Regents COVID-19 Recovery Fund Impact Report 2021

Regents COVID-19 Recovery Fund I M PA C T R E P O R T A U G U S T 2 0 2 1

At University of the Pacific, the health and well-being of our students is our number one priority.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the university took swift and necessary actions to ensure the safety of the entire Pacific community by transitioning students and non-essential staff to remote environments and developing plans and strategies to mitigate the spread of the virus.

The university’s Board of Regents also mobilized to establish the Regents COVID-19 Recovery Fund to help offset the financial costs of these efforts.

To date, more than 660 donors have donated to the Fund, raising nearly $1.5 million to support the university in acquiring personal protective equipment, making necessary technology enhancements and implementing additional health and safety measures.

This report provides a snapshot of what these contributions helped accomplish during this extraordinary time.

A Pacific student administers the COVID-19 vaccine during a drive-thru vaccination clinic on the Stockton Campus.

Personal Protective Equipment The Fund helped the university meet the immediate need for more personal protective equipment (PPE), including facial shields, gowns, disinfecting wipes, masks and gloves for frontline employees and to build reserves for all students, faculty and staff.

PPE has been especially important for our three healthfocused professional schools. Students and faculty from the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and School of Health Sciences continued to work on the front lines with patients and have been instrumental in vaccine distribution efforts in the communities they serve. Faculty and students from these schools were designated as certified vaccinators and have been actively administering vaccines since January. To date, the university has administered more than 11,000 vaccines through 28 community vaccination clinics.

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More than 5,300 PPE kits containing reusable cloth masks, disposable paper masks, hand sanitizer and a thermometer were assembled for students, faculty and staff on all three campuses.

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Student Taylor Chan mixes a COVID-19 vaccine to administer shots to Tier 1 front-line health care workers.

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Protective plexiglass was installed in 46 high-traffic areas such as the mailroom and library to protect essential workers on campus. “Our safety and well-being has really been taken into consideration. We have been provided all the necessary protective equipment and that gives me peace of mind when I interact with customers.” Matthew Berry, Mail Clerk

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Regent Virginia Chan ’77, and former Regent Tony Chan ‘77, owners of ABC Pharmacy, sprung to action along with their daughter Megan ’13 to donate enough PPE to fill two moving vans.

Signage was placed in every building marking ingress and egress points to help control traffic flow, mitigate group exposure and remind visitors to wear a mask.

Hand-sanitizing stations have been placed throughout all campus buildings and restrooms have been retrofitted with touchless soap and paper towel dispensers. The university was also able to upgrade HVAC systems with MERV 13 air filters and purchase Clorox 360 spray machines to clean and disinfect large spaces.

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Technology Enhancements The pivot to remote instruction required significant technology resources to assist faculty in adapting materials for online instruction and to ensure students had access to the tools needed to continue their studies.

Faculty received portable kits with lavalier microphones, webcams and document cameras to facilitate virtual instruction from any remote location.

Extra laptops and licenses for Zoom, MathWorks and TeamViewer were also purchased to assist students with online learning.

Pacific is prepared to implement a hybrid educational model where instruction is simultaneously delivered in person and remotely, allowing the university to reduce class sizes and follow social distancing guidelines.

To facilitate this model, Pacific Technology and Physical Plant worked together to modify 35 spaces on the Stockton Campus, including labs, gyms, lounge areas, dining halls and areas in the library.

By modifying these larger spaces, the team was able to maximize the amount of usable space for in-person, socially distanced learning.

Where needed, rooms were retrofitted with projectors, televisions, document cameras

and multimedia lecterns that integrate all the audiovisual equipment together in a single podium. Should the need to pivot to hybrid instruction arise, the university now has the technology and infrastructure to do so.

One of the most significant tools the university incorporated was a mobile and web-based health screening app to check for COVID-19 symptoms. All students, employees and

visitors were required to complete the daily symptom screening before coming to campus. Though no longer required, the app was instrumental in helping the university track positive cases, provide individuals with appropriate health care instructions and coordinate contact tracing with county health officials.

” Thank you for working hard for students so we can have access to computers to talk and video chat with our professors.

Recipient of student technology loan program

Health and Safety Additional health measures and changes to physical and organizational infrastructure were implemented to maintain safety protocols and comply with state and county health guidelines.

On-campus testing was offered weekly at a centralized location and students and staff who remained on campus were required to test once a month.

Student-athletes were required to provide negative test results within a 72-hour period in advance of athletic competitions.

Our Student Health Services team remains committed to providing exceptional care and and has expanded its telehealth services for students. If a student tests positive and must quarantine, they will be placed in recovery

housing on campus where they will be cared for and monitored daily.

As the university returns to in-person teaching, we remain diligent in protecting our campuses and communities.

Earlier this summer, the university announced that all students, faculty and staff who return to campus must be fully vaccinated.

Those who choose to remain unvaccinated will be required to undergo weekly testing.

As of July, the university also requires face coverings while indoors due to a surge in the highly transmissible Delta variant. These protocols, while still evolving, are a critical component in our efforts to return to a more vibrant campus environment with the full range of activities and services that are essential to our students’ success.

Thank you for standing with us during these challenging times.

Your support has been critical in our efforts to adjust and adapt to these unprecedented circumstances and ensure the safety and well-being of our students, our faculty and staff, and the communities we serve.

Because of you, the university is well positioned to navigate the changes ahead while continuing to offer the world-class Pacific education for which we are known. Donors like you define the very best of this university and we thank you for your life-changing generosity.

Prepared by University Development and Alumni Relations Pacific.edu