Project Description
In 2020, the Rutgers Oral History Archives began to document the experiences of individuals throughout Rutgers and New Jersey communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. The interviews are autobiographical with a focus on pandemic-related issues.
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Antonio Calcado
Antonio M. Calcado has served as the Executive Vice President for Strategic Planning and Operations and Chief Operating Officer at Rutgers since 2016. In this two-part oral history conducted by ROHA Director Shaun Illingworth and History Professor Dr. Paul Clemens, Calcado discusses his family's roots in Portugal, childhood, education, career and experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a career at Rutgers spanning more than thirty years, Calcado has held a number of leadership positions, including Vice President of Facilities and Capital Planning, and Senior Vice President of Institutional Planning and Operations. As the Emergency Management Coordinator, Calcado directs the University's responses to crises. Topics discussed in the interviews include preventative maintenance, involvement in professional organizations, Hurricane Floyd, Y2K, the merger of Rutgers and UMDNJ and establishment of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hurricane Sandy, public safety issues, development of the College Avenue and Livingston campuses, emergency preparedness, and the 2030 master plan. In the second session, Calcado delves into the Covid-19 pandemic. He traces the opening of the Emergency Operations Center and mobilization of the Rutgers COVID-19 Task Force during the early days of the pandemic in February 2020. Having contracted the virus in March, Calcado discusses his own experiences battling Covid-19, during which time he was hospitalized. He explores the University's response to the pandemic, highlighting considerations that have factored into decision-making involving a number of topics, including switching to remote instruction, repopulating campuses, and dealing with the impact of the financial crisis.
Debora La Torre
Debora La Torre, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, is a nurse practitioner, Army Reserve captain, and president of the New Jersey Chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses (NAHN). Born in Peru, she grew up in East Newark and Kearny, where she went to public schools. In 2000, she enlisted in the Army and served in the 58th Military Police Company as a combat medic. In 2004, she deployed with her unit to Afghanistan to Bagram Air Base, where she rotated between serving as a combat medic on patrols, at the combat support hospital, and in the detention center. She then was stationed in Germany with the 67th Combat Support Hospital in Würzburg and the 212th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Kaiserslautern, during which time she worked in the emergency room at the military hospital at Landstuhl. After deciding to leave the Army, La Torre went to nursing school on the GI Bill at Bloomfield College and then got her Master's of Science in Nursing (MSN). She joined the Army Nurse Corps Reserves and, in civilian life, worked as an emergency room nurse. Sessions one and two delve into her upbringing, military service, education, and family. In the third interview session focusing on the pandemic, La Torre discusses her experiences working as a nurse in an urgent care setting and how the NJ Chapter of NAHN has responded during the pandemic. She describes the effects of the pandemic on her family and friends, fellow healthcare providers, and her Army Reserve unit. Additionally, she traces her experiences as a working parent whose child has been engaged in virtual and hybrid schooling.
Barbara Lee
Barbara A. Lee, Distinguished Professor of Human Resource Management at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR), served as the Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs from 2015 to 2020. In this four-part interview series conducted by ROHA Assistant Director Kathryn Tracy Rizzi and History Professor Dr. Paul Clemens, Dr. Lee explores her family history, childhood growing up in New Jersey, education, career, and experiences during the pandemic. In 1984, she joined the faculty in the Department of Industrial Relations and Human Resources at SMLR. Over the years, she has taught classes on employment law, labor law and higher education law. She is the author of numerous articles and books, including The Law of Higher Education, A Legal Guide for Student Affairs Professionals, and Academics in Court: The Consequences of Faculty Discrimination Litigation. In addition to having served as the chief academic officer of Rutgers University, she has held many administrative positions, including department chair, associate dean, associate provost, dean, and director of the Center for Women and Work. When the Covid-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, she worked with others in the Emergency Operations Center to manage the University's response and shift to remote instruction. The fourth interview session focuses on the pandemic.
Taylor Lorchak
Taylor Lorchak is a registered nurse, combat medic in the Army National Guard, and alumna of the Rutgers School of Nursing-Camden. Born in Bristol, Pennsylvania in 1994, Lorchak grew up in Levittown, Philadelphia and Glassboro, New Jersey. Homeschooled during her youth, she trained as a musician and played the French horn at the Settlement Music School and in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. She attended The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) and majored in performance. Influenced by her brother and sister-in-law, who are nurses, she decided that she wanted pursue an accelerated second degree nursing program and, while an undergraduate at TCNJ, started taking nursing prerequisites. After graduating with a B.A. from TCNJ in 2016, she enlisted in the Army National Guard. She went to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood and advanced individual training at Fort Sam Houston, completing the 68W Combat Medic course. She served as a noncommissioned officer in the 250th Brigade Support Battalion, Charlie Company, and worked as an emergency medical technician in civilian life. In 2019, she began the fifteen-month-long accelerated nursing degree program at the Rutgers School of Nursing-Camden. During her last semester in nursing school, when the Covid-19 pandemic struck, Lorchak experienced the shift to remote instruction as a student. At the same time, her National Guard unit was activated as a part of New Jersey's crisis response, and she deployed to the Menlo Park Veterans Memorial Home, where she served as a medic. She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Rutgers-Camden in 2020 and soon after became a registered nurse. Currently, she serves in the National Guard in Pennsylvania and works as a nurse at WellSpan Health.
