Central Nova News

Teaching during a pandemic has challenged Dr. Alicia McCartney in new ways she never could have imagined before the onset of COVID-19. 

As an assistant professor of English at Cedarville University in Ohio, she is learning to be more flexible with educational content delivery. That’s because, to curb the spread of the coronavirus, the private Baptist university has embraced a "HyFlex" model in which some students learn remotely while others attend in-person classes.

“I have also had to think outside the box as many of the methods I usually use to keep students engaged, such as small group discussions, paper reflection journals, handouts and activities, are impossible in a classroom where we're trying to minimize transmission through social distancing and limiting shared surfaces,” McCartney told Central Nova News.

Dr. Alicia McCartney | Contributed photo

In addition, there’s the challenge of making sure Zoom students can fully participate and hear.

“I teach behind either a mask or a face shield,” McCartney said. “However, I have been blessed by the grace my students have shown me as we all try to figure this 'new normal' out together.”

So far, the effort has been successful. Only one coronavirus case among 3,000 students has been confirmed, according to McCartney.

“Everyone is masked and distanced if they are in the physical classroom,” she said. “We are praying that case numbers continue to remain minimal and contained as the semester proceeds. Last semester reminded me what a privilege and a blessing it is that we can still teach – and learn – even if it needs to look different for a time.”

To get through life's challenges, McCartney is drawing on the Christian education she received while attending Patrick Henry College in Purcellville.

“PHC prepared me incredibly well for graduate school, through academic rigor and the investment of key mentors, Dr. Gene Edward Veith, Dr. Les Sillars and Dr. Cory Grewell, among others,” she said. “PHC also gave me a vision for Christian education that married faith and reason. I hope that I will have the same kind of influence on my students that these professors had in my life.”

Last year, McCartney returned to PHC as a visiting professor after completing a doctorate in English at Baylor University. 

“This visiting professorship position allowed me the opportunity to give back and invest in the next generation of PHC students, the same way these mentors had invested in me a decade ago,” McCartney said.

She also developed friends for life at PHC.

“Some of my closest friends attended PHC, and have walked through life together with me since college,” said McCartney. “Though we now live in different parts of the country, we still keep up via phone, text, Zoom and occasional visits. I am incredibly blessed to have thoughtful, courageous, godly and intellectual women in my life.”

While she met her husband, Andrew McCartney, as a PHC student, they did not start dating until a year after graduating. 

“I went to Baylor University for my Ph.D., and he attended the University of Texas at Austin for law school – only an hour and a half away,” McCartney said. “Because I didn't know many people in Texas, we began writing friendly emails and then seeing each other occasionally. This correspondence blossomed into an official relationship in fall 2015, which put many hundreds of miles on the cars!”

They have been married since May 2017