Dear Student Services and Enrollment Management Team:

In just a matter of days, campus will be busy again as we welcome our newest Ducks and their families to campus during Week of Welcome (WOW) starting Friday, September 27. A full schedule of WOW activities can be found at wow.uoregon.edu. Let’s all help as best we can in welcoming our incoming class of students as they begin their new journey. 

University Housing is preparing for fall move-in happening one week from today. More volunteers are needed at Unpack the Quack where current students, faculty, and staff will be helping our newest Ducks get settled. As always, please check with your supervisor before signing up for this volunteer service. More information and the volunteer registration form can be found on the University Housing website.

Speaking of our newest Ducks, their orientation to the UO couldn’t have gone smoother during this summer’s edition of IntroDUCKtion. Thank you to all the staff and student workers in the Student Orientation office for putting on 16 amazing IntroDUCKtion sessions for freshmen and transfer students, including events in Honolulu, D.C, Chicago, and Dallas. We saw a record turnout as new Ducks registered for classes, made new friends, and found their way around campus.

Also, a very big thank you to the same team and others who helped execute 20 Oregon Migrations across the nation. This was the first year in which the annual new student send-off celebration fell under the direction of Student Orientation. It was a very big task this summer to balance both IntroDUCKtion and Oregon Migrations, and I couldn’t be more pleased with how both series of programs turned out.

The search committee for the SSEM Chief of Staff/Assistant Vice President reconvened in August to review a new pool of applicants, conduct phone interviews, and select promising candidates from nearby and across the US. After thorough review and deliberation, the committee has invited five candidates to take part in on-campus interviews with the search committee and campus colleagues. 

Thank you to Julia Pomerenk, SSEM Assistant Vice President and University Registrar, for chairing the committee and the rest of the search team for your efforts.

Construction crews are working long hours on nearly all components of the University Health Center and University Counseling Center addition. Furniture installation has begun. The contractor is working to have much of the addition open ahead of schedule to accommodate the start of the fall term. If all goes well, staff will move into the new spaces and host a soft opening for students and the public the week of September 23. Work on the renovation of the current space continues.

This week, the University Health Center announced a new process that allows students to receive text message appointment reminders, and to use their phones for self check-in. All students who opt in for text reminders will get them three days and one day prior to their appointment. For self check-in, students will be able to do so and complete necessary forms prior to their arrival via the myUOhealth portal. Students will still need to have a brief face-to-face meeting with staff for insurance billing purposes, but overall these changes will make their experience quicker and allow staff to serve more students. 

As always, thank you to everybody in every corner of SSEM. I foresee wonderful things coming from our division this year and know none of it is possible without your continued great work. Keep it up and Go Ducks!

Best wishes,

Roger J. Thompson
Vice President for Student Services and Enrollment Management