Matt Harmon: On this episode of Monmouth weekly, we get an update on fall protocols for the start of the 2021 academic year. And we reflect on the 46 year career of vice president for administrative services. Patty Swanick, with the university president Patrick Lehe. This is faculty member, Matt Harmon. It's time for episode number 30, two of Monmouth weekly. Thanks as always for listening Matt Harmon: And a very good morning with a belated father's day. Wish to all the dads out there that are our mom with weekly podcast listeners with university president Patrick Lehe. I'm Matt Harmon. We're gonna spend some time at the beginning of our podcast talking about some of the latest updates and news as it relates to the I'll say reopening of the university again in the fall semester of 2021 and spend the second part of our podcast, um, with, with a very special guest at being Patty Swank, who after 46 years at the university will retire at the end part of June, president Lehe, a happy father's day to you, sir. Hope you enjoyed it with, uh, your four kids. Did they, did they take good care of you? Patrick Leahy: they did Matt. Thank you. I was, I was, uh, uh, with my one son all weekend at a lacrosse tournament. So, uh, he got a lot of dad time at the expense of the others, but, uh, it was a great weekend and I hope you had a happy father's day as well. Matt Harmon: Was it a successful lacrosse weekend? Patrick Leahy: Um, is there a next question? Oh, Matt Harmon: Next. Okay. that's, that's what we say in the broadcast field as pass, please. B Patrick Leahy: Pass pass. That was a lot of fun. How about that Matt Harmon: Lot? A lot. A lot of fun works well. I'm sure. I'm sure the other three took care of you when you got home from the lacrosse as well. Um, you know, I know each and every week we try and figure out ways to incorporate not only information that is pertinent to the university, but continue to give updates. And, and during the course of this past week, there was some pretty, I'll say important big news, um, in terms of, of how the semester will start, uh, come fall of 2021. Patrick Leahy: Yeah, we sent out yesterday or last week rather. I think it was, uh, Tuesday of last week, we sent out a full slate of healthcare protocols for the fall semester of 2021. Uh, we sent it out, uh, three months to the day, um, of our beginning of our fall semester. So we felt like that was an appropriate amount of time to, uh, to give people to roll out these protocols. Our goal for the fall, Matt is pretty simple, and that is how do we fully reopen the campus and do so, uh, by keeping health and safety of all of our constituents top of mind. And when I say all of our constituents, of course, I mean our students, uh, and also our faculty and staff members who serve our students. So the overriding goal is to be able to do that open, but open, uh, as safely as possible. So we, uh, spent a lot of time this spring talking with different groups around campus, taking soundings on how we might do this, uh, successfully. And, uh, it was, uh, time, three months out to, uh, announce a whole series of protocols, which we did last week. Matt Harmon: You know, you think of it. And, and, and I always think, especially now, as we've moved into, I, I guess I'd say a different phase of this pandemic with things getting back to normal people being vaccinated. I think probably the two things that always strike me, people wanna know, do I have to be vaccinated? Do I have to wear a mask? I mean, that's probably two of the biggest questions that you deal with in terms of the plan and protocol of things moving forward. Patrick Leahy: And as you might imagine, uh, both of those issues were embedded in our protocols. So, uh, let me just run through them quickly. You know, the first, uh, and most important is where we stand as an institution on, uh, vaccination and whether it's required or not. And we made the decision that yes, it is required, uh, the single best way to return to normal based on our read of the science and our conversations with state and local health officials is to push the vaccination rate, uh, of our community as high as possible, recognizing that we're not gonna get to a hundred percent. I don't think anyone in our country thinks we're gonna get to a hundred percent, but figure out ways in which we can push the vaccination rate as high as possible. Uh, all the evidence suggests that where vaccination rates are high caseloads are low. So to us that, uh, re you know, necessitated a mandate, however, Matt, it was very important to us as an institution, that there was room in that mandate for legitimate exemptions. And, uh, so we, uh, named three in particular, uh, the first is health health reasons. So just like other vaccine vaccines that we require here on campus, uh, we will allow for, uh, uh, an exemption on this requirement based on health. So if there's some underlying reason or adverse reaction to it, or what have you all a student or a staff or a faculty member needs to do is have a healthcare professional represent that, uh, this is not a good time to take the vaccine and they'll be exempted from that. Number one, number two for religious reasons. This is again, a state requirement that if someone has a deeply held religious belief that, um, does not permit vaccination well, of course we're gonna support that. And, and all we need is an individual to represent to us. They don't need a note from their, you know, they're religious superior or anything like that. They just need to represent to us that they have a fundamental problem with vaccines in general, and, uh, we'll grant that exemption. And then we added a third, which was a little unique to some other institutions, which is if an individual has a concern about the emergency use authorization of the three major vaccines that we would allow for that exemption, uh, as well, at least in the short term. So if someone who otherwise would be interested in a vaccine, but just isn't really comfortable until the federal government takes that emergency use, uh, you know, off of it, then we will grant that. And, uh, we will ask individuals to, uh, reconsider being vaccinated, uh, once the federal government removes that, uh, emergency authorization from those three major ones. So, um, we feel like this policy, uh, arrived at through very careful consideration. Matt integrates both the need to protect our community by pushing vaccination rates as high as possible, and providing, uh, flexibility in the exemption process to ensure that if people have legitimate concerns with that, uh, we wanna be able to, to accommodate if you are on vaccinated, uh, we will ask you to mask up, uh, uh, at all times indoors. And we will ask you to be subject to, uh, surveillance testing, which are protocols that, you know, we've had in place over the course of the last year anyway. So we feel that the combination of a high vaccine rate, and then those who choose not to be, um, you know, uh, adhering to some healthcare protocols is our best chance to bring everyone together in the health and safe way, healthy and safe way this fall. Matt Harmon: If, if I'm a faculty member in Monmouth of which obviously I, I am, and I am teaching in my classroom. I have been vaccinated. Do I need to wear a mask? Do I need to check students as they come in to wear a mask? Patrick Leahy: Yes, the answer is yes. I, I, at least for now Matt and, and the idea here is pretty simple. Like that's an added layer of protection. We, we don't know at this point, you know, how many of those students that are assembled in your class will be vaccinated or not. Uh, we hope to get a better feel for that as we get closer to the fall semester and then into the fall semester. But we won't know that we're gathering 25 30 people together in close quarters for extended periods of time. We don't know who is and who isn't vaccinated. We just felt that an added layer of protection at least for now is to ask everybody in that learning environment to mask up. Um, again, I, I, that that's a protocol that might be subject to change over time, but we just felt like that was an added layer of protection, both for our faculty members and for all the students assembled at that given time Matt Harmon: Walking around campus, don't have to wear a mask. Patrick Leahy: I mean, outdoors, uh, uh, in general, no, there's no masking required at all. And then, you know, consistent with other, uh, state guidelines, even when you're indoors at a lot of places even gathered in, you know, reasonable, reasonable numbers, there won't be requirements, uh, for masking. Um, so the, the one place where we will continue at least for now to require, will be in the classroom and in close quarter labs. Um, and we don't believe that that will materially adversely affect the learning experience for our students. And it's just an added layer of protection for, uh, for everybody involved in the learning process. Matt Harmon: Last one, before we, we move into our guests today, and, and that would be, do you see these steps as a, um, full return to normalcy during the course of, of this academic year coming up? Patrick Leahy: Yes. I mean, you know, our hope is that we will, uh, return all the students who wanna live in the residence halls to the residence halls will return, you know, most of our academic programming to in person. I mean, we do still have a lot that's delivered online, but that's by design. You know, what we wanna do is bring the, uh, in particular, the undergraduate and, and much of the graduate programming return it to in person instruction, cuz we know that's what our students, uh, want. We will, we believe have fall athletics run as normal, uh, this fall as opposed to the way we had to delay it last year. So, uh, you put all of that together. Um, then I think, you know, we have returned to as close to normal as we can and still be sensitive to the fact that we're still coming out of a, a global pandemic. I mean, some of these healthcare protocols quite frankly matter, not required, you know, uh, but you, you put as much vaccination, uh, on the table as possible. That's a great step. Then you put on top of that, you know what I hope isn't perceived not to be a terribly uncomfortable thing of just masking while you're in the classrooms for the time being, that's an added layer, we are gonna try to keep some, you know, reasonable social distancing, uh, in the classroom and in other areas in the work spaces and in the gathering spaces, we don't need to, it's not required by the state, but we don't think, you know, moving desks and work stations three feet apart from one another is, is really too much to ask in order to add another layer of protection. So we feel like we're doing, uh, everything we can to open up as fully as possible and uh, still feel good about the fact that, uh, we are taking care of all of our constituents as well as possible from a health standpoint Matt Harmon: And president Lehe. Clearly that is a good segue to bring on our, uh, special guest today, vice president of administrative services for Monmouth finishing up a 46 year career at Monmouth at the end of the month. It is Patty Swank. Um, Patty I'm sure that you will be among those who will take a much needed break from words like policies, protocols, vaccines procedures, because it, it, it falls under your area. Um, and all the things you do at the university. First of a very good morning. And thanks for giving us some time, um, how has it been maybe the last month or so as you kind of reflect back on 46 years at Monmouth, Patti Swannack: Um, it's, it's been a little bit surreal. You know, I initially came to Monmouth and was going to stay two weeks and honest to God, that's the truth. And like I've said to people, it's a FA the longest two weeks of my life, but it's, I mean, it's been great. I've had so many opportunities, you know, not only for employment, but I've also been a student and graduated I'm alum. So I've seen so many different aspects of it. And this is, this place is just so special. And I, I get so frustrated when I talk to people that, you know, live within an hour. Oh, I've never been there. I mean, they don't know what they're missing. I really truly don't know what they're missing. Matt Harmon: You know, I guess we can blame president Lehe. We can blame the seventies. Right. I mean, things were, things were strange back then you come for two weeks who wind up staying for 46 years. Um, and you know, we had on Dr. McNeil a couple of weeks ago on the podcast and, and present way, you talked about how, how difficult replacing her would be with Jeff Stapleton. And, and just when you have somebody like Patty who has involvement in so many different areas, it's gonna be a, a pretty big challenge. We can talk about how that's gonna work, um, later on, but just, just to say goodbye to somebody that has such history at the university. Patrick Leahy: Yeah. I mean, I said, it's, it's impossible to replace the irreplaceable. And, uh, Patty has served as university in so many ways. I mean, you know, the vice president of administrator services, we, we may as well just call it, you know, know vice president for everything other than a few areas. because, uh, her, her scope of responsibilities is, is so broad. So if there are individuals who have not, as Patty suggested, made it to our campus to, to have a look around and experience a place they're missing out on Patty Swank's work because, uh, there's virtually not a portion of this campus that hasn't benefited, uh, from her expertise over that that many, many years just, you know, in particular, starting with when she was given the campus planning and facilities function as well, cuz uh, $325 million invested in this campus under, uh, under Patty's during Patty's, uh, tenure here. So just incredible Patty, Matt Harmon: Take me back to, if you can, 1975, when you started at the university, you know, so interesting that you say I was supposed to be here for two weeks. I, I gotta ask what, what was the two weeks? Was it a temporary position? Patti Swannack: Yeah, I actually, I did. I started as a temporary employee and um, then there were some openings, so I applied for two openings. I applied to be a clerk in human resources and a secretary in financial aid. And, and at that time there was a $15 a week difference in the rate of pay financial aid was more, but I was living home at the time and I thought, oh, it requires a lot of stenography. And I don't like that. So I just stayed in HR and I liked it. And I learned, I learned from the attorneys that I worked with. I learned from the provost that I work with, my director, the vice president for finance. And it, it, I just, I, I grew to love it. And I, you know, every day I came to work, I, I had fun, but we helped people and we could smile and we could laugh and it was always teamwork. Um, and it was, it was just an experience that I, I had never even thought about or considered and you laughed. But I came in, we had student demonstrations and I would get a phone call lock, you lock yourself in your office. I said, why the students for marching on Wilson hall? I said, what do they want in here? I have a lot of filing you. What do you want but it was just, it, it was incredible. I mean, the things that went on in the seventies and the demonstrations, it was just really, it was, it was great. It was absolutely great. Patrick Leahy: You know, it's amazing if I may jump in Matt that, you know, think about this for just a minute. So Patty joins a university as a temporary employee thinks she's gonna stay for a couple weeks, gets a job. Um, does well in that job decides to put herself through, uh, college, uh, on the job. Uh, so chipped away at her bachelor's degree along the way, receives her bachelor's degree. That makes her now more qualified for even more positions around the university takes those various positions continues to do well. And then I think it was in 1994 that then president, uh, Becky Stafford, I, you know, identified Patty and, uh, I think at that point, right, Patty made you the vice president. Um, and it's just amazing. I mean, to, to think, um, uh, there were so probably at that time, so few women in senior leadership positions in American higher education in general, and probably here at Monmouth in particular that, uh, for someone to start with such sort of humble beginnings and to rise through the ranks and to continue to improve herself. And of course the university then college along the way is a real Testament to, to Patty and the person that she is that she would start at such, uh, humble beginnings and become, you know, one of our longest, uh, serving vice presidents in, in our history. It's just, it's just an amazing story. Matt Harmon: Pat. Patty, do you remember that conversation with then president Stafford about, Hey, we're, we're thinking of promoting you to vice president? Patti Swannack: I couldn't forget it, frankly. Um, I, I, I was, uh, invited to her office on a Friday afternoon and I thought this is not going to be good. And she said to me, I wanna know if you would do me consider doing me a favor. And I said of, yeah, of course, what do we need? And she said, I want to know if you will take over facilities management. And I, I, I was really taken aback and I said, but why? She said, well, you've been working with the unions throughout your career. You are able to get things done at the time we had a management firm on campus that the Teamsters would not even verbally recognized. So it was, it was not a, a great relationship. And I said, sure. So I was coming down to facilities two days a week and in HR three days a week, and then I was asked that October to take campus planning and construction, which reported to a different vice president. And then I was asked to take the police department and I said, okay. And I said to Dr. Stafford, I said, I really think I should move to facilities. And she said, I, I don't disagree with you. She said, but I wanted you to come to that decision on your own. And people said to me, you're leaving Wilson hall, you're leaving Wilson hall. That's where the majority of the people that I'm supervising are located. And, you know, there were a lot of tests. There were quite a few tests, you know, ha would I go on a roof? Would I go up a ladder? Would I go through a hatch in a residence hall? So yeah, we did all that. And, uh, it, it was great. And we had had a number of supervisors and I would meet regularly with the supervisors. And some had been here a long, long time. Um, one supervisor routinely fell asleep when our, when we had our meetings, I talked to her several times personally, and then she decided she wasn't gonna be a supervisor cuz she couldn't stay awake in the meetings, but I'll never forget. The first big project I had was the, the university had, had received approval from west long branch to build three residence halls. And that was Oakwood, Redwood and Maplewood. And they had to block office street and enclo the entire north property. And I said to one of the gentlemen that was working for me, that I wanted to go over to one of their job meetings, which they held every single Monday in a trailer on the, on the job site. Okay. Okay. I'll let you know, I'll let you know. I'll let you know. So week after week after week, I don't hear anything about a meeting. So finally I said, you know, I'm I really not comfortable with this. I think there are meetings being held that I've not been invited to. So I was told that the meeting started at nine. So I promptly arrive at the work trailer, the, and uh, on the north campus. And I walked in and I said to somebody, I have the feeling this meeting's been going on for a couple of hours. Oh yeah, it has. I said, excuse. So, I mean, it was, it was, there were challenges in the beginning. Um, and I'll, I'll never forget that this was not a big firm that was building the first residence hall and there were two elderly, elderly gentlemen. There were brothers and there was this drama about how to create a shower that did leak that somebody could access in a, in, you know, uh, in wheelchairs and so on and so forth. So we finally, I said, well, why don't we just build them? Like they're a cruise ship. And they looked at me and that's how we did it. And it, you know, didn't take, you know, thousands of dollars. It didn't take, you know, 12 iterations of the same plan. So it was just was a lot of learning. Um, I learned about H V a C systems like the two pipe system, four pipe system, what a V a V is and on and on and on. It was a different language, but it was fun. It was great. Matt Harmon: You know, president Lehe, it's, it's funny, not only to listen to the old stories, but, um, I, I want to think back to Patty talking about when she got the job and you talking about at that time, how maybe difficult, unique it was for a woman to be considered a vice president, look at your current cabinet right now. And look at the, the state of the university. You've got a board of trustee chairperson who is a female. You've got Dr. McNeil who's, um, stepping away after a long career. You've got Patty stepping away. You've got Dean AGI. Who's in a position of leadership. Monmouth has been and continues to be a place where, um, women, different genders, different cultures can, can really strive and be part of the decision making process and have a huge footprint at the university. Patrick Leahy: And, and I'd like to add that, uh, you know, since I've arrived, we have had a female provost, uh, both an interim one and our, our, our newest tire coming in this summer, mm-hmm as a woman, our vice president for advancement is a woman. Mm-hmm . Our chief of staff is a woman, our advisor to the president for D diversity and inclusion is a woman. So, um, uh, we're trying really hard to make sure that our senior administrative team, uh, as much as possible mirrors, the student body that we serve and, you know, we have more female students than we do male students. So I just think it's an important, an important thing. Mm-hmm um, my wife will tell you it's wise because women are smarter than men so we should have them, uh, around. I said I understood. Yes . Um, but you know, I, I always credit again, uh, president staffer, because if you think about, you know, she, I think it was about that same year that she put Patty in the vice president job and she hired Marilyn McNeil. And those are two jobs that don't typically go to women. You know, at that time, the athletic directory, uh, director position was a, you know, a male dominated position. And then, um, certainly campus planning and facilities and, and HVAC systems and two pipes versus four pipes and all that kind of stuff. That's that is to this day, still a male dominated, uh, area. So to have women in, in those particular, not just in vice president positions, but in those particular vice president positions, mm-hmm, , I think sent a great signal to, to our campus about, uh, about gender Patti Swannack: And I'm. So I'm so thrilled. We just hired in the last couple of months, a female H V a C mechanic, which, I mean, I had promoted some of the minorities, the first minorities into mechanic positions. I have promoted minorities in, down in the facilities building in, in the plant to supervisory positions. We've had female groundskeepers, but I really, really wanted to find a female H V a C mechanic or a general mechanic. And she's great. She's like young twenties, but I thought, wow, wow. What a great career Matt Harmon: Coup couple more minutes here to wrap up our 32nd episode of Monmouth weekly with outgoing vice president of, uh, the university, Patty Swank. Patty, are you, are you a saver? Do you have anything from 1975 from when you first started at the university? Patti Swannack: Oh, I'm sure I do. I save a lot of things. I mean, I save documentation, I save, you know, little gifts I've received or, you know, know tokens of appreciation and cards and things of that sort. So I have, I have a lot of photographs in my office that I obviously will be taking with me. Matt Harmon: How about, um, favorite building for you to walk in and out of on campus? Patti Swannack: Oh boy. Well, I mean, I've, everybody loves Wilson over the great hall. Just loves, it, loves it, loves it. And I've been in every single part of that building, including the subbasement and including the stainless steel elevator, you know, that you let, when I see elevator, you lay on your back and you, you circle the light to change the light bulbs. And I was in the great hall twice when we had a fire. I mean, I've, and I think that's, that's spectacular. Um, I had the pleasure one time of meeting a gentleman whose father was the caretaker of the estate. And that was, that was really, really great. And one of the I, when I took over, I found a book when they were auctioning off the building, all the contents of the building and it's blue velvet. And then I got a second book, so I put one in the archives, but I looked at how the garden had been planted. And when I took over, there were yuccas and tropical plants, I said, this is not a formal garden. Um, so that, that was a, that was a pleasure. I, but there's so many buildings. I mean like retina hall, I just love, I love the intimacy. Um, but then you go to the ocean first bank center. I mean, there was nobody in our conference that had that kind of a building. So that was, that was an honor. And, you know, people would come in and, and now we're getting all the exposure of high schools wanting to use the facility and, you know, have graduations and whatnot. And then we, when we have an open house and we have parents and prospective students go in the science building and their mouths drop, and then they talk to some of our faculty members or our deans about the percent of very, very high percentage of our graduate science students of what companies they're getting into, you know, what PhD programs, um, you know, the, the position of first choice and you it's, everything is. So I think everything is so special. Patrick Leahy: I just, I always think Matt, if I, again, may jump in that one of the underappreciated projects is the, uh, tunnel that connects the north campus to the main campus and allowed us to connect those two parts of campus in a way that makes it feel much more like a residential campus than I can't imagine. Patty, prior to that construction people passing across Cedar avenue or trying to cross at that light, it's both a, a beautiful enhancement to the campus. That's beautiful. And a, a, an engineering Marvel, I think, uh, to connect those two pieces of the campus. And I can't imagine that was easy to get yeah. Accomplished. Patti Swannack: That was, that was an interesting project cuz we worked with the state and it was interesting. The construction supervisor, supervisor was a woman and she'd obviously she was young and she had never worked on a campus and we had to make sure that she put all her, her keys away every single night. And she came in one morning and our students had taken the fins off their surfboards and we're surfing down these giant piles of church. And she was, I guess this really is different but it was great. It was super Matt Harmon: Pat Patty, last question on your way out at the end of the month, do you leave the secret plans because you know, every inch of this campus, do you leave and give them to president Lehe or you hold onto those as a memento, Patti Swannack: He's got a long list coming. I hope he's ready. and my successor is getting a binder as a gift with a list of projects and as much information as I think he will need from day one. But I I'm an alumna. I'm not leaving, you know, mom, I love mom if I always have. Um, the, one of my big regrets is if we get a marching band, I wanna be here to see it. Cuz I think that is gonna be awesome for our student body P awesome Matt Harmon: President Lehe final word, uh, for you to wrap things up the, the footprint and the thumbprint that Patty Swank has left on this campus will be immeasurable for years, decades, and almost at infant item because whether you're watching a soccer game under the lights, whether you're walking into the science, building a residence hall, the library, a game at the ocean first bank center, Kessler stadium, you name it, Patty Swank's name basically had a big part of it. Patrick Leahy: Absolutely. As long as this university, uh, rests on this good ground here in long branch and west long branch, it, it will bear, you know, Patty Swank's, uh, footprints all over it. I mean that is not an overstatement. There's just too many projects too much of the campus has been developed, uh, during her tenure that, uh, as we expand and grow and continue to develop the campus, it'll be on the foundation that, uh, that Patty, uh, built to this point. Patti Swannack: I do wanna say Matt, that I, you know, I do, I need to shout out and thank my staff cuz they've been phenomenal. I mean, we've been at all. You know, when we had a flood in a building before we renovated, they were standing next to me with squeegees to try to get the water out. I it's. So I, it it's, they've been great to work with Matt Harmon: Patty I'm I'm sure the last couple of days as we wrap up the month of June will be difficult for you in a lot of ways. But um, on behalf of myself, who's been at Monmouth one way or the other since 1993. Thank you. That's that's about the best way I can say it. The university is better for your work, um, and will continue to be better for your work because of what you are leaving as essentially a legacy over the course of 46 years enjoy retirement. I'm sure you will look forward to just enjoying time with your husband traveling, sitting on the beach, whatever it might be. Uh, but, but well deserved. And, and as you have said, mammoth is part of you and you will be a part of Monmouth for a very long time to come. Patti Swannack: I said to my husband, I wanna come back to a football game and be able to watch the game and not worry about is their parking. Are somebody doing what they're supposed to do is their trash in the parking lot. So it's yeah, I'll be back for sure. President Matt Harmon: El, you, we can get a couple of tickets for Patty to come back to a football game. Right? I hope Patti Swannack: So. I hope Patrick Leahy: So. I, I think so. I think so. Uh, but very well put what you just said, Matt and my sentiments. Exactly. Matt Harmon: Well, we wrap up episode number 30, two of mammoth weekly. Thanks as always for giving us part of your time. The university, uh, will have a, a new face in charge of many different areas because Patty Swanick retiring at the end of this month for Patty Swank for university I'm Matt Harmon. We join you episode 33 coming up in a couple of weeks.