opened up a 35-0 lead against Presentation en route to a big victory Saturday. The Vikings, now 3-1 this season, play at Waldorf University this Saturday. 

Volleyball
Oct. 7: Mayville State 3, VCSU 0
Oct. 10: VCSU 3, Presentation College 2
Oct 11: Bellevue University 3, VCSU 0
Valley City State’s volleyball team played three road matches this week, posting a 1-2 record. VCSU’s victory was a come-from-behind five-set win at Presentation College. The Vikings are now 4-9 overall and 3-3 in conference play. 

Cross Country
Valley City State’s women placed second as a team and two runners earned Top 5 finishes Friday at the Jimmie Invitational. Jasmine Barnes placed second with a time of 20:38 and Angeline Gannon was just 16 seconds back in fifth pace.  Read more at www.vcsuvikings.com/article/3828.

Golf
The Viking golf team finished their fall season Monday, Oct. 5, with a dual against M-State Fergus Falls. Jocelyn Braunberger won the women’s dual and Rory Gentzkow placed second for the Viking men. Read more at www.vcsuvikings.com/article/3823.

Upcoming Events
Oct. 13: Volleyball @ Dickinson State, 7 p.m. (Dickinson, N.D.)
Oct. 16: Volleyball @ Dakota State, 7 p.m. (Madison, S.D.)
Oct. 17: Baseball @ Morningside College, 1 p.m. (Sioux City, Iowa)
Oct. 17: Football @ Waldorf University, 1 p.m. (Forest City, Iowa)
Oct. 18: Baseball @ Morningside College, noon (Sioux City, Iowa)

What’s happening at VCSU and around Valley City…

Monday, October 12
4-5 p.m., free COVID-19 testing for Valley City and VCSU communities, North Dakota Winter Show
4-6 p.m. ,Valley City Farmers Market, Rosebud Visitors Center parking lot

Tuesday, October 13
11:30 a.m.-6 p.m., Valley City Battle of the Badges Blood Drive, Stoudt-Ross Ford showroom (Oct. 13-14)
4 p.m., VCBC Public Library activity:  Take ’N’ Make YouTube glove monsters (call 845-3821)
4-5:30 p.m., USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program, Epworth United Methodist Church parking lot
7 p.m., Viking volleyball at Dickinson State University, Dickinson, N.D.

Wednesday, October 14
10 a.m. VCBC Public Library virtual story hour and YouTube craft: pirate treasure map

Thursday, October 15
Payday
4-6 p.m. ,Valley City Farmers Market, Rosebud Visitors Center parking lot
5:30 p.m. VCBC Public Library Board Meeting, virtual meeting on Zoom

Friday, October 16
7 p.m., Viking volleyball at Dakota State, Madison, S.D.

Saturday, October 17
1 p.m., Viking football at Waldorf University, Forest City, Iowa
1 p.m., Viking baseball at Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa (doubleheader)

Sunday, October 18
8-11 a.m., Faith Lutheran Church Men’s Club Breakfast, Faith Lutheran Church
noon, Viking baseball at Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa

Monday, October 19
4-5 p.m., free COVID-19 testing for Valley City and VCSU communities, North Dakota Winter Show

Tuesday, October 20
6 p.m., VCBC Public Library activity: virtual cooking class for ages 5-12 on Youtube

Wednesday, October 21
10 a.m., VCBC Public Library activity: virtual story hour on Youtube and craft: clothespin scarecrow (call 845-3821 for kit)

Thursday, October 22
7 p.m. VCBC Public Library activity:  In Knots crochet on Zoom

Friday, October 23
Dakota 50/50 horse event, North Dakota Winter Show (Oct. 23-25)

Saturday, October 24
2 p.m. Viking women’s basketball vs. Briar Cliff University, W.E. Osmon Fieldhouse
4 p.m. Viking football at Dakota State University (Madison, S.D.)

Sunday, October 25