Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers are working through an important question: How do we teach and learn during a crisis?

Scholars at East Tennessee State University are at the forefront of that conversation.

A “gift to higher education,” as one reviewer put it, the book “Lessons from the Pandemic: Trauma-Informed Approaches to College, Crisis, Change” is garnering acclaim. Most recently, it was featured in an article published in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

This timely work is edited by Dr. Phyllis Thompson, an associate professor in the Department of Literature and Language at ETSU, and Edinboro University’s Dr. Janice Carello.

A collection of essays, this book offers strategies for trauma-informed teaching in higher education during times of crisis. Studies abound, the authors note, on trauma-related approaches for professionals in mental health services, law enforcement and K-12 education. Yet college faculty and staff have few readily available strategies to turn to.

A longtime leader at ETSU, Thompson is the interim chair of Counseling and Human Services and has served as director of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program since 2012. Thompson serves on the advisory board for ETSU’s Office of Equity and Inclusion, the executive committee of the Strong BRAIN Institute and the board of directors for RISE: Healthy for Life.