[inside student affairs]a weekly 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
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Speed Friending: Boba Social
What's better than boba? Making a new friend! Join the Portland State Programming Board on Wednesday, January 19 in SMSU 296/8 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. for some speed friending, boba from @dingteapsu, and yummy snacks! Students who participate in Speed Friending will be entered into a prize drawing for a $20 gift card to Ding Tea. What's Speed Friending? It's like Speed Dating, but for making new friends! Chat with a variety of people for a few minutes at a time, and if you hit it off, exchange contact info and start your new friendship! Learn more by visiting the PSPB Instagram page.
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Welcome to Winter of Wellbeing
Join Campus Rec for our second annual Winter of Wellbeing! Build a foundation of wellbeing to boost happiness, fulfillment, community, and purpose. Each week, learn about one of the eight dimensions of wellbeing, why it matters, and activities to support it. Participate in as many weeks as you'd like — from one week to all eight! Free for the entire PSU community to participate in. Learn more and sign up here to join this well-being journey.
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Winter Fest Postponed
Due to the Omicron surge, Winter Fest — PSU’s winter student engagement celebration — has been postponed from this week to February 14-19. To learn more about the week’s events, visit SALP and Campus Rec's event page and be on the lookout next month for all the new details!
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ReImagine PSU Grant Awarded to PSU/HSI Exploratory Ad Hoc Committee
The members of the Portland State University/Hispanic-Serving Institution (PSU/HSI) Exploratory Ad Hoc Committee are happy to announce that they are a recipient of the ReImagine PSU Grant. This a critical step toward exploring further what the implications of this federal designation are in higher education and how PSU can move from a Hispanic Enrolling Institution to a Hispanic Serving Institution. This effort will positively impact not only our Hispanic/Latina/o/x scholars but all of PSU students and the larger PSU community. To learn more about the committee, including its makeup, goals, and project proposal, contact Dr. Óscar Fernández.
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Reservations Open at Little and Baby VikingsAre you looking for just a few hours of care for your child? Little and Baby Vikings were created just for you! We provide walk-in, reserved, and occasional care for children. PSU students, staff, and faculty can reserve care for the entire term, up to 5 hours per day and 20 hours per week. To reserve your spots for winter term, click here. Questions? Please contact us via email at lvikings@pdx.edu.
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Faculty and Staff Excellence Awards
Portland State’s faculty and staff navigated unanticipated and monumental challenges during the past year. Now it’s time to recognize those who have achieved great work and who inspire us all to continue to strive. Academic Affairs’ annual excellence awards acknowledge outstanding scholarship and dedication to students in six categories. (See last year’s award winners here.) For more information, visit the PSU Faculty and Staff Excellence Awards webpage. Nomination cover pages are due January 22.
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Nominate Students for the 2022 ASPSU Elections
Running for office can be intimidating for students new to student government, but when encouraged by those they trust, they can feel more confident jumping into a leadership role. Nominate a student for the 2022 student government elections and ASPSU will contact them directly to let them know someone believes they demonstrate excellent leadership skills and are a good candidate to represent the student body. Email Madeline Frisk with questions.
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Student Leadership Opportunities in UHRL
University Housing & Residence Life are recruiting for next year’s student leadership positions! Resident Assistant (RA), Learning Community Assistant (LCA) and Resident Academic Mentor (RAM) positions are premiere leadership experiences on campus. Applications are online and due by noon on Monday, January 24. Please share the UHRL website with students who may be interested.
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7 Best Practices if You’ve Been Exposed to COVID-19 (or Think You Have)“With coronavirus and the omicron variant causing rising rates of new cases, it’s more important than ever to remain diligent to keep yourself and your community safe. But what happens when you’re exposed — or suspect you’ve been exposed — by someone you live with?"
To read Director of Health Services Mark Bajorek’s seven best practices to stay safe and prevent further spread, visit the Inside Portland State blog.
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| The Vanport building — home to the College of Education, OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, and other city and community programs — held a virtual grand opening ceremony last month. Visit the Vanport Grand Opening page to learn more and go on the virtual tour.
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[from the vpsa]It has been heartening to see students back on campus this winter, but trying to find the right balance of support for PSU's new and continuing students is a major challenge. Our residential students who have been living on campus throughout the pandemic tell me they are happy to see fellow students, faculty and staff back on campus, while others report feeling nervous and unfamiliar with in-person interactions, even though a high percentage of students and employees are complying with vaccination and mask requirements. Last week, PSU announced a partnership with the COVID Clinic to offer immediate access to free, confidential Rapid Antigen COVID-19 tests for employees. PSU employees can request a voucher to use when scheduling an appointment online with the COVID Clinic.
We also face a new and important society-wide challenge: declining college enrollments. A recent piece in NPR noted that according to data from National Student Clearinghouse, only 2% of high school graduates who opted out of college in 2020 ended up enrolling in fall 2021. According to another new report, more than 1 million fewer students are enrolled in college now than before the pandemic – the largest 2-year decrease in undergraduate enrollment in more than 50 years. I look forward to discussing these major trends with you in the coming weeks. In the meantime, keep safe and thanks for your many efforts to support our students and each other.
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[office of student affairs]
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[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.
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