Put to the Test, this Team Aced One of Fisher’s Biggest COVID Challenges

Whether you are a student or a faculty member, odds are, you have probably become familiar with the weekly trips to the COVID-19 testing locations. But, who actually operated the testing centers that have kept our campus running? Here is a closer look at the COVID-19 testing team that has kept campus safe for the last 12 weeks.

Stephanie Williams, assistant to the president and secretary to the Board of Trustees, Rebecca Kieffer ’96, director of health and wellness; and Megan Flaherty, Title IX coordinator, are just a few of the many faculty, staff, and students who helped the COVID-19 testing and tracing efforts at the College. The on-site operations team frequently worked with Dr. Matha Thornton, vice president for student affairs and dean of students, and Dr. Eileen Lynd-Balta, associate provost and professor, in managing weekly testing operations. In addition, the trio also collaborated with OIT, the Office of Safety and Security, the Division of Student Affairs, the Athletics Department, the Office of Marketing and Communications, and Fisher Dining Services throughout the semester.

Flaherty credited Stacy Slocum, chief information officer; Leo Makosky, enterprise applications administrator; Wayne Machamer, data warehouse application architect; Derick Wigle, director of residential life; Terri Travaglini, assistant dean of students; Ken Widanka, director of facilities services; Lynn Wernert, office manager; and so many others for building a successful infrastructure for this semester’s testing protocols.

Not only have staff members played an integral part in administering COVID-19 tests, Flaherty said students played a huge part as well. Staff members including Jill Rathbun, Chenno Bowens, Makenna King, and Mia Hinds have dedicated much of their time carrying out the daily testing and processing at the centers.

“I can’t stress enough how the success of the clinic is really due to the huge coalition of people that came together to build the clinic and to actually carry out the daily testing and processing,” said Flaherty.

Kieffer agreed.

“This has been a massive team effort and there many members of this community that have contributed to the success of these clinics,” she said. “We are very fortunate to have so many willing employees who agreed to offer their time and a motivated student body who showed up weekly to be tested. We should all celebrate this success together.”

With a collaborative effort from the College’s employees and students, more than 35,000 tests have been performed to date.

“Testing allows us to identify COVID on our campus and work quickly to isolate and mitigate the spread. With the strong participation of our students and employees, we have successfully been able to reduce the risk to our campus this semester,” said Williams.