As part of the reawakening plan, Kansas State rolled out a COVID-19 training that all faculty will be asked to complete before coming back to campus.
“[We] worked very diligently on developing the guidelines for how we would reawaken,” chief information officer Gary Pratt said. “Health and well being of our staff, faculty and students [are] number one.”
On Monday, K-State announced that it was progressing into the third phase of the reawakening protocol — the last formal phase of the plan. The expectation is still that employees are working from home if possible.
Elliot Young, assistant vice president and university risk and compliance officer, spearheaded the emergency management group at K-State. One of the major steps was developing the COVID-19 safety training.
The training, which is two parts, details specifics about the novel coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 illness and discusses types of face coverings that can prevent the spread of the virus. It’s free and on the K-State website for employees working on campus.
“It was my responsibility to coordinate the initial emergency response efforts, the continuity of operations planning, and the strategy for returning employees back to campus,” Young said. “Now, those things have all kind of happened or are continuing to happen. And the university as a whole is shifting its focus to really strategically planning for how we bring people back, or in person classes in the fall.”
In the fall, Provost Charles Taber said students will be expected to complete a similar training and will likely be asked to sign a pledge to follow social distancing guidelines laid out by the university in the coming months.
