Global Safety and Support serves as an expert consultant for institutional travelers and assists in preparing constituents to safely pursue scholarship and study both abroad and at University-operated sites in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Further, Global Safety and Support serves as the principal coordinator of University efforts to support faculty, staff, and students that may experience difficulties while pursuing institutional objectives away from the main campus.
Year Highlights:
- International travel has been allowed for essential purposes only since summer of 2021. Global Safety and Support has managed the review and exception process for academic programs seeking to travel.
- Monitored evolving Covid-19 conditions, as well as the conflict in Europe, and consulted with those needing to travel for essential purposes to minimize travel risk. One student was supported through evacuation from Russia.
- Managed Covid-19 operations for remote programs in New York City, D.C., and L.A. including the testing programs for D.C. and L.A. In both cases, local staff have collected saliva samples for testing at University facilities in Syracuse.
- Managed the development of Covid-19 safety plans for overseas operations in Europe for summer and fall of 2021 and served as a consultant for the development of local plans for spring 2022.
- Unfortunately, further development of the novel travel safety policy was put on hold during the pandemic in favor of more restrictive temporary travel policies. We hope for a return to normal policy in 2022-2023 and plan to move forward with implementing key aspects of that plan including: high-risk travel review, pre-travel risk orientation, and trip-leader training.
Important Statistics:
- For 2021-2022, the New York City, D.C., and L.A. programs hosted 375 students and recorded a total of 16 Covid-19 cases.
Student Engagement Highlights:
- Students have been successfully studying abroad again since a pilot small group attended a program in Florence in the spring of 2021. Since that time, enrollment has been increasing and we have been successfully and safely operating programs abroad as well as in domestic remote locations in New York City, D.C., and L.A. Staff in all programs have contributed significant extra effort to implement location-specific Covid protocols that have had to follow rules unique to that location and that are responsive to infection rates and resource challenges specific to their locations. Combined, these dedicated staff have afforded over 1,000 students the opportunity for safe remote learning.