Wentworth Overcomes COVID-19 Challenge to Complete Fall Semester

As the winter of 2019 began to fade, momentum was building across campus around a new shared vision for the future of Wentworth Institute of Technology.  President Mark A. Thompson was focused on moving the university forward with a collaborative, progressive and bold strategic plan. Admissions goals were being exceeded. The mood across the institution was optimistic.

Then the COVID-19 heath crisis materialized, as if from thin air—a rogue wave pounding the economy and interrupting life as we know it everywhere.

“I remember thinking that, while the impact of the pandemic on higher education would likely be significant, Wentworth was better positioned than most to respond effectively,” said Thompson. “I had confidence in our faculty and staff and their ability to pivot and innovate to ensure that our students’ academic and support needs would be met.”

As the mystery virus spread across the United States and became a full-blown pandemic by mid to late March, Thompson and the faculty, staff and administration began working on a comprehensive plan to keep Wentworth operating to deliver on its academic mission for the spring and summer semesters.

In late April, various working groups of faculty, staff and administration came together to develop various scenarios for how to reenter campus safely in the fall. This included a working group focused on academic planning. That group advised Thompson on different options for delivering curriculum, including modality. 

“We agreed from the start that all lecture-based courses would be delivered remotely and we should focus on labs and studios for in-person learning options given the importance of achieving learning outcomes through a hands-on experience,” Thompson recalled. 

Putting health and safety first, the university ended up offering 25 percent of its courses in-person, with most faculty teaching remotely and those that were on campus averaging four to six hours per week in safe environments.

Today, as a massive vaccine program brings hope that an end to the pandemic is coming, Thompson and the university community are reflecting on the completion of a successful fall semester, one that saw the Institute bring part of the student population back to campus for a full term while offering hybrid learning or an all-online option for all other students. “We designed and implemented a re-entry plan that has proven to be a success story in higher education,” said Thompson. “A lot of teamwork allowed us to accomplish what we set out to do.”

In preparation for a limited re-entry in the fall the entire campus had to be reconfigured and sanitized, and a complex testing and contact tracing program had to be established to ensure the health and safety of the students, faculty and staff. Like other colleges and universities in the area, Wentworth had to create a special campus testing area. It implemented prearrival and regular monitoring and began testing for the virus once a week for those coming to campus and for Wentworth students living in Boston. It implemented contact tracing, set up quarantine and isolation housing for students, and as cases started increasing across the country, began testing twice weekly in November.

The numbers posted to an online dashboard tell the story. By December 14, Wentworth had conducted over 40,000 tests, with a total of 110 testing positive for the virus (.28% overall). The state’s 7-day percent positive then was 5.6 percent. Boston posted a 14-day percent positive rate of 2.82 percent. Conversely, Wentworth’s 7-day percent positive percentage was 1.11 percent.

Thompson cited several key factors for Wentworth’s successful fall semester, including investments in health and safety measures, aggressive testing (Wentworth was among only 6 percent of colleges and universities testing twice weekly) and contact tracing that prevented any community spread on campus. He also credited “the extraordinary effort” by staff members who took on extra duties and responsibilities without complaint; the “dedication of the faculty” to advance and support student learning and academic progress; and, importantly, students’ willingness to make the right choices and adhere to safety measures and protocols.

Wentworth has lived up to the optimistic expectations of its COVID-19 manager, Kathleen Hamill, who back in mid-August told the community that the university would be able to stay open if it stuck to a rigorous testing regimen and hued relentlessly to all local, state and federal guidelines for masks, distancing and hand washing.

“From my perspective, we've had three key factors that have been critical: teamwork, technology and tenacity,” Hamill said.

Thompson said Wentworth has learned a lot this fall and expects similar success in the spring by employing many of the same strategies. In the meantime, the university is also pivoting when necessary to meet real-time challenges from the pandemic. With a major surge in COVID-19 cases projected immediately following the holiday season, the university decided to start the Spring 2021 semester online for everyone in January and then move to on-campus learning beginning on February 1 for those students who have registered for in-person courses.

“For Spring 2021, we have committed to offering at least one in-person class to any student who would like to register for in-person coursework,” Thompson said.

“Given the success we had in offering in-person coursework in the fall, we are planning to expand in-person learning to 50 percent (of courses) in the spring because we are confident that courses can be taken safely in-person with the appropriate precautions in place.”