[inside student affairs]an insider’s guide for those helping students reach their goals toward optimal health and well-being, engagement with learning, and sense of belonging at PSU
| |
|
Nominate Outstanding Students for the Presidential Awards
Time is running out to nominate student leaders for the Presidential Awards. If you know someone who's made a big impact at PSU or in the community, submit your nomination by April 12. Winners will be recognized by PSU President Ann Cudd at the Leadership Awards Luncheon on May 17 and receive a $250 award. Don't miss this chance to celebrate excellence!
| |
2024 Cumpston Award for Service to Students
Dr. Mark Bajorek, Director of Student Health Services, was named the 2024 recipient of the Mary H. Cumpston Award for Service to Students. This award is given annually to an academic professional or university administrator without academic rank who has demonstrated excellence in the area of service to students. The Cumpston Award committee, composed of past award winners, was inspired by the quality of Dr. Bajorek’s contributions to PSU for over 27 years and his deep commitment to serving students and colleagues. To learn more about the Cumpston Award and past recipients, visit the Student Affairs website.
| |
Join the Student Affairs Connection Crew
New employees already have so much to learn and so many people to meet. To support our new colleagues’ success, the Division of Student Affairs sponsors the Connection Crew. Seasoned PSU employees will be assigned to incoming employees from other departments to help them get acquainted with PSU, be a familiar face, and provide tips and connections along the way. If you are interested in bridging connections for our new employees, please fill out this form to learn more. We anticipate this will be a popular offering as more new employees get hired in spring and summer.
| |
Bring Your Kids to Campus Day
This Friday, April 5, is the annual Bring Your Kids to Campus Day at Portland State. It’s a special day full of kid-friendly activities hosted by a wide variety of departments, organizations and student clubs to educate and entertain (aka “edu-tain”) your children. The goal is to give your children an idea of what goes on at PSU, in an approachable and child-friendly way. Bring Your Kids to Campus Day runs from 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m., but activities are flexible so you can drop in any time and stay as long as you like. Children must be supervised by their caregivers at all times.
| |
Sexual Assault Awareness and Action Month
April is Sexual Assault Awareness and Action Month (SAAM), an annual national campaign to raise awareness about sexual assault and educate individuals and communities on ways we can prevent sexual violence. Each year during SAAM, the Women’s Resource Center at PSU centers the voices of survivors across campus and in the larger Portland community. With the theme “Nourishing Reciprocity: Building a Counterculture of Care,” the WRC will be hosting events focused on the transformative power of community and collectivism as a response to societal norms that place responsibility of care on the individual. Learn more about this week’s events on the 2024 SAAM website.
| |
QTSOCC Seeking Workshop Presenters
The 13th annual Queer and Trans Students of Color Conference, which will be held on Saturday, May 4, is seeking workshop presenters! This is a paid opportunity for students and community members to share their work and lean into collaborative learning. This year's conference theme is "Rejecting Resilience through the Lens of Liberation and Community," and it will be held in-person at the Smith Memorial Student Union with a keynote speaker, workshops, affinity groups, and more. To submit a workshop idea or learn more about QTSOCC, visit the QRC’s Google site. The deadline for submissions is April 15.
| |
[student activities and leadership programs]
| |
Student Employment Awards
Every year, PSU takes time to recognize the valuable contributions of our approximately 2,000 student employees with the annual Student Employment Awards. These students bring unique life experiences and skills to the PSU community, and the awards give us an opportunity to honor their exceptional work. Awards for student employees and supervisors will be presented at the Student Employment Awards Celebration on Friday, April 19 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom. All PSU students and supervisors are invited to join us in recognizing the contribution student employees make at PSU.
| |
Seeking Departments to Volunteer for the Free Food Market
The PSU Food Pantry is looking for departments to volunteer for the monthly Free Food Market. The Free Food Market is an event open to students and the public where pallets of food are dropped off by Oregon Food Bank (OFB) in the South Park Blocks outside of Shattuck Hall. There are a couple pre-market steps required by OFB for being a volunteer, doing tasks such as setting up food displays, repackaging food into family-sized portions, greeting people at arrival, signing in guests, and cleaning up after the event. The Free Food Market takes place every 2nd Monday of the month with shifts ranging from 8am to 12pm. If you or your department is interested in signing up to help for an upcoming event, please reach out to pantryoperations@pdx.edu.
| |
[student health and well-being]
| |
Spring into WellbeingThe Center for Student Health & Counseling and Campus Rec are excited to announce Spring into Wellbeing, a week dedicated to improving the personal health and wellbeing of the campus community through activities aligned with the eight dimensions of wellbeing. The goal is to help campus community members learn how to create positive and life-long relational, emotional, spiritual, environmental, occupational, mental, and physical habits through existing PSU resources. Spring into Wellbeing will take place April 8-12.
| |
Change to 24/7 Mental Health Support at PSU
TELUS Health (formerly MySSP) is no longer an option for 24/7 mental health support as of April 1, due to the end of funding for this pilot mental health service. SHAC counseling services staff are still available to assist any student experiencing a mental health emergency. SHAC maintains an emergency and crisis webpage with a comprehensive list of culturally specific crisis service options.
| |
Weight Room OrientationFor some, the Rec Center can be intimidating so Campus Rec is inviting you to join a certified Personal Trainer for an introduction to the weight room and other fitness spaces. This event is free and open to all PSU students, faculty and staff–no Campus Rec membership required. Get your questions answered on Monday, April 8 from 10-11 a.m, with the event starting in front of the Member Services desk on the Second Floor of the Rec Center. Attendees will leave the orientation feeling confident to visit the Rec Center on your own anytime!
| |
[university housing and residence life]
| |
Summer Housing and Conferences
Summer is just around the corner and with that comes our Summer Housing and Conferences (SHC) program. From June-August, we open up Broadway and Ondine residence halls to internal and external groups who are engaging on campus or participating in other non-profit activities. The majority of groups are adults, including many non-PSU students with Portland internships. For more information about our Summer Housing & Conferences program, visit the SHC website.
| |
Housing Contracts Available for Next YearSummer 2024 and Academic Year 2024-2025 Housing Contracts are available for PSU students! Assignments are made on a first-come, first-served system with the first round of Transfer assignments beginning in April and in May for new First Years. Students are encouraged to sign up via the Housing Portal by May 1st for priority housing.
| |
Sign up to Volunteer for Upcoming Spring EventsNora Quiros, PSU's Director of Events, is seeking staff volunteers to help with several events in May and June. If you're interested in supporting President Cudd's investiture on May 10, the Grad Fair on May 14-15, or spring commencement on June 16, please sign up using the Volunteer Interest Form. Your support is greatly appreciated. Volunteers will be added to a contact list and will receive more details, training, and sign-up info for specific shifts.
| |
Are you happy?
Maybe you saw the NYT story from March 20, Led by Its Youth, U.S. Sinks in World Happiness Report. The story leads with the finding that this year for the first time since the Report's inception in 2012, the U.S. was not ranked among the world's Top 20 happiest countries. For those of us who work in higher education, this headline is not a huge surprise.
We can of course blame this alarming decline, in part, on the massive disruptions caused by the pandemic. But there are lots of factors we could point to that impact all of us, and especially members of our student body. As one student says, "It’s mostly because as an adult you suddenly become aware of all the world news and you pay more attention to what you can control, and you realize that there is so little you can control.”
What can we do when it sometimes feels like there is a drumbeat of bad news about the mental health challenges we are all experiencing, especially our students? I want to offer some good news and opportunities coming up this spring from right here at Portland State!
Here are some of the ways we are working to support our campus community, and especially our students:
- President Cudd has agreed to support Student Affairs and SHAC as we lay the foundation for PSU to become a signatory member of the Okanagan Charter for Health Promoting Universities and Colleges. In keeping with the spirit of the Charter, join campus events and programs this upcoming term that are part of Spring into Wellbeing.
- Visit the Farmer's Market Spring Wellness Fair in the PSU Park Blocks on April 22.
- Encourage students to visit the Mind Spas in SHAC and the VRC or the quiet space in MENASA. They can also connect with SHAC's Virtual Mind Spa if they don't have time while they are on campus.
- Listen to a free podcast or meditation app. Some of my favorites are WHAT's Up: Wellness from the Third Floor (a wellness podast from the Wellness and Health Action Team in SHAC), Happier, and the Huberman Lab.
- Improve your sleep hygiene, limit exposure to negative social media, get light in your eyes, and get outside!
- Beware of your Vent/Non-Vent Ratio, because as Happier podcaster Gretchen Rubin notes, there are often certain people in our lives who take the brunt of our venting. She warns that it can not only be a lot for that person to listen to, it can also give a false impression of your life. There is something called "emotional contagion", where we infect each other with our moods. Careful consideration of your venting and non-venting ratio of conversations with friends and colleagues might help you to better assess whether those conversations are helping or hurting you and those around you to improve or degrade their degree of happiness and contentment.
-Michele
| |
|
[office of student affairs]
| |
[future editions]If you want to include something in an upcoming Inside Student Affairs, please email studentaffairs@pdx.edu. Archives of past issues can be found here.
| |
|
|
|
|