BW Voices: Faculty and staff offer expertise and insights during the pandemic

To students and alumni, they are familiar classroom teachers and mentors. But on a bigger stage, BW faculty are respected experts who provide insights, analysis and commentary in the media.

During the coronavirus pandemic, a number of BW professors and staffers are lending their authoritative voices to news stories and penning guest opinion pieces on a range of topics.

Exploring ambiguous grief

Dr. Stephanie Richman, assistant professor of psychology, relied on both her expertise and personal experience planning a July wedding in the midst of the pandemic in order to name and validate a feeling many have experienced.

In her cleveland.com guest column, "What about my wedding? Pandemic uncertainty leads to ambiguous loss and grief," Richman observes, "Typical grief is finite. Something awful happens, but then it's over. You grieve, but you have a grave to visit or photos of your ex to burn. But sometimes, grief is not finite … It is uncertain, ambiguous."

Advocating for outdoor education

In "Transforming outdoor spaces for learning," Christine Cancian, associate director of recreation services, discusses the benefits of turning the great outdoors into classroom space during the pandemic.

"Innovative ideas are needed in education right now," Cancian writes. "As an outdoor educator, I have seen firsthand the transformations that can happen when students are taken outside. Students need some grounding right now, as do educators, and what better way to accomplish that task?"

Compassion and hidden potential

Religion professor Dr. Alan Kolp teamed up with his ethics coauthors to assert, "Compassion is a key weapon helping us defeat the coronavirus," noting, "We absolutely maintain control of one thing - how we react to this crisis and how we can deploy an important human anti-viral weapon - compassion."

Business professor and enlightened leadership guru Param Srikantia also sees the opportunity for personal growth in quarantine.

In a pair of guest columns, "5 ways to know if you are growing (or not) during the coronavirus lockdown" and "Awaken to your hidden potential in the midst of COVID-19," Srikantia urges readers to self-reflect. "By exploring the impact of the pandemic on the inner life of our loved ones, we can grow in self-awareness and in intimacy."

Pandemic public opinion

Srikantia reinforces those views in a cleveland.com news article exploring "The necessary new normal: How the deadly coronavirus pandemic will reshape Ohio, the world and us," which also relied on BW public health professor Dr. Emilia Lombardi's expertise.

Lombardi predicts that the pandemic will spur a public push for better health care access, "We're definitely seeing the weaknesses in our health care systems not just in our pandemic response, but in everyday things as well," she says.

Faculty involved in the BW Community Research Institute (CRI) sampled real-time public opinion in widely cited surveys that found "'Overwhelming' number of Ohio voters approve of Gov. DeWine's stay-at-home restrictions."

In one of a multitude of media appearances, Dr. Lauren Copeland, associate director of the BW CRI, told WOIO-TV that "Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine's apolitical, no-nonsense response to the crisis has set the national agenda."

Copeland's CRI and political science faculty colleague, Dr. Tom Sutton, who serves as WEWS-TV's political analyst, regularly weighs in on the pandemic and politics, including the recent announcement that the first presidential debate was moved to Cleveland.

Health care checkup

BW health experts have also been drawn into the conversation with professor Wendy Hyde myth-busting "Does COVID-19 prevent smoking?" for WTAM radio listeners.

When Tom Campanella, health care business professor emeritus, noted that "Ohio spends less per capita on public health than nearly every other state" the Columbus Dispatch, Canton Repository and Crain's Cleveland all took notice.

Campanella also dissected the toll COVID-19 has taken on the business of health care for a number of high profile forums, podcasts and webinars including the much-cited Crain's Cleveland Forum and the Quadax interview, "Life After Coronavirus: The Impact on Hospitals and Physician Groups."

The Financial Picture

As the pandemic has ravaged many sectors of the economy, BW finance professor and former U.S. Treasury economist Dr. Kevin Jacques explored the federal stimulus response on WCPN-NPR's Sound of Ideas and considered the odds of economic meltdown for WTAM radio's report, "Will the coronavirus pandemic cause a deep recession?"

Fellow finance professor Dr. Christian Nsiah offered answers for WOIO-TV viewers in reports asking, "How should you spend your federal stimulus check from the coronavirus pandemic?" and "How can you prepare for a recession?"

Career Advice

Finally, BW Career services director Patrick Keebler offered advice for college seniors' career searches in the pandemic for Spectrum 1 Cable News, explored how BW is linking up students with jobs and internships during a pandemic summer on WEWS-TV and headlined a podcast on the same topic for InternCLE.