Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Courage To Engage, Brooke Zimny, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

Ouachita prides itself in its personal approach to higher education, from the thoughtful attention prospective students receive during their college search, to the ways faculty and staff invest in students’ lives, to our commitment to tight-knit Christian community, which is built in dozens of ways for students whether they live on campus or attend classes online. During the pandemic, this level of engagement was challenged. Physical distance separated us; events, classes and residence life took new approaches.

While life over the last year slowly began to look more like the pre-pandemic world, things came into focus on campus even more …

Growing Pains (Immediate Change Does Not Equal Long-Term Growth), Hannah Pilcher, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

What did we learn? Where do we go from here? These two questions have been at the forefront of my mind after attending a professional development conference that was equally challenging and inspiring. In a room full of higher education professionals, the speaker posed these questions in relation to the last two years as we have dealt with the reality of how COVID-19 affected our work life and the lives of our students.

We were challenged not to give in to the urge to skip these questions because they felt too daunting to answer. She asked the audience to reflect …

Turning From Fear To Hope, Brooke Zimny, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

I had a front-row seat to Ouachita’s approach to pandemic planning as a member of several administrative groups on campus. I remember feeling fear, anxiety and discouragement starting in March 2020 at the challenge ahead of and all around us. Perseverance, optimism and grit were displayed in abundance, but still a strange cloud hung over the year for me, knowing how it compared to typical years not only on campus but also personally. We were adapting as well as we could, but everything was different about how we were experiencing the world.

One of my roles this academic year was …

Hope By Way Of Lament, Doug Nykolaishen

Press Releases

“Back to normal.” Since the middle of last March, those words have felt like an impossible dream. As illness disrupted life for many and restrictions disrupted life for all, we longed for things to just be the way they used to be.

Now the widespread distribution of effective vaccines has encouraged many to hope that life may indeed be on its way back to something much closer to what we previously knew. Our natural desire is to get on with what’s good as quickly as we can. But in our haste to get to “a better world,” it’s worthwhile noticing …

Leading And Learning In A Pandemic Year--And Beyond, Anna Roussel

Press Releases

Navigating college always has its unique challenges, but doing so in the midst of a global pandemic is a feat that seemed nearly impossible a year ago. When we left campus suddenly in March of 2020, the uncertainty surrounding my college career was enough to literally move me to tears. I had spent my entire life hearing family members and friends tell stories of their time at Ouachita and longing for the day I was on campus, and I did not want to come to terms with my time being cut short. However, in the middle of the chaos, I …

Ouachita Launches Graduate Dietetic Internship During Pandemic, Rachel Gaddis, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

To say you started anything new in 2020 would, well, raise eyebrows – especially launching something as involved and hands-on as an academic program including clinical healthcare. But that’s exactly what Ouachita did during the 2020-2021 academic year, launching its first graduate programs in more than 20 years. The new programs are producing quick fruit, with seven students earning Ouachita’s first-ever post-baccalaureate certificate for dietetic internships in May 2021. (The first cohort of applied behavior analysis master’s degree students will graduate in August 2021.)

“Ten years ago, the placement rate for nutrition & dietetics students in a post-graduate internship was …

Public Health Agencies Outreach Through Instagram During Covid-19 Pandemic: Crisis And Emergency Risk Communication Perspective, Aqdas Malik, Laeeq M. Khan, Anabel Quan-Haase

FIMS Publications

Background: Governmental and non-governmental institutions increasingly use social media as a strategic tool for public outreach. Global spread, promptness, and dialogic potentials make these platforms ideal for public health monitoring and emergency communication in crises such as COVID-19.

Objective: Drawing on the Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication framework, we sought to examine how leading health organizations use Instagram for communicating and engaging during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We manually retrieved Instagram posts together with relevant metadata of four health organizations (WHO, CDC, IFRC, and NHS) shared between January 1, 2020, and April 30, 2020. Two coders manually coded the analytical …

Progress In A Pandemic (Closing Thoughts), Ben Sells

Press Releases

In the midst of a pandemic, Ouachita’s progress makes us an encouraging outlier in higher education. While total university enrollment in the country continues to decrease, Ouachita increases – our highest in 20 years. We’re also graduating students at our highest level in history plus a placement rate of 97%.

We’re preparing students to serve in additional ways, including in health professions that are all the more important in today’s world. Our new Bachelor of Science in Nursing program seeks to meet the national shortage, and our M.S. degree in applied behavior analysis – the first option of its kind …

Navigating Unprecedented Times And Other Clichés (Editor's Notes From The Winter 2021 "Ouachita Circle"), Brooke Zimny, Office Of Communications & Marketing

Press Releases

Due to the pandemic ... canceled until further notice … we will navigate these uncertain times ... with resilience, optimism and creativity.

These and other phrases became all too familiar in 2020. As a communicator writing on behalf of Ouachita, they have become even more top of mind for me this year. As we chose the theme for this issue of the Ouachita Circle, no words seemed sufficient. Even words that were accurate and appropriate had lost their meaning, becoming clichés in our collective consciousness. And now, in 2021, which brings its own challenges, we are weary of the pandemic, …

Recovering From A Tornado During A Pandemic, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Most will remember 2020 for the COVID-19 pandemic, but for Laini Bergthold, a junior communication major from Chattanooga, Tennessee, the year brought a different kind of trauma in the form of a tornado that destroyed her family’s home.

Solving The Work-From-Home Conundrum, Snehal Shah, Vineeta Dwivedi

Asian Management Insights

Organisations can implement long-term policies that would make working from home a win-win situation for both employers and employees. The prolonged lockdown across countries due to the Covid-19..

Ouachita's Fall 2020 Enrollment Grows Amid Pandemic, Highest Since 2000, Brooke Zimny, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Even amid the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ouachita Baptist University’s fall 2020 enrollment has grown to 1,704, a 4% increase from fall 2019 and the highest headcount the university has seen since 2000. Newly released data also reflect a strong academic profile for incoming Ouachita freshmen as well as standout retention and graduation rates.

“As a Christian university, we genuinely believe every good gift comes from the Lord,” said Dr. Ben Sells, Ouachita president. “We’re thankful for our students and for the support of their families. In the midst of a pandemic, our already incredibly committed faculty and staff …