Southwestern Magazine | Spring 2021

1 0 | SOUTHWE S T E RN “Yesterday, somebody called the help desk complaining because their VPN connection wasn’t working,” says Tschoepe. “Turned out her husband was playing with the Wi-Fi and had turned her laptop connection off.” Still, although they experienced technological difficulties, staff members learned to evolve. “If you’d told me that was going to happen a year ago, I’d say, ‘Yeah, I think that’s about the time I retire,’” remarks Dave Seiler, director of academic success and a self- identified “dinosaur” when technology was involved. He compares RingCentral and Zoom meetings to The Brady Bunch intro but says working virtually allowed his office to be more empathetic to students, and he sometimes schedules check-ins later in the evening to accommodate schedules. In the Office of Student Activities, director Derek Timourian P'17 tried to offer virtual programming in the spring, such as trivia nights and quarantine concerts. “Initially, we were just stumped,” he says. “It felt like you were trying to write that termpaper: . . . Youwere literally looking at a blank sheet of paper, wondering what you were going to do.” A FRENZIED SUMMER In December 2018, Jennifer Spiller, family nurse practitioner and health services manager at Southwestern, met with Williamson County health Staff have been working hard to protect the campus community during the COVID-19 pandemic by implementing new safety measures, such as installing numerous plexiglass barriers, cleaning classrooms more frequently, adapting dining services, and creating and posting signs as part of the Pirate Precautions campaign. Photos by Jeff Teicher.