To students and alumni, they are familiar classroom teachers and mentors. But on a bigger stage, BW faculty are respected experts who provide insights, analysis and commentary in the media.
During the coronavirus pandemic, a number of BW professors and staffers are lending their authoritative voices to news stories and penning guest opinion pieces on a range of topics.
Dr.
Stephanie
Richman,
assistant
professor
of
psychology,
relied
on
both
her
expertise
and
personal
experience
planning
a
July
wedding
in
the
midst
of
the
pandemic
in
order
to
name
and
validate
a
feeling
many
have
experienced.
In her cleveland.com guest column, "What about my wedding? Pandemic uncertainty leads to ambiguous loss and grief," Richman observes, "Typical grief is finite. Something awful happens, but then it's over. You grieve, but you have a grave to visit or photos of your ex to burn. But sometimes, grief is not finite … It is uncertain, ambiguous."
In "Transforming outdoor spaces for learning," Christine Cancian, associate director of recreation services, discusses the benefits of turning the great outdoors into classroom space during the pandemic.
"Innovative
ideas
are
needed
in
education
right
now,"
Cancian
writes.
"As
an
outdoor
educator,
I
have
seen
firsthand
the
transformations
that
can
happen
when
students
are
taken
outside.
Students
need
some
grounding
right
now,
as
do
educators,
and
what
better
way
to
accomplish
that
task?"
Religion professor Dr. Alan Kolp teamed up with his ethics coauthors to assert, "Compassion is a key weapon helping us defeat the coronavirus," noting, "We absolutely maintain control of one thing - how we react to this crisis and how we can deploy an important human anti-viral weapon - compassion."
Business
professor
and
enlightened
leadership
guru
Param
Srikantia
also
sees
the
opportunity
for
personal
growth
in
quarantine.
In a pair of guest columns, "5 ways to know if you are growing (or not) during the coronavirus lockdown" and "Awaken to your hidden potential in the midst of COVID-19," Srikantia urges readers to self-reflect. "By exploring the impact of the pandemic on the inner life of our loved ones, we can grow in self-awareness and in intimacy."
Srikantia reinforces those views in a cleveland.com news article exploring "The necessary new normal: How the deadly coronavirus pandemic will reshape Ohio, the world and us," which also relied on BW public health professor Dr. Emilia Lombardi's expertise.
Lombardi predicts that the pandemic will spur a public push for better health care access, "We're definitely seeing the weaknesses in our health care systems not just in our pandemic response, but in everyday things as well," she says.
Faculty involved in the BW Community Research Institute (CRI) sampled real-time public opinion in widely cited surveys that found "'Overwhelming' number of Ohio voters approve of Gov. DeWine's stay-at-home restrictions."
In
one
of
a
multitude
of
media
appearances,
Dr.
Lauren
Copeland,
associate
director
of
the
BW
CRI,
told
WOIO-TV
that
"Ohio
Republican
Governor
Mike
DeWine's
apolitical,
no-nonsense
response
to
the
crisis
has
set
the
national
agenda."
Copeland's CRI and political science faculty colleague, Dr. Tom Sutton, who serves as WEWS-TV's political analyst, regularly weighs in on the pandemic and politics, including the recent announcement that the first presidential debate was moved to Cleveland.
BW health experts have also been drawn into the conversation with professor Wendy Hyde myth-busting "Does COVID-19 prevent smoking?" for WTAM radio listeners.
When Tom Campanella, health care business professor emeritus, noted that "Ohio spends less per capita on public health than nearly every other state" the Columbus Dispatch, Canton Repository and Crain's Cleveland all took notice.
Campanella also dissected the toll COVID-19 has taken on the business of health care for a number of high profile forums, podcasts and webinars including the much-cited Crain's Cleveland Forum and the Quadax interview, "Life After Coronavirus: The Impact on Hospitals and Physician Groups."
As
the
pandemic
has
ravaged
many
sectors
of
the
economy,
BW
finance
professor
and
former
U.S.
Treasury
economist
Dr.
Kevin
Jacques
explored
the
federal
stimulus
response
on
WCPN-NPR's
Sound
of
Ideas
and
considered
the
odds
of
economic
meltdown
for
WTAM
radio's
report,
"Will
the
coronavirus
pandemic
cause
a
deep
recession?"
Fellow finance professor Dr. Christian Nsiah offered answers for WOIO-TV viewers in reports asking, "How should you spend your federal stimulus check from the coronavirus pandemic?" and "How can you prepare for a recession?"
Finally, BW Career services director Patrick Keebler offered advice for college seniors' career searches in the pandemic for Spectrum 1 Cable News, explored how BW is linking up students with jobs and internships during a pandemic summer on WEWS-TV and headlined a podcast on the same topic for InternCLE.
