Welcome  to  Beyond  the  Nest  University  of Minnesota,  Rochester's  Alumni  podcast. I'm  Marco  Lands,  MR.  Director  of Alumni  Development  Relationships  Beyond the  Nest  highlights  Raptor  alumni, their  work  and  lessons  learned  along  the  way. In  this  special  state  of  the  campus  episode, we  hear  from  UMR  Chancellor  Lori  Carroll  and Rochester  Student  Association  President  User  Yusef. They  sat  down  to  chat  about  life  at  UMR  in  2021, the  manner  in  which  the  pandemic  has  changed  school, and  the  way  we  work,  and  how  students  have  responded  to a  multitude  of  disruptions with  resilience  and  compassion. We're  sitting  here  on a  sunny  fall  afternoon thinking  ahead  and  living  through  mid  term  week. I'm  Lori  Carroll,  Chancellor of  the  University  of  Minnesota, Rochester,  and  I  have our  Rochester's  Student  Association president  with  us  today. Hi,  Ran.  My  name  is  User  Usf. It's  a  pleasure  to  be  sitting here  talking  to  you  today.  Chancellor  Carroll. Well,  you  as  well. I  understand  it's  been  quite  a  week  on  campus. Mm  hmm.  There's  been  a  couple  exams  here  and  there  keeps, you  know,  students  on  their  toes. It's  nice  to  kind  of  have a  break  right  now  to  just  talk  to  you  about student  perspective  and  how this  year  is  going  as  a  whole. So  I'm  very  curious  about  that. You  know,  in  July, we  anticipated  this  fall  to  be  completely free  of  covid  and  masks  and  all  related  trappings, all  the  anxiety  and  ambiguity. And  yet  things  changed  and  there  was  delta. And  here  we  are  again. We  are  in  person  and  it's  so  wonderful  to  be  together. But  I'm  wondering,  particularly  in  this  semester, how  the  challenge  of  covid  is  affecting  students. Bringing  up  Covid.  It,  you  know, still  is  a  touchy  subject  to this  day  with  the  face  mask  and the  social  distancing  last  year not  being  able  to  be  in  person  and  seeing. I  know  Mar  is  very  big  on a  connection  and  building  connection between  students  and  faculty  and  staff. So  not  be  able  to  see  each  other  in person  last  year  has  been really  impactful  for  a  lot  of  students. So  we  are  very  grateful  that  this  semester we're  able  to  not  only  see  one  another, but  be  in  the  classroom  space, be  in  the  lab  space  with  one  another. So  to  be  able  to  grow  as a  community  is  really  important  here  in  that  face  mask. We're  going  to  be  part  of  this  semester, just  another  hurdle  that students  just  had  to  face  as  a  whole. And  I  know  that  this  doesn't  only  affect  students, but  just  from  the  students  perspective, we're  just  really  thankful  that  we're  able to  continue  the  collaborative  spaces  that  we  have. It  felt  a  little  lonely  last  year, so  being  able  to  fill  in  those  spaces with  the  new  spaces  such  as the  Nest  in  the  second  floor  space, and  interacting  with  other  students  is  very  heartwarming. Especially  in  times  during  like  the  mid  term  square. You  just  need  to  see  someone  else. Let  me  tell  you,  we  were  sad  too. Yeah.  Faculty,  staff,  administration, we  missed  you  and  it  is  so  good  to  be  together. I've  been  wondering,  especially  because  all  of  you  are studying  health  and  you  have a  passion  for  a  career  in  health. How  you  see  what  is  happening  broadly  in our  culture  related  to  vaccinations  and  masking. And  what  lessons  you  might  be learning  as  a  future  health  professional. As  a  beautiful  question,  as a  future  healthcare  professional, Being  and  learning  during a  pandemic  is  one  of  the  greatest  strengths  that  we  have, not  only  as  students  but  as  human  beings,  right? We  are  learning  so  much  day  to day  with  new  updates  that  are  coming out  with  not  only  the  virus  but  also  the  vaccines. You  know,  it's  also  a  flu  season  as  well. So  we're  picking  up  new  information every  single  day  that  goes to  show  that  in  the  future  new  healthcare  research, evidence  based  research  will  come  out  right. And  being  able  to  adapt  to  the  new  information, the  new  research  is  really  important. So  I  think  that's  one  thing that  I'm  taking  away  from  this. Keeping  up  with  the  research, keeping  up  with  the  new  information  that's  coming  out. And  then  also  with, you  know,  the  students  that  I'm  surrounded  by. Vaccines  are  always  a  conversation. We're  always  talking  about  it,  we're  always wondering  what  is  the  new  information  that's  coming  out. I'm  currently  in  biochem  and  we're  learning  about  how the  covid  vaccine  interacts  with  our  body. So  it's  really  interesting  that  this  is  something that  we  are  learning  about  in  class  as  well. So  you  can  fill  me  in  a  little  bit because  I  just  had  my  Pfizer  booster yesterday  and  I  can  feel  that  things  are happening  and  you  can  probably explain  what  those  things  are. Hopefully,  hopefully,  I  know  that  we started  talking  about  it  yesterday. So  hopefully  during  the  end  of  the  week, I'll  definitely  give  you  an  update  on  that. Great.  That's  a  great. I  have  been  wondering  about  administration, how  administration  has,  you  know, been  impacted  as  well  during  this  pandemic. I  know  I  have  been  able to  see  it  from  that  point  of  view. So  I  would  love  to  know,  well, from  the  beginning,  you  know, back  in  March  2020  and when  we  went  to  the  zoom  world,  Mm  hm. You  know,  the  hours  were  longer and  the  satisfaction  was  hard  to  find because  we  were  separated  from students  and  had  a  lot  of  concern about  how  we  would  keep our  tight  neck  community  going and  support  students  wherever  they  were. And  of  course,  the  guidance and  the  science  kept  evolving. So  communicating  in  a  clear  and  transparent  way as  things  were  changing, and  making  decisions  for the  best  interest  of  students  first, and  also  decisions  that  would  affect  our  finances. And  figuring  out  how  to  navigate  that, that  all  became  the  focus. I  just  missed  the  students  so  much,  I  have  to  tell  you, I  think  that's  true  for  all  educators that  you  and  your  development  and  your  learning. That's  why  we're  here  with  you. I  say,  wow,  it's  good  to  be  together. I've  been  thinking  a  lot  about how  you  and  other  students have  had  to  persevere  through  this. Every  time  I  wrote  a  letter  to  the  campus  saying, this  is  changing,  that's  changing, we're  going  to  be  more  remote  or  less  remote. Or  this  mandate  or  that I  was  wondering  about  your  perseverance  through  change. And  thinking  that  coming  of  age during  the  multiple  disruptions  of  these  last  couple  of years  is  going  to  give  you a  distinct  perspective  that you  would  not  have  had  otherwise. We  think  a  lot  about  the  greatest  generation, they're  called  that  coming  out  of  World  War  Two. I  think  this  generation  will  also  be  great, is  already  great  and that  you  will  be  contributing  in  distinct  ways. So  I  just  wonder  for  you, or  what  you  know  from  your  classmates, how  you  did  manage  to  persevere  through all  the  changes  and  the  challenges  as  a  student  body. We  were  able  to  not  only  share  our  positivity  and share  our  outlook  on  what  has  been  happening  at  first, Just  to  kind  of  bring  it  back  to  last  year  being  on  line, it  started  with  a  little  zoom  chats, the  high,  the  smiley  faces,  how  are  you  doing? And  being  able  to  now migrate  into  in  person  and  see  each  other's  um, smile  and  at  least  to  each  other's presence  is  really  important. One  thing  that  I've  taken  away  from this  experience  is  being  a  positive  person. Even  when  times  get  hard,  right? How  can  I  share  my  positivity  and my  energy  around  others  to  create  a  positive  environment? If  it's  sharing  a  joke, if  it's  being  able  to  give  a  hug, you  know  how  can  I create  a  positive  environment  around  me? And  hopefully  you'll  take  that  in the  future  with  me  going  into  patient  care. And  I  think  that's  such  a  beautiful  thing. And  I  hope,  and  all  you  know, every  student  has  learned such  a  critical  skill  through  this. And  I  can  say  the  same  for  faculty, staff  and  administration  as  well. So  what  skills? And  I'm  in  a  skill, what  thing  do  you  feel  like you've  learned  the  most  from  this? Yeah,  I  think  the  compassion  has  amplified, even  though  we  are  a  tight  knit  community and  we  care  about  one  another. That  knowing  the  kinds  of  struggles that  many  people  were  facing  and  that  the  impacts, they  affected  us  all  but  unevenly. Some  have  had  deaths  in  their  families, others  have  had  illness, others  have  had  financial  challenges  and  more. And  I  have  seen  a  real  outpouring  of  compassion. And  like  you  say,  sometimes  it's  something  simple, like  a  little  heart  emoticon  during  the, the  zoom  and  yet  it  is  felt,  you  know, and  I  can  imagine  that, that  compassion  will  carry  forward  into  careers  where understanding  that  your  patient  or client  may  be  going through  something  that  is  invisible  to  you. But  you  can  be  aware  that  it  was  pretty  substantial. And  it'll  be  interesting  to  track  how the  resilience  and  compassion carries  you  into  the  future. Definitely,  I  really  can't  wait  to  see  that. I  know  that  students  have  been impacted  in  great  amounts,  right? I  know  that  the  second  year  class, you  know,  having  their  high  school  class, um,  their  senior  class,  their  senior  year, being  in  person  and  then  coming  on  to  college. And  that  has  also been  a  great  deal  of  just  resiliency  in  itself, being  able  to  go  into college  for  your  first  year,  being  online, I'm  just  in  great  awe  all  the  time  looking  at my  class  and  looking  at  the  classes  before  me  above  me. And  just  being  able  to  look  at  them  and  say, oh,  I  really  want  to  do  what  you're  doing,  right? Like  even  during  a  pandemic,  you  are  showing  up. You  are  taking  up  space. You  are  making  the  best  college  experience you  still  can  with  this  happening. So  it's  such  a  beautiful  thing. It  is  indeed. The  challenges  were  more  than  covid, as  if  a  global  pandemic  wasn't  enough. I  think  our  attention  has  been riveted  on  racial  injustice. And  there  is  momentum  toward  justice  and  anti  racism, and  this  has  been especially  hard  in  the  time  of  separation. And  encouraging  student  voice  and  activism, and  faculty  and  staff  progress  and change  has  been  part of  the  leadership  task  for  both  of  us. I  wonder  about  your  perspective  on the  rest  of  the  disruption that  we've  all  been  experiencing. It's  kind  of,  it's  definitely  interesting  saying  that  if one  pandemic  wasn't  enough,  what  about  a  second  one? Right.  So  having  living through  a  racial  pandemic  as  well, I  feel  like  was  definitely  eye  opening. I  was  born  and  raised  in  Minneapolis. Seeing  it  happen  from  a  window  was  very, not  only  shocking,  but  something that  I  will  forever  continue  to  talk  about. It  was  one  of those  experiences  that  I feel  like  if  you  asked  me  before, I  would  say,  oh,  it  will  never  happen. You  know,  it  was,  it  was  that  shocking  to  me managing  a  pandemic  with  Covid. And  I  remember  during  that  time, there  was  just  so  much,  um, uncertainty,  what's  happening. I'm  not  sure  if  the  vaccine  was  like  a  talk,  like, if  that  even  started  yet, that's  how  early  it  happened. And  then  also  managing  school  during that  time  has  been  a  trifacta,  right? There's  just  so  many  things  happening in  my  life  during  that  time. And  I  remember  going  out  and  in support  of  my  community,  you  know, I  remember  these  days where  we  were  just  taking  a  broom  and cleaning  up  streets  and  I  remember  thinking  like, this  is  life,  this  is, you  know,  so  there's  no  word  to  describe  it. Sometimes  that  makes  sense. And  as  you  came  back  to campus  so  that  we  could  be  in  person  and continue  momentum  and  compassion and  have  our  eyes  wide  open. Have  you  found  students  in  conversation about  all  the  disruptions  as  you  came  back? Is  there  voice  around social  justice  within  the  campus  community? I  remember  during  that  time, I  think  a  couple  of  months or  I'm  not  sure  exactly  when  this  took  place. We  had  a  diversity  dialogue  for students  to  just  let  everything  out. And  that  was  the  first  time  that  I  was  able to  authentically  share  exactly  what I  was  feeling  in  that  space. So  I'm  really  thankful  for  that. And  then  currently  in  present  day, I  think  students,  we're  always  talking  about  it. You  know,  it  might  not  be  a  15  minute  conversation, but  those  small  little conversations  that  kind  of  remember, that  we  lived  through  that  time, we  remember  it  is  such  an  amazing  thing  to  me. Because  even  with  it  being such  an  affecting  experience  to  so  many  students, we're  able  to  still continue  that  momentum  and  that passion  through  class  work,  through  schoolwork. I  remember  in  CLI  we  talked  about  it, we  talked  about  it  after,  you  know, in  C  dialogues  in the  anti  racism  action  plan  that  I  was  able  to, you  know,  work  on  as  well. So  it  was  just  continuing to  talk  about  it  through  different, various  aspects  of  work. So,  and  we  want  to  expand that  plan  and  continue  our  work  to dismantle  systemic  racism  and look  forward  to  recommendations  from  the  student  body, which  I  know  that  you  are  a  leader  and  that  there  are other  leaders  as  well  beyond  the  Na. To  hear  from  you,  check  this  episode. Show  nodes  for  how  to  connect  and  share  your  UMR  story. Now  back  to  Usa  and  Chancellor Carroll  as  they  chat  about  advice  for their  pre  pandemic  selves  and  the  work  being  done  on campus  around  social  justice  and  anti  racism. I  wonder  if  you  could  look  back  to, I  don't  know,  January  or  February  of  2020. And  talk  to  your  pre,  pandemic,  pandemic  self. What  you  might  say  to  that  Usa, You've  grown  so  much  as  have  your  classmates. We've  persevered  through  so  much. We  have  deeper  values  and deeper  compassion  and  greater  resilience. But  in  the  midst  of  it, there  were  a  lot  of  challenges. So  I  just  wonder  if  you  could go  back  in  time  and  talk  to  that  us. What  would  you  say  first? I'll  just  give  that  user  a  big  hug because  she  will  be  going through  such  a  life  changing  experience  so  soon. So  I'd  give  her  a  pre  hug  before  to  comfort  her. But  words  of  wisdom,  I  would  say, to  remember  the  why  in  your  life, like  why  are  you  doing  this? Why  are  you  a  student, a  daughter,  a  sister,  a  friend. Like  remembering  that  because I  think  that's  like  what  drove Those  long  hard  months, You  know,  whether  that  was  at  home  with  family, whether  that's  trying  to  be  a  school, being  online,  whether  that's  with  work,  you  know  why. Remembering  the  why  and  everything  that I  do  was  very  important  to  me. And  that's  kind  of,  if I  could  write  it  down  somewhere  like a  little  post  and  not  on  the  mirror to  just  remember  it,  that'd  be  really  nice. But  I  think  that's  a  beautiful  question. If  you  could  go  back  in  time, if  that  was  something  that  was  in  our  possibility, what  would  you  tell  the  January  2020? Well,  first,  I  love  your  answer, you  know,  remembering  the  why. And  like  I  was  saying  before, usually  on  campus  students  are  right  in  front  of  us and  there  are  y  and  is  also  for  students, when  you  go  get  a  cup  of  coffee  and  you see  patients  and  visitors, it's  a  visible  sign  of your  future  purpose  and  why you're  studying  so  hard  and  moving  forward. And  so  I  think  some  of  those  visible  signs were  removed  from  us. But  yes,  I  would  also  give  pre  pandemic Lurie  Chancellor  a  hug,  probably  a  long  one. Say  you  better  go  out  and  meet  with some  people  now  because  you're  going  to  miss  them  later. You  don't  even  know  it. I  think  there  was  a  Saturday  night  live  skit  on  this, what  we  would  say  to  our  pre  pandemic  selves. But  also  some  reassurance that  students  are  going  to  be  okay. It  will  be  challenging.  They  will  persevere. The  campus  will  be  okay,  we  will  adapt. It  will  be  difficult. But  because  of  the  purpose that  faculty  and  staff  know  they  have, they  will  also  be  able  to  persevere,  you  know, that  it's  our  aspiration  here to  show  radical  care  to  students  and  support their  success  in  every  way  that  was  made  so  much  more difficult  by  the  many  events of  this  time  when  we  were  apart  from  each  other. And  yet  here  we  are,  we're  back. So  yeah,  I  want  to  tell  her  it's  going  to  be okay  and  we  don't  like  that  term, silver  linings  too  much  when  things  are globally  disrupted  and  systemically. So  yet  there  is  innovation. There  is  learning  coming out  of  the  first  period  of  the  pandemic. We  don't  know  what  stage  we're  in  now, but  there  are  learnings, and  I  think  we've  been  referencing  some  of  them. So  I  would  also  reassure my  pre  pandemic  self  that  we  would  be  learning, that  learning  would  be  accelerated,  and  ultimately, our  campus  community  would  be  even stronger  when  we'd  get  to  the  other  side. I  definitely  agree  with  you  on  that. Definitely,  that  long  cog and  that  all  those  words of  wisdom  I  would  definitely  share  as  well. Too  bad  we  didn't  know. I  don't  know  if  I  would  have known  what  that  anxiety  level. Wouldn't  that  be  amazing?  Yeah,  Right  here  we  are. It's  fall  2021. Mm  hmm. We  are  together.  We  are  masked. We  are  vaccinated,  we  are  learning. Science  is  progressing. Our  resilience  and  compassion  have  grown. And  every  day  you're  still studying  faculty,  you're  still  teaching. And  we  are  moving  forward.  Mm  hm. Moving  onward,  right  onward. I  like  to  say  learning  as  we  go. As  you  said,  everything  is  going  to  be  okay. So  I  think  it's a  beautiful  thing  to  know  that everything  will  fall  into  place  and, you  know,  we're  going  to  continue, we  are  going  to  thrive, I  feel  like  as  a  community through  next  semester,  in  the  upcoming  semester. I  thank  you  so  much  for  talking  with  me  today, but  also  for  your  leadership  of  this  campus. I  appreciate  you  so  much.  You  too. Thank  you  so  much  for  everything. Thank  you  for  listening  to  me  on  the  nest. And  we'll  see  you  back  here next  month  for  a  lively  conversation  with UMR  student  success  coach  Jen  Hook in  2017,  Alumna  Ntiachandirmani.