"It means the world to me receiving this award since my film will be streamed on multiple platforms for people all around the world to see," said Malak El Araby, a graduating senior majoring in film who is one of 10 winners of the Ladima Foundation African Women in the Time of COVID-19 Short Film Competition. 

Being, El Araby's film, is just under two minutes long and features snippets of her life before Egypt shut down due to COVID-19. For her, the film is meant to highlight the moments people might usually take for granted and tries to find a positive side to this situation. 

"Being was made with the purpose of finding a silver lining in midst of the hardships that we had to face during a global pandemic," she said." "My main goal was to make people feel and view this pandemic differently, to make people appreciate the little things in life, to be grateful for what we have, and to never take anything for granted anymore."

El Araby's film was shown across different platforms, and she received a EUR 500 award. For her and the other nine winners of the competition, this was an opportunity to express their perspectives on the pandemic and shed light on different personal, economic and societal issues facing women.

"I realized how the little things in life are what mattered the most," El Araby said. "I missed a lot of things that a person does on a daily basis, like walking down the streets freely and breathing fresh air, or just holding a loved one. I wanted people to appreciate what they have, so when all of this is over, we’d be grateful and appreciate the little things more then ever."

You can read El Araby's full interview with ANBA here.

AUC will be providing voluntary mentorship support for entrepreneurs as part of the Gemini Uplift initiative to support entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The initiative, launched by Gemini Enterprises Africa, aims to revive the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Egypt and Africa during these difficult times through money, matchmaking and mentorship. Gemini focuses on supporting entrepreneurship in Africa, and particularly projects focused on social dimensions. 

"In brief, AUC and Gemini signed an MOU early this year, aiming to work together on student initiatives that would support entrepreneurship, including competitions and activities that would involve AUC students, such as graduation projects and entrepreneurial mentoring activities," said Ahmed Tolba, associate provost for strategic enrollment managements and associate professor of marketing.

More than 30 institutions joined the initiative, and AUC's role focuses on providing mentoring resources primarily through faculty. This is a voluntary service by each faculty member.

AUC signed an MOU with Gemini a few months ago, whereby they could support the Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program, a project hosted in Tolba's office.

AUC’s Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Research and Innovation Initiative awarded funding to 10 different research projects that are aimed at creating an impact both during and after the global COVID-19 pandemic — contributing to the scholarship and innovation in the fight against it. In this series, we are highlighting each of the 10 projects to learn about what they are and what impact they will have on society.

Project 2: Coping in Egypt During the COVID-19 Crisis

Principal Investigator: Lameese Eldesouky, assistant professor, Department of Psychology 

Co-Principal Investigators: Kate Ellis, assistant professor, Department of Psychology; Zeinab Khadr, senior research scientist, Social Research Center

How It Began

When talking to her friends and family, Eldesouky took notice of the “vastly different” ways that people were coping with the COVID-19 crisis.

“Some people were in denial and wanted to act as though nothing had changed,” she said. “Others I knew turned to religion as a guide by increasing their prayers and trying to grow closer to God. Meanwhile, there were others who turned to distracting activities like TV just to make the time go by.”

For her, this grant was an opportunity to study what’s going on with how people are dealing with their emotions and reach a scientific conclusion. 

What It's All About

This project will identify the different ways that Egyptians are coping with the COVID-19 crisis and which strategies are most effective for long-term well-being. Some questions the project aims to answer are: What strategies are people currently using the most vs. the least? Which people are using certain types of strategies more or less? 

“For example,” Eldesouky said, “people who are more optimistic may be more prone to identify positive aspects of the situation as opposed to distract themselves.”

The Research Process

This project will be completed remotely and online. Gathering data involves: 

• Having participants complete a long, one-time survey asking demographic and personality questions. 
• Conducting experience sampling: having participants complete very brief surveys multiple times a day for two weeks, which will allow for data collection about people’s emotions over time.

Data collection is set to be completed this month. 

What's the Impact?

There are two main goals of this project: The first is to help create culturally sensitive public health recommendations that enhance people’s use of healthy coping strategies and decrease their use of unhealthy ones. The second is to make people more aware of how they are coping with the situation.

“Believe it or not, the average person does not think about their emotions and how they are dealing with them on a regular basis,” Eldesouky said.

Final Thoughts

“We are very excited about this study for several reasons. While it addresses a major current issue, it also helps bring Egypt to psychological research and vice versa. The field of psychology today is primarily represented by the West and select Asian countries. Furthermore, to our knowledge, this will be one of the first studies in Egypt and the Middle East more generally to use experience sampling. This is the novel method I described where people answer the same survey multiple times a day. It’s praised for its ability to capture what people do in real time and in real life outside of a laboratory setting,” Eldesouky said.

As part of their Packaging studio course last fall, graphic design students Amena ElDefrawy, Amanda Ioannou, Hania Gazar, Reem Hasebou, Salma Aly and Noor Sallam worked on envisioning new packaging solutions for the Gourmet brand while considering the environmental aspect and sustainability. The Gourmet team liked the student work, had the most creative group intern with the company last winter and is implementing some of the student designs across its branches.

“Part of our strategy as a design program is to reach out to existing key players in the market and introduce them to our students’ work either through direct studio involvement or as jury members on our senior graduation projects,” said Bahia Shehab (MA ’09), professor of practice of design and founder of the graphic design program. “We see this as a healthy collaboration for our students to be exposed to existing opportunities in the market. This interaction helps students understand their output not only from an academic framework, but also through a practical one.”

The students worked on Gourmet’s rebranding plan, including brand image, typefaces and visual elements.

They had multiple tasks in hand, including redesigning the packaging of old products such as the juice bottles and granola boxes, while also coming up with packages for new products, in addition to suggesting retail solutions, and interior and exterior branding,

"The students expressed their satisfaction with their contributions, which also help save the environment," noted Shehab. "We encouraged them to use more sustainable packaging materials, and they were very welcoming to that suggestion. They switched from plastic to cardboard in products where it was feasible and practical to do so.”

Each of the six students worked separately on different products, while also working in teams and supporting each other with ideas when needed.

"The super team of talented AUC interns did a fantastic and professional job, and Gourmet Egypt is nothing but proud of the quality of work they presented, " said Dalia Sultan, business development director of Gourmet Egypt. "Their passion for design and their creativity were greatly demonstrated in their work,, where they were able to deliver what's required as per the briefs they were given. .. Their work was actually materialized in our new line of packaging featured in our stores, which was loved and admired, not only by Gourmet Egypt's family, but also by our customers."

El Defrawy worked on reshaping Gourmet’s shopping experience by designing sustainable and eco-friendly shopping bags. She redesigned Gourmet’s paper, plastic and insulated bags, some of which are now being used in stores.

Ioannou worked on the lettering and overall printed design of the rotisserie packages. She also designed the Valentine’s Day packages and worked on their lettering “The packages were in all stores on Valentine’s Day 2020,” Ioannou said.

New logo design for the retail shops by Bassna Hassan

El Gazar, who designed Kahk El Eid boxes and Valentine’s Day social media posts, also worked on Gourmet’s collaboration with Kazyon for a new, healthier line. She designed package stickers, which had to be clear and legible with a simple copywriting.

“I chose green since it’s easier to understand that this is a cleaner line while still maintaining some orange accents from Kazyon’s branding direction,” she said.

El Gazar also worked on the rebranding of Goumet’s No Gluten line. “I went for a neon color to be eye-catchy to anyone with gluten intolerance, who often have difficulty finding products suitable for them.”

Sallam was asked to design five of Gourmet’s existing juice flavors, and the designs have actually been in Gourmet stores as of January 2020.

While Sallam was asked to design Gourmet’s savory bakery box packages, for which she custom-made the Arabic calligraphy, she also designed their truck to promote their existing mobile application.

“The first project I was asked to work on was the labeling of a new line of terracotta baked goods for Ramadan,” said Reem Hasebou.

Hasebou also worked on redesigning fava bean packaging for different recipes.She also redesigned stickers for the Gourmet’s soups.

Aly worked in the website department. She photographed, edited, retouched and resized more than 400 images. She also suggested website user interface design solutions and redesigned the food allergy and category icons.

“Overall, I believe that we as a team have proven how design has a major impact on the community, people, and environment,” said Aly. “Our goal was not only to be only consumer conscious, but also environmentally conscious. We achieved that by reducing current packaging material and shifting to more sustainable material, while maintaining the brand’s identity.”

“As an educational institution and a design program in the heart of the Arab world, we see a lot of potential for the creative industry to offer solutions that are at par with the offering of leaders in the global economy,” said Shehab. “We can only hope that our students will be going out to the world and creating the change that we all need.”

With Hani Henry, associate professor at the Department of Psychology and associate dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, as the main speaker, AUC held the first Media Virtual Discussion, titled “Maintaining Mental Wellness during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic” on April 6. During the discussion, Henry shared advice on how to maintain mental wellness and reduce the anxiety and stress caused by the outbreak of COVID-19.

As millions in Egypt and the world are in self-isolation and with the constant stream of breaking news notifications, many are feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Henry explained that when there is a global crisis of this magnitude, there must be a scientific evaluation of it.

"So we must ask ourselves what is affecting us most, and determine the type of feelings that we feel, is it fear? Fear of what? We must understand the nature of our reactions and feelings. Some people, as Henry said, feel deprived, for example, of their inability to go to mosques or churches.  Others feel deprived of their inability to see their parents. "So people must try to protect themselves and their nervous system by determining what affects them and what does not so that they can ignore the issues that are not relevant to them.” 

Henry also stressed the need to identify that there are things one can’t control. “The main problem that many people face is trying to control things that they can't control, such as anticipating what will happen tomorrow or the actions of others. So instead, they can control their attitude or the news they choose to read," he said.

Henry shared pieces of advice and several tips from The American Psychological Association to help control feelings of anxiety and stress during COVID-19, including:

- Reducing exposure to negative news since it may lead to an increased sense of panic. Staying informed but setting a limit to watching or reading stories about the development of COVID-19 to 30 minutes a day, for example.

- Continuing the daily routine, such as waking up at the same time, as well as maintaining boundaries between family and work life while working at home.

- Trying to discover new hobbies or working on the delayed tasks.

-  Choosing to pay attention to the value of the present moment and the value of health, for example, using “optimism bias”. For example, during self-isolation at home, many people now have the opportunity to spend better quality time with their children, which has not always been the case with the fast pace of life. 

- Trying to avoid negative people and reducing the sources of stress.

- Helping others and finding ways to give back to society.

- Recording video clips with family members to highlight how the family is overcoming the current crisis. Such techniques could give the person a degree of control and hope.

- Seeking help from others, from close friends or family members, or seeking psychological help through online cognitive behavioral therapy.

- Expressing and talking about feelings of anger or psychological pain because suppressing such feelings may lead to depression or increased mental illnesses, the effects of which may not appear now.

- Meditating through exercises on mobile applications or doing simple physical activities at home.

Henry also discussed the psychological pressures that many of the underprivileged labor force face daily. He believes that they have a different kind of perseverance, determination, and faith in their ability to overcome difficulties because they have always faced problems that many people of privilege haven't encountered. "So we can learn how they deal with their hardships and try to adopt simpler ways of looking at problems,” he said.

When dealing with children who are suffering from anxiety or stress, Henry believes that stressed-out parents can become wounded healers.

“The parents’ feelings allow them to resonate with their children. It is important that they acknowledge the children’s feelings and not underestimate them. Yet parents should also give them hope and encouragement and try to simplify the idea that the only constant in life is change.”

Henry also stressed the need for families to support each other in such difficult times and show appreciation to the women and mothers, who currently bear a lot of pressure at homes taking care of their families due to self-isolation at home.

As for the mental health of the workers in the medical sector during the COVID-19 pandemic, Henry said, "The heroic role of those working in the medical sector must be recognized. Currently, they are like soldiers in a state of war, and they won’t necessarily have time to consider their mental well-being. However, their mental health must be taken care of after the end of this crisis, as some of them might suffer from post-traumatic stress. He added that "we can currently continue to support and encourage them morally through initiatives that are taking place around the world, such as applauding them at seven in the evening from our homes and highlighting their heroic efforts."

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AUC has been reaffirmed for its national accreditation with the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education (NAQAAE).

NAQAAE was founded to enhance the quality of education in Egypt by developing an integrated system to assure education quality. AUC was the first University in Egypt to receive the NAQAAE accreditation in 2010, with additional school- and department-level accreditation for the School of Sciences and Engineering and Department of Management within the School of Business. With this reaffirmation, AUC maintains its status as both a nationally accredited University as well as an American-accredited University with the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE).

“Maintaining the MSCHE as well as the NAQAAE accreditation for years ensures that AUC is sustaining quality education and service based on Egyptian and international standards,” said Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman. “It validates our hard work, confirms to the public the validity of our programs and positively impacts the educational experience and future prospects of our students.”

The reaffirmation process was a rigorous self-assessment coordinated by the Office of Strategy Management and Institutional Effectiveness (SMIE), which was responsible for leading and facilitating the institutions accreditation efforts throughout the process.

“In higher education, institutional accreditation promises a standard of excellence,” attested Iman Megahed ’90, ’92, AUC's chief knowledge and strategy officer. “Accreditation is a transformative process for universities, as it supports the institution’s mission and allows it to provide students with the quality educational experience they deserve.”

An Accreditation Steering Committee -- co-chaired by Professor Ezzat Fahmy, construction engineering; Professor Basil Kamel, architecture; and Associate Professor Atta Gebril, applied linguistics -- worked diligently with a representative group of AUC faculty and staff members in developing the self-study report and providing evidence of AUC’s compliance with NAQAAE accreditation standards. This successful reaffirmation process was under the guidance and leadership of Provost Ehab Abdel-Rahman in coordination with AUC Counselor Ashraf Hatem. The process concluded with a three-day visit to AUC’s campus by a committee of experts in higher education in order to observe AUC’s congruence with its self-study and meet with representatives from different constituents and stakeholders. The committee provided a thorough report, which included recommendations for areas within the University that can be further enhanced.

“The self-assessment process ensures, as we move into the future, that we continuously improve and advance the University,” explained Heba Fathelbab (MA ‘10), senior director of assessment and accreditation at the Office of Strategy Management and Institutional Effectiveness. “The reaffirmation of accreditation process is a lot of hard work, but it is an excellent way to ensure that AUC remains relevant and provides a unique educational experience for its students.”

AUC's faculty members have been hard at work trying to navigate the challenges that come with shifting to online instruction. News@AUC spoke to some faculty members to learn about their experiences so far and what they've been doing to adapt to the changes. Here's what they had to say: 

Carie Forden, professor, Department of Psychology

"I teach social psychology, which is very relevant to the current situation, as we are covering topics such as stress, conformity and group behavior. Instead of doing narrated PowerPoints, my husband and I are turning the course material into a podcast, complete with theme music, advertisements and recommendations. My husband is the host who is asking the questions, and I'm the expert guest. He's a good listener and very curious about things, so it works well. It's been a lot of fun. Last week's podcast on stress included a discussion of how to deal with the stress of coronavirus and quarantine and a commercial for meditating while washing your hands."

Tarek Selim '92, '95, professor, Department of Economics

"It was a bit frustrating in the beginning, but now, many faculty actually like it! The challenge for me, and I guess for the whole of AUC as an institution, will be fairness in the online grading system: how to make sure that the inputs received online are indeed the effort of the particular student being assessed and how to make online grading fair for all. This is a fundamental challenge and is an ethical issue and has accreditation requirements as well. Another challenge is the 'time to access' online materials for students if the server/cloud does not have enough capacity in peak times."

On the soft side of things, I received many comics relating AUC's online education to Egyptian cinema/ famous plays."

Rasha Abdulla '92, '96, professor and graduate director, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication:

"My first experience was really good. I taught the class live on Zoom, and a recording is also available online. Almost all the students 'showed up,' and we only had a couple missing. I think it went better than we all expected. The students were wonderful and very interactive. I had done my homework on all the little perks that Zoom has to offer. I used a PowerPoint presentation and shared it with them on the screen, paused to invite questions or comments every once in a while and asked their impressions at the beginning and at the end of the class. I think we were all pretty happy with the experience."

Michael Reimer, associate professor, Department of History 

"Yes, it has been a big challenge. The tasks involved seem endless, and I find it hard to lecture without a class in front of me. However, the positive aspect of online teaching is that I am in more frequent contact with some students who rarely participated in class discussion, but who are now are asking questions and participating in online discussions. Also, because I am setting smaller writing assignments rather than essay examinations, students write more frequently in response to the assigned readings, which I hope will stimulate their understanding of these texts. In the future, even in normal face-to-face instruction, I plan to continue to use online discussion forums to encourage the quieter students to participate."

Shahira Fahmy, professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication

"So far, I've taught two online classes: one undergraduate class on Blackboard and the second class was on Zoom for graduate students. My graduate class on Zoom went really well. The students were engaged and very interactive that ironically it almost felt like we could communicate better with each other online than face-to-face.  My undergraduate class still needs some adjustments to get the students more involved and actively engaged in the learning process. I understand that students, and undergraduate students specifically, might feel anxious and apprehensive about the process. I want them to know that these feelings are normal. No one anticipated the current situation, but I think we will all learn from this experience and, in the end, hopefully find some joy in the process."

Hassan Azzazy, professor, Department of Chemistry

"A powerful feature of Panopto is that it enables students to easily locate any topic in a lecture and replay the relevant slides and voice. It also enables students to have permanent records of videotaped lectures. On the other hand, I have used a combination of Notepad and Screen Recorder on my cell phone (with a stylus) to hand write explanations of specific topics or solve exercises as I do on whiteboards in classrooms, then posted links to these videos on Blackboard." 

Adel El Adawy, assistant professor, Middle East Studies Center

"Online teaching was a new experience for me. I hadn't done it before so I didn't know how it will go, but I think after receiving training during spring break and having one week of experience, it went pretty well. I would say my classroom experience has not really changed from face-to-face teaching and now online teaching because most of my classes are very small — graduate seminars, graduate students — so I've decided to use the software Zoom, which actually really gives a very similar experience, as if you are sitting face-to-face in class. We’ll see how the rest of the semester will go, but I think, after one week, I am very satisfied and I think my students are as well."

Ayman Ismail '95, '97, associate professor, Department of Management

"I’ve done a lot of online teaching before, but moving a complete undergraduate course online is a new adventure. So far, it has worked out well. We are holding online discussion sessions using interactive tools, video cases and alternative assessment methods. Students are not only learning the course material, but also new ways of working together, innovating and collaborating."

Khaled Tarabieh, assistant professor, Department of Architecture

"I have been involved in online instruction at AUC during the past five years part of the ProGreen Diploma for Green Technologies where I, along with other professionals in Egypt and Lebanon, taught sustainable design and green technology. In the past two years, the AUC state-of-the-art communication technologies allowed us to engage in virtual teaching with the University of Arizona, creating virtual classrooms to teach Sustainable Architecture. This experience allowed me a smooth transition into fully online teaching in the past week. No challenges were observed except for the daily interaction with the campus community faculty, staff and students, all of which I miss deeply. Our successful transition to online learning shows how our investment over the past few years in infrastructure and online learning has paid off.  I truly believe this situation has been a test of resilience and sustainability of our institution of the future, a test we have fortunately passed with flying colors."

Michael Gibson, senior instructor, Department of Rhetoric and Composition

"Monday the class met on google hangouts. It was ok. Today I used Zoom. It went great.  I really like the online learning and am staying in touch through the week both on google hangout chat and email. I'm enjoying it. The only downside is not being physically together. Some of my students say they like it better because it's more comfortable, convenient, and efficient, and we're actually communicating more often (in various ways) and more thoroughly."

With online classes starting Sunday, AUCTV interviewed Vice President for Digital Transformation Ayman Abdellatif on how his team has been working hard to make sure the process runs smoothly and how students and faculty members should utilize the IT Help Desk when running into challenges. Watch the full interview.

#PeopleOfAUC

With Mother's Day coming up on March 21, working mothers in Egypt and at AUC are facing a lot of challenges in light of the coronavirus situation — they are trying to keep their kids safe at home and entertained, keeping pace with their online learning at home and — on top of that — working in their daily jobs.

We spoke to AUC's staff working mothers, and here are their thoughts on this year's Mother's Day:

Noha Saada, senior director, Academic Advising Center: 

“I think we have to strike a balance. We should neither frighten our kids nor neglect our work duties. We should work on maintaining our balance without panicking too much in order to be able to think straight. A couple of days ago, I started panicking too much, which made me get physically sick. What we are doing at work now is that we are working on a remote location policy while keeping some of the staff members on campus to maintain normal operations at the office. We are installing VPNs on our laptops and contacting students to inform them that we are taking online advising appointments, including videoconferencing tools when necessary. Concerning my two sons, things are getting really difficult. I am trying to handle it with my husband and nanny. We take annual leaves rotationally, and they are starting online learning, so I’ll be trying to keep up with the pace of their online learning when I am back from work. Things are even getting more difficult for my kids to stay at home, especially that they are used to working out three times a week, so my husband sometimes works out with them at home and we take them for a walk in open places since it is the safest option. I hope this works, and I hope people will take quarantining seriously."

Amira El Biltagy, program manager, Yousef Jameel Public Leadership Program, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy:                                                                                                                                    

“These are very difficult times. The fact that schools are shut down for two weeks and kids are isolated at home makes you think what you should and shouldn’t do: Should we have some friends at home or not? Can we eat out or not? They need to be entertained 24/7 and you still have to work, even if remotely, and in my case also study for my master's, which is quite challenging to be honest or at least harder than the usual days when they are consumed in school work and sports. I am a believer that safety comes first, so for the next couple of weeks, the plan is to hold it together and keep our sanity and divide the day among different activities, of which some, I must admit, are useless but still very much needed!”

Sherine Meshad, associate director of communications and marketing, School of Business:

"It’s an everyday challenge to balance a working life and having kids staying at home in response to COVID-19. The flexibility of rotation that the School of Business has set in place makes it a bit easier to navigate the challenge of homeschooling and work responsibilities. I have to say it’s a pendulum of emotions between going up the wall and having the chance to spend more time with my kids. I'm making the best out of the situation while wishing for a cure."

Eman Abdel Salam, operations manager, School of Global Affairs and Public Policy:

"What we are going through these days is hard to believe. It feels weird when all of a sudden someone pressed the pause button for your 18 hours of daily routine, and you can’t do anything about it! Having to deal with isolated, bored kids at home is not as easy as it sounds. Having to entertain them as well as do online school work is much harder than we thought, especially with my work duties. For days now, the do's and don’t lists have been growing in my head, and I'd be lying if I said I got it all under control. It’s another challenge that we as working mothers have to go through. This too shall pass.”

Salma Adly, program officer at the International Program Office:

"As a working mom and a mother of two teenage girls, I find it hard to cope with this semi-crisis that we are facing nowadays. Not only is it a difficult time for all of us, but it is also extra difficult for working mothers and fathers. I find it difficult to convince my girls that this virus is not a joke and that we have to take it seriously by sanitizing everything we use and avoiding crowded places. Between online classes, which is a hassle, housework and trying to keep my family safe, I have to try to balance my work while working from home and meeting my deadlines. May this difficult time go away soon."

We are now facing the coronavirus pandemic. Everyone is feeling anxious, disorientated, worried and generally uneasy. Workplaces are being disrupted to an unprecedented degree, and nobody knows how long this will last. Many of us have to work from home, and this in itself can be not only challenging, but also isolating and lonely. Social bonding is important, and many of us will miss out on interacting with colleagues, and for our faculty with our students too. So, what can we all do about it?

1. Work on your time management

Time management is crucial. One way to make working from home more productive is to break work down things into smaller tasks. With distractions at home, getting into flow can sometimes be difficult. Many of us are living with our families and pets. There are house chores that have to be done, and often those around us may not understand the type of work we are doing. Having short breaks is crucial, even if this means calling a colleague for a chat, checking in on students, doing a bit of housework or, in my case, going for a cuddle with my dog, and -- even more useful -- doing a few stretches. Staying physically well will help us all stay mentally positive.

2. Take up a hobby

Since many of us will not have to spend time commuting or taking children to school, we are not going out as much and, hopefully, this will conserve some energy. Taking time out every day to learn a new language, draw, paint, practice yoga, read or even just sit still and think. These little activities can help us disconnect not only from work, but also from all the news around us, which can get overwhelming sometimes. It will also help us =feel like we are achieving a task or end goal beyond work, making us feel more satisfied and happier.

3. Stay socially bonded

While we are not seeing our colleagues and friends as much, this does not mean that we cannot stay connected. Having regular check-ins is important, especially if you have elderly family members whom you are unable to see: Speaking with them helps them feel less isolated. I find that writing letters is therapeutic, even though I am unsure when I will be able to post them. Getting my thoughts down to a friend or loved one makes me feel more connected to them and satisfied.

4. Be grateful

Over this period, I am encouraging my students to think about one thing every day they are grateful for, even if this is having a warm shower or a clean drink of water. AUC has, and historically always had, a solid community that has stuck together during difficult times. Simply knowing that your organization and colleagues are there for you gives employees a sense of psychological security and elicits feelings of happiness. In current times, this is something that organizations need to strive to do more so than ever.

Stay connected, stay grateful and stay happy!

Nellie El Enany is an assistant professor in the Department of Management. Her research interests center on issues of identity, including identity construction, stigma, legitimacy and identity work. She also has an interest in the psychology of happiness in the workplace.