Everything Nac

Keeping the safety of their fellow students in mind when the campus opens this fall, five interior design seniors at Stephen F. Austin State University spent the summer working as interns for SFA’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness to collect data on classrooms and design safe learning environments for their classmates.

On June 8, Miriam Amador of Lufkin, April Cooper of Huntington, Osiel Mireles and Cristel Perez of Houston, and Brooke Ward of Dallas were tasked with taking measurements, inventorying and photographing all furniture and technological equipment, and documenting elements ranging from electrical outlets to floor, baseboard, wall and ceiling materials for nearly 400 rooms across campus, including auditoriums, gyms and laboratories.

“They had to assess every space that can possibly be used to teach a class,” said Sally Ann Swearingen, associate professor and internship coordinator for the interior design program at SFA.

The students are working through all their data to create floor plans for each SFA building to comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines by the first week of August. They’re also compiling spreadsheets with information to help faculty members know how many students are allowed in each learning space and how to arrange the furniture and technology in those spaces to meet physical distancing requirements.

The students’ finished floor plans, along with their proposed physical distancing furniture plans and occupant loads for each room and lab, will be posted on the Office of Institutional Effectiveness website. All faculty and staff will have full access to this site.

“This will be a great resource many people will be able to utilize even after the pandemic ends,” Swearingen said. “Everybody will have access to it, so faculty and staff, department chairs and deans will all know how each classroom should look.”

In return for their efforts, the interior design seniors are receiving a small stipend and credit for their interior design internship course.

Swearingen directed the students to approach this assignment as if they were completing a job for an interior design client.

“I believe in looking at a job to see how you can make others’ lives better,” Swearingen said. “This is a great way to illustrate to these students how to be resourceful and utilize their creative skills to assist their firm or client.”

The client for this project is John Calahan, director of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness at SFA.

“This has been a great group of students to work with,” Calahan said. “Their efforts are critical to the safe opening of the university in the fall. The data, analysis and plans they’ve developed set a new standard for information management regarding our academic spaces and will inform future decisions for the university.”

All five students have different strengths that contribute to the team, Cooper said.

“We have five different perspectives, so we’ve been able to eliminate any gaps in our COVID plan,” she said. “We were able to correct each other and prevent each other from missing something.”

One of the first needed strengths was proficiency in the Microsoft Teams application, which Amador provided. She helped team members use the tool to connect with each other and exchange large quantities of data, including photos of every piece of furniture and technological equipment encountered in each classroom. She also used the app to ensure her teammates uploaded complete information.

“Using Teams was key because we’re not all in the same location and we’re not online at the same time,” Amador said.

Amador and Ward led efforts to take the physical measurements of each room.

“We noted every door, every small nook, all the windows and electrical outlets,” Ward said. “We made sure electrical plans were accurate for the electrical team to come in later and create Zoom rooms.”

Cooper assessed the furniture in each room to help determine how it should be arranged and occupied for proper physical distancing among students in the fall.

Amador, Cooper and Ward uploaded digital copies of their measurements, drawings and notes in Microsoft Teams so Mireles and Perez could use computer-aided design software called AutoCAD to merge the information into floor plans for each room.

“We made the plans really simple to understand, even for someone who doesn’t know how to read floor plans,” Mireles said.

The interior design seniors have had to juggle jobs, other classes and commutes from out of town to complete this assignment. Cooper commutes from Huntington, Mireles commutes from Houston and Perez contributes remotely from Houston, where she’s working and taking two other courses.

Though the students knew each other from their junior year classes, this opportunity gave them the chance to learn from each other.

“It was great being able to work as a team even when we can’t be physically together,” Perez said. “That’s the challenge of COVID.”

Mireles and Perez transferred to SFA through the university’s interior design partnership with Houston Community College. They used Zoom to attend classes from Houston even before the pandemic.

“When we were in the Zoom classes, we all would see each other, but Cristel and I never would communicate with April or Brooke or Miriam,” Mireles said. “But this fall, I’ll feel comfortable texting them if I need help and vice versa.”

Swearingen said learning how to work with team members who have different schedules and live in different locations is good preparation for when these students graduate and begin working for global firms with offices in a variety of time zones.

“There are so many firms that have an office in London and another in Houston and another in New York,” she said. “We’re training them that this is how you work together.”

Swearingen added, “This group of students has done really well to brainstorm, talk among each other and work through issues and double-check each other. It takes a team effort.”

Perez said team members have been able to exchange different tips and tricks they picked up on their respective campuses.

“Osiel and I learned AutoCAD tricks from our HCC professors, while April, Brooke and Miriam had their own tricks from SFA professors,” Perez said. “We’ve picked the best of both worlds to apply in future projects.”

This internship also gives the interior design seniors experience — the ability to create COVID-19 plans for offices and workspaces — that more businesses will need as employees return to work during the pandemic.

“At the beginning, I just considered this a regular internship, but now, toward the end of it, I’m very proud of us,” Mireles said. “I feel like this is special for us because it reflects what’s going on in the real world. We can show potential employers our portfolio and tell them how we put our COVID plan together, and I think they’re going to be really impressed.”

The seniors said their fellow students should feel safer knowing SFA is meticulously following CDC guidelines while making preparations for the fall.

“We know what’s going on; we’re seeing it with our own eyes. We’ve been working many hours a week for the past two months to complete the project,” Ward said.

Perez added, “And we’re students, so other students know we care because we’re also attending classes here. We want to make it safe not just for us but for others, too.”

For more information on SFA’s reopening plans, visit sfasu.edu/fall2020.

By Jo Gilmore, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.

A station completely free of seven major food allergens is one of several new features in an extensive, ongoing renovation to Stephen F. Austin State University’s Baker Pattillo Student Center dining hall.

Other major features include a dedicated “plant-forward” produce station to replace the former salad bar, a redesigned bakery allowing for confectionary pickup orders, a meat carvery station that will focus on lean meats, and the implementation of various physical distancing and health safety measures.

Construction began in April and is scheduled to be complete before the start of the fall semester.

“Because there are millions of people with food allergies, we knew we needed to better serve our students by having a more inclusive concept in the dining hall,” explained Carrie Charley, SFA’s director of auxiliary services. “In a commercial kitchen, it is nearly impossible to prevent cross-contamination. At this new allergen-aware station, all ingredients are kept separate from other dining hall menu items from the moment they arrive on the student center’s back dock until the moment the dish is served.”

The innovative meals offered through the station will be free of seven of the eight most common food allergens: milk, egg, peanut, tree nut, soy, wheat and shellfish. The eighth allergen, finfish, was kept to provide sufficient protein variety, Charley said.

“For the past several years, we’ve been tracking how many students have dietary restrictions, and that number has increased,” said Jill Hamilton, an Aramark senior specialist registered dietitian. “The allergen awareness station was added to make it easier for those with restrictions to identify offerings. Even if someone doesn’t have an allergy, I think they will still enjoy the station.”

While some dietary restrictions are based on a diner’s personal preferences, food allergies are not, and exposure to certain food products can be potentially dangerous to students with those allergies. Allergen-aware staff members will prepare dishes using dedicated kitchenware and utensils that have been thoroughly washed and sanitized between uses.

SFA has, for years, utilized allergen and nutritional information cards, which are placed near each dish at dining hall stations. The new dedicated station is the next step toward ensuring increased levels of student health awareness and dietary flexibility.

While universities nationwide are expanding their allergen-aware accommodations, SFA “might be one of the first to also use this new space as a teaching kitchen,” Charley said. “Once we are able to safely do so, we hope to host teaching tutorials and cooking competitions from this space in the evenings and during special events. We have special seating designed around the area that is movable and customizable for small groups.”

The concept of plant-forward offerings, which emphasizes “healthy plants at the center of the plate with a proportionally small quantity of animal protein,” Hamilton explained, is not a new one. SFA began adding plant-forward dishes two years ago, including such offerings as lentil “meat” loaf, grilled veggie skewers and cauliflower wings.

Several other stations in the dining hall also offer plant-forward dishes, but the newly revamped and expanded plant-forward produce station will provide a dedicated space for and expansion of these offerings. It also provides more flexible and diverse options for vegan and vegetarian diets, although every station also includes a vegan dish.

“I am super excited about the new produce station,” Charley said. “According to Dataessential, nearly 40% of Americans say they are eating less red meat and are seeking more vegetables. This trend is called ‘plant forward,’ putting plants (fruits, veggies, whole grains, nuts, beans) at the center of your plate. This renovation bursts open the doors to new possibilities for dining on our campus with a fresh perspective, fresh ingredients and a bright new landscape to enjoy meals together.”

Aside from expanding food options, the student center dining hall renovation also has updated food service procedures and modernized seating and dining aesthetics.

“The entrance to the dining hall has been expanded by 16 feet and provides a more open view into the entire facility,” Charley said. “There are three self-check-in stations and also pre-packaged to-go meals available.”

With the outbreak of COVID-19, additional safety and distancing measures were added to the renovation project, including the design of 25%, 50% and 75% capacity seating plans by architects Tipton Associates, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

“With those plans, we will be able to adjust as needed before it is time to load the furniture in,” Charley said. “Most of the crowd control and occupancy management will be handled by the dining team, with the cooperation of our guests. The new check-in stations are self-swipe, and the dining team will serve food rather than having self-service, keeping things as contactless as possible. We now also have outdoor seating available facing the beautiful view down Vista Drive.”

Visual cues will be implemented throughout the hall to keep diners at a safe distance from each other. Sneeze guards have been a standard fixture in all dining halls, but extra guards were added to fill gaps.

“Face masks are required to be worn while in line and walking from station to station,” Charley added. “You also will see staff members in masks and frequently cleaning throughout the day. You might see that a station is temporarily closed during 15-minute intervals for deep cleaning and utensil replacement.”

For more information on fall 2020 dining options and updates, visit the “Dining” section on sfasu.edu/fall2020.

By Christine Broussard, marketing communications coordinator at Stephen F. Austin State University.