October 26, 2020
In the Trenches in the Time of Covid
Five stories of alumni bringing their best work forward in the hour of our greatest need.
The year 2020 underlined the importance of a single phrase in Beloit’s mission: educating graduates to make “a public contribution in a diverse society.” Never in our lifetimes have people been asked to step up to such complex and unprecedented challenges. Beloit alumni are uniquely prepared for this moment, especially during a pandemic that exposes inequities like few other crises could. From building new coalitions, to caring for vulnerable people, to being fearlessly creative, Beloit alumni are contributing to the public good when it truly matters.
Meeting People Where They Are
Bobby Harris’08 is part of a diverse, multidisciplinary team serving Baltimore’s most vulnerable citizens during the pandemic. He was drawn to public health as a way of fighting social injustice.
Fighting Covid on Multiple Fronts
Public health professional Shanna Dell’10 typically works with nurse-centered HIV pre-exposure prevention, but Covid has changed everything. In her new roles, she’s taking inspiration from fellow nurses who were working with HIV patients long before the disease’s transmission was understood.
Helping Students Succeed in a New Reality
As director of the Center for Academic Excellence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, DeVon Wilson’90 is helping to clear the many hurdles Covid is placing in front of the underrepresented, first-generation, low-income students he and his team support.
The New York Outbreak and its Personal Toll
Patrick Cornbill’88 writes about his experience with FEMA’s New York State pandemic response team during the first three months of the Covid pandemic.
They Said, ‘We Need Soap’
One of the programs Helen Damon-Moore’80 administers at DePaul University is the Inside-Out Program at Cook County Jail in Chicago. She takes us through what happened when Covid abruptly shut down the program last spring.
