Merlene Aitken-Smith has one of the biggest jobs on campus.
The associate vice president and chief compliance officer serves as Chair of the Covid Task Force Committee at Grambling State.
As such she ensures that we comply with all of the state, federal, student guidelines and policies making sure that all the necessary areas on our campus are moving within compliance.
The committee includes individuals from different departments such as nursing, housing and student affairs.
The committee holds weekly meetings to discuss Covid protocols, Covid updates and being more efficient on how to make the campus safe.
She and her committee are doing everything in their power to make sure the Covid numbers stay in a good place so that we can continue having a successful semester.
“We’ve been doing pretty good just to let you know. I keep track of the positive cases for faculty and staff and students so far this week for students we’ve only had one outbreak,” Aitken-Smith said.
Aitken-Smith said the safest thing to do is to get vaccinated and when you’re in someone’s proximity make sure you wear your mask to ensure we continue moving forward with our lives in a safe manner.
“We always say exercise you're spacing but if you can’t maintain that spacing make sure you wear your mask,” Aitken-Smith said.
As part of its efforts the committee was part of the effort to ensure those attending any home sports contests must be vaccinated with proof or show a recent negative Covid test.
“You don’t know who has been vaccinated and someone may not know it is in their system right now,” Aitken-Smith said.
This is to make sure all students and spectators are safe because until proven, you don’t know who has been vaccinated or who has been getting tested, she said.
Aitken-Smith said the Covid Task Force Committee will continue to do everything in their power to keep this campus with the lowest Covid cases possible while still making sure the community has a great semester.
Aitken-Smith originally joined Grambling State as Senior Associate Athletics Director/ Senior Women Administrator.
The Yonkers , N.Y., native, earned her bachelors of arts in political science from Brooklyn College and her juris doctorate after in Massachusetts.
Merlene Aitken-Smith