Scattered staff members help keep Stanford operational from afar
Working from home, Stanford staff are discovering or inventing new ways to communicate, interact and support one another.
A statewide shelter-in-place order designed to slow the spread of novel coronavirus infections has left Stanford staff members scattered across the Bay Area and beyond. They are working remotely – some for the first time – performing the daily duties required to keep the university operational while ensconced in makeshift offices they’ve set up in kitchens, living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms.
Working from home, Stanford staff are discovering or inventing new ways to communicate, interact and support one another. They are growing adept at using Zoom and other technologies to replace “face-to-face” meetings and drop-ins at one another’s desks. Instead of a pat on the back, they’re using emojis and animated gifs to congratulate colleagues for jobs well done.
They’re catching glimpses of each other’s family lives, as partners, spouses, pets and children, young and old, make surprise cameos during video conference calls.
And they’re gathering together virtually – meeting for coffee, lunch, happy hour, yoga, knitting and book club – to give meaning and structure to days that seem to blend seamlessly, one into the next, and to bring a sense of normalcy, even moments of levity, to unsettling times.
These are some of their stories.
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Ari Chasnoff
Associate Director for Communications, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
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Gina Hernandez Clarke & Chris Gonzalez Clarke
Gina Clarke, Director of Community-Engaged Learning – Arts, Stanford Arts Institute; and Chris Clarke, Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Education and Director of the EDGE Doctoral Fellowship Program, Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education
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![Felicia A. Smith](https://swap.stanford.edu/was/20210429011231im_/https://news-media.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/03144321/1000_1500_CO-Home-Felicia-copy-200x200.jpg)
![Miesha Hardy](https://swap.stanford.edu/was/20210429011231im_/https://news-media.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/07152236/1000x1500_CO-Home_Miesha_Hardy-200x200.jpg)
![Jeff Jones](https://swap.stanford.edu/was/20210429011231im_/https://news-media.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/07162915/1000x1500_CO-Home-Jones-200x200.jpg)
![Deborah Costa-Stone](https://swap.stanford.edu/was/20210429011231im_/https://news-media.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/09100912/1000x1500_CO-Home_Deborah_Costa-Stone-200x200.jpg)
![Steve Olson.](https://swap.stanford.edu/was/20210429011231im_/https://news-media.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/09100917/1000x1500_CO-Home_Steve_Olson-200x200.jpg)
Steve Olson
Senior Associate Dean of Finance and Administration, School of Humanities and Sciences
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