Office of Academic Planning and Advising plans to roll out new alert system “Navigate” by Fall 2021, despite COVID-19, technical complications setbacks

Students will be able to download the Navigate App to their cell phones by next Fall (Photo Editor/Kate Rodgers).

The Office of Academic Planning and Advising intends to reintroduce an application called Navigate during new student orientation. It is a student success management system available for students in the app store as well as online.  

An article published by The Lamron in February 2020 first discussed the Office of Academic Planning and Advising’s initiative that planned to launch Navigate.

As part of the 2021 strategic plan, the application designed by EAB—a technology company that assists schools—to be a student success management would be used as an “early warning system to track student progress,” according to Dean of Academic Planning and Professor of English, Celia Easton. 

Easton said that due to COVID-19, progress on the app was not prioritized for much of last year. She said the office plans to be back on track for a soft rollout release of the application this upcoming fall and is hopeful that soon the app will be widely used on campus.

“We will be definitely rolling out the app again during new student orientation,” Easton said.  

According to the EAB website, Navigate is a student success collaborative program for four-year institutions, partnered with more than 550 colleges and universities. Their model aims to address intelligence via administrators, strategic care via faculty and staff and smart guidance via students. 

“We chose Navigate because of the data analytics that they have to offer,” Easton said. “It is all about connecting students to resources.”

The Navigate system was purchased through the SUNY Investment and Performance Fund with a four-year timeline. The SUNY Investment and Performance Fund was developed to help SUNY schools expand about 40,000 credentials to reach a goal of 150,000 by 2020, according to an article published by The Lamron in January 2016. 

The app does not aim to replace myGeneseo or any online portals but to rather supplement and make certain things easier for students, according to the Office of Academic Planning and Advising. 

“One of the largest goals of the app is to make scheduling appointments more convenient,” Easton said. “Students can actually go into the app and … find the faculty member and actually schedule an appointment.” 

The rollout has not begun yet, due to technical reasons, but is one of the Office’s main goals for fall 2021, according to Easton. 

The new prevalence of virtual meetings will also be integrated into the app, and Easton believes many departments will continue to hold meetings in this manner and the option will be available.

By increasing scheduling, the app will increase communication between students and the campus’ representatives, according to Easton. Navigate will also include a system to warn students if they are falling behind with their requirements before it becomes too much of an issue. 

“Right now, there is nothing that searches for the students … as long as they are kind of keeping their head just above water, which is a 2.0—or minimum competency—nobody is paying attention. Nobody is going to initiate a conversation,” Easton said. 

Other than scheduling meetings, the app can be used to find “Study Buddies” in the same class, list activities happening on campus and your residence hall during the day, provide maps and routes to buildings on campus as well as provide information about your major. For undeclared students, there is a quiz you can take where the program analyzes your interests based on a questionnaire and provide a major that would best match you, according to the February 2020 article published by The Lamron. 

Easton said that she hopes that there will soon be a tile on myGeneseo for Navigate, although there is no direct timeline. She said that she is working hard to get the app up and running and is hopeful that it will soon be available for all students and faculty to provide an easier communication system between everyone. 

Geneseo Family Restaurant closes indefinitely, due to pandemic-related financial hardships

On Feb. 18, a Livingston County News article announced that the Geneseo Family Restaurant, known to most as GFR, would close its doors on Sunday Feb. 21. 

“Geneseo will always have my heart,” Ted Tsoukalos, owner of the restaurant, said. 

There are disadvantages to owning and running a business in a college town though, he explained. “The thing with a college town … it’s wonderful to have you guys, that’s what makes Geneseo,” Tsoukalos said. “But when college classes are over with, pretty much the town goes dead.” 

According to Tsoukalos’ wife Kris Tsoukalos, the restaurant opened its doors in Geneseo in February 1998 under Ted Tsoukalos’ parent’s ownership. From there, the business grew into the community landmark it is today.

“We had a restaurant in Batavia and [our landlord] said there was a small space here [in Geneseo], and if [my] parents are interested, [they] would come down and talk. So, [my parents] went down, and it’s pretty much history ever since,” Ted Tsoukalos said.  

The restaurant became a staple of the community, with the students even re-naming it to make it their own. 

“The name ‘GFR’ came from the students,” Kris Tsoukalos said. “A waitress heard that it was being called GFR and told Ted, and Ted just loved the idea to call it GFR … the idea just really grabbed, it came from the students.”

Ted’s parents were immigrants from Greece, and they came to the United States in the 1960s. They settled in Rochester and opened a restaurant there. Ted has spent most of his life inside of a restaurant. 

“[Ted’s] first memory of the restaurant, was when he was five years old,” Kris Tsoukalos said. “They propped him up on milk crates and he was doing dishes.”

After more than 20 years, the restaurant had to close due to pandemic-related financial hardships.

“If it wasn’t for COVID-19 I would still be there, but I just got behind rent, this and that,” Ted Tsoukalos said. “It just got way, way too overwhelming.”

According to Kris Tsoukalos, staffing shortages were another reason for the closing. “[Ted] was having a hard time finding staff for the kitchen”, with some staff finding other jobs by the time the restaurant had reopened after closures due to COVID-19.

The shutdown has impacted much of the community. As the news reached Twitter, a Geneseo student created a GoFundMe that has raised $7,325 as of Feb. 23.

In an email statement to The Lamron, alumni Annabelle Anich, ’20 and former member of Blue Wave women’s swimming and diving team, spoke of the team’s commitment and love of GFR.

“Being able to go to GFR the morning of a swim meet was more than just a way to fuel up for the long day of competition we had ahead of us,” Anich said. “It was very important for us to spend time with each other outside of the water and getting breakfast together before a meet helped to remind us that we aren’t just a team, but also a family.”

Anich went on to express the importance of GFR to the Geneseo swim team. 

“Within that hour, we could destress and get rid of any pre-race nerves and get excited for the competition,” Anich said. “The team is big on tradition, which is why we are so close no matter how many years fall between our graduating classes. Continuing this tradition kept us in touch with the Geneseo community.”

Besides sports traditions, GFR holds important memories for many other Geneseo students.

“I feel like GFR was a big part of the Geneseo community and I am going to be very sad to see it go,” biology major senior Paige Warmuth said.

As for the future, Ted Tsoukalos is looking ahead.

“There is a plan B,” he said. “I keep it at that.”