Woodruff working from home
Since November, the first two floors of Woodruff Hall have been pretty barren as a result of the pandemic.
But the third floor now has some business classes being taught, signaling a return to the busy building it once was.
Throughout the COVID pandemic, the Advancement Office has been forced to meet virtually and work remotely, yet still produce everything they do to promote the university.
The office basically handles Castleton University’s social media, creates positive stories for the school website and produces the Castleton Magazine.
“Working at home has provided some real opportunities, but also challenges,” said Elicia Pinsonault, Castleton’s communications coordinator.
Some of these opportunities include still being able to meet bi-weekly with the committee that produces the Castleton Magazine and an ability to get more work done in down time, she said. On the other hand, the challenges of COVID make it more difficult for them to come up with story ideas while being off campus.
“Our department is so intertwined with the day-to-day happenings. We hear about stories and ideas when we are talking to colleges and I usually find my best stories in a random conversation that I didn’t have planned with somebody, but I saw them as I was walking somewhere across campus,” said Pinsonault.
Being off campus, she has had to schedule times to be able to come to campus to get pictures for the magazine and stories rather than being able to be there naturally and witness things firsthand, she said.
Since basically everything has moved virtual during the pandemic, it has also made it much more difficult for the Advancement Office to get content for social media too, she said. The posts aim to share what campus life is like, but not being on campus has had an effect on getting new content detailing campus life.
“President Spiro, when he walks down the hall, he whistles, and it’s things like that are so mundane but that makes me miss being at Castleton and working in Woodruff Hall,” Pinsonault said.
Castleton’s Associate Dean of Advancement James Lambert, who leads the office, is also feeling the impact of remote work.
Lambert was named Associate Dean of Advancement in Feb. 2020 right before the pandemic put the world and university on a stand still.
“What I’ve learned from it is that I prefer to be in the office and see everyone more than I knew. We can effectively do our jobs from home and we can communicate through technology with Zoom, Messenger, cell phones and all those things, but the overall experience is lacking a little bit when I’m not seeing everyone every day,” Lambert said.