By WHITNEE ICE
St. Joseph Post
Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville has been recognized for its response to the COVID-19 pandemic with an Excellence and Innovation Award from AASCU.
University Police Chief Clarence Green says there wasn’t a blueprint in how to tackle COVID-19.
“Much of the things that we did were in uncharted waters, and so really it reaffirms our work and the commitment of our faculty, staff, students, as well as our community in being all in together to ensure that we’re focused on student success, the viability of our organization and the safety of our employees,” Green tells St. Joseph Post.
Green says he believes Northwest won the award for specifically three reasons including but not limited to retaining student enrolment and even growing in enrollment.
“We were able to be on-ground throughout the fall and spring at a much more robust level then most of our peers,” says Green.
Green says there where 13 Green Teams, also thought of as innovation teams, deployed during the pandemic.
“There are teams made up of anywhere from three to ten individuals that meet about a specific topic for example we would say accommodations, we would have one on academics, we would have one on mitigation measures,” says Green.
The award recognizes Northwest’s ability to maintain on-campus operations through the pandemic, while also working with mitigation measures.