On Sept. 3, ETSU’s Center for Teaching Excellence, Office of Equity and Inclusion and the Strong BRAIN Institute held the first Together in Community event via Zoom.

“It’s really a space where folks can feel supported in the transition back to campus, but also supporting the community members, supporting the students,” said Diana Morelen, Associate Director of Training Dissemination and Implementation with the Strong BRAIN Institute.

Together in Community is described as a conversation series that “plans to provide opportunities to discuss ways to enhance community throughout campus,” according to the official website.

“I think there was always an acknowledgment that folks would probably need help returning back,” said Morelen, “and then Delta made that need much clearer and bigger.”

“It’s been a really rapid response to coming back, but coming back in a time when maybe things don’t feel as normal as we all thought they would,” continued Morelen.

In the interest of safety, accessibility and comfort, the events will all be held remotely on Zoom.

“It’s being built as we transition back,” said Morelen. “I know there are three scheduled and the intention is to have more across the semester. These events will occur about once a week for the foreseeable future.”

Together in Community aims to develop a sense of community with its attendees by encouraging conversation amongst one another using Zoom’s breakout room feature. The initiative will use “evidence-based tools and strategies” and “problem solve challenges” in an effort to “smooth the transition back to mostly in-person teaching and learning and working side-by-side with our coworkers.”

“I think these spaces just speak to the value that the university has, that the three co-hosting agencies have,” said Morelen, “for creating space for folks to slow down, to feel supported in community, to recognize that things are hard and that we will be stronger when we approach these challenges as a community.”

Morelen says she hopes people receive the message that “it’s okay to not be okay and slow down.”

For more information, as well as a current schedule of events, visit https://www.etsu.edu/academicaffairs/together-in-community.php.