In this Question and Answer Session with the Academic Counselors from Academics for Student Athletes, Academic Advisors got and  the opportunity to hear about the challenges our Student Athletes face, how to best support them in balancing Academics and being an Athlete and what services are being provided to Student Athletes.

The Academic Counselors are there to help and advise students mainly on maintaining NCAA eligibility. They are also there to help student athletes achieve in the classroom as well as on the field. Student athletes need to balance practice schedules, games, class time and exams and this is many times where Academic Counselors start to enter the academic advising world.

One thing the Academic Counselors provide is Night Time Studying. It is a time for Athletes that are doing well, that are struggling and tutors to come together and work on the academic side of the equation. It has lead to an environment that fosters student athletes that understand the benefit of academics.

As advisors, we also invited the Academic Counselors to use MyDegrees when they feel it is necessary. The hope is that this will allow Counselors and Advisors to be a united front.

Academics for Student Athletes
3rd floor, Beth Ray Center

We were joined in the MU with Drew, Patricia, Clare and Mark who are all from various offices within ASOSU Student Services. ASOSU is the OSU student elected government, with the Student Services department housing services to meet student needs. On a daily basis ASOSU Student Services, advocates for students and is also a testing ground for new services and programs.

Programs and Services:
– SafeRide: On call service to transport student within the Corvallis area. 13,000 individual trips in Fall Term 2014 with 80% to/from campus

– Student Legal Services – Access the Law: Assists student with any off-campus disputes. Deals with anything and everything from breaking the law to landlord/tenant disputes. Sees 200-230 students a term. Can provide services from consulting to appearing in court. Also helps International students with VISA referrals.

– Office of Advocacy: Deals with on-campus disputes. Mainly counsels and outlines options to students in grade appeals and academic dishonesty. Also helps students (mainly international) understand and deal with any issues that may arise from cross cultural understanding.

– HSRC – Human Services Resource Center: Located in Snell 203 the HSRC helps students with Food and Housing Insecurity. Variety of services and the ability to refer students allows from 6500-7000 points of service every year. Food pantry, Mealbux, Insurance Subsidy and Emergency Housing and just a few services that are provided.

Overall, ASOSU is here to help and advocate for students. They also make it part of their charge to educate the campus community and to advocate on campus to ultimately change policy. More information can be found at the ASOSU website: http://asosu.oregonstate.edu/

SafeRide: http://asosu.oregonstate.edu/saferide
Student Legal Services: http://asosu.oregonstate.edu/book/student-legal-services
Office of Advocacy: http://asosu.oregonstate.edu/advocacy
HSRC: http://studentlife.oregonstate.edu/hsrc

This Advisor Coffee Talk we were joined by Tay Edwards and Earlee Kerekes-Mishira from Disability Access Services. They came to share a variety of information on what DAS does, to who they serve, how we can best work with them and what to listen for when talking to students.

Did you know that DAS served over 900 students in the 2013-2014 school year? And that those students are spread out over a myriad of different disabilities, from temporary to permanent and lifelong?

Tay and Earlee covered the Registration Process, some terms; including ‘Reasonable Accommodations’ and how student go about receiving their accommodations.

Tay and Earlee also opened the floor for the advisors to ask their questions.

Tay and Earlee’s Presentation: Disability Access Services

Breakdown of DAS staff and focus:

Martha Smith, Director – Graduate Students, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, learning disability testing
Email Address: Martha.Smith@oregonstate.edu
Phone Number: 541-737-3669

Earlee Kerekes-Mishra, Manager of Intake, Retention & Transition – Student veterans, student on the autism spectrum, transfer students
Email Address: Earlee.Kerekes-Mishra@oregonstate.edu
Phone Number: 541-737-4986

Juliana Recio, Access Services Advisor – Student housing, service and therapy animals, ADD/ADHD
Email Address: Juliana.Recio@oregonstate.edu
Phone Number: 541-737-8523

Tay McEdwards, Manager of Access Services – Ecampus, temporary injuries, student athletes
Email: Tay.McEdwards@oregonstate.edu
Phone Number: 541-737-8582

Barbara Forrest-Ball, Program Manager – Deaf and Hard of Hearing, ADD/ADHD
Email Address: Barbara.Forrest-Ball@oregonstate.edu
Phone Number: 541-737-3670

For more information Contact DAS:
Disability Access Services (DAS)
Kerr Administration Building A200
ds.oregonstate.edu, disability.services@oregonstate.edu
(541)737-4098

The last session of Advisor Coffee Talk for Fall Term was a two hour interactive and informative workshop provided by Judy Neighbors, PhD. Judy comes from CAPS and is also the Sexual Assault Support Services (SASS) Coordinator. This session really focused on how to create a Meaningful Relationship with our students and also why it is important to have these relationships.

This workshop was far from a lecture or presentation – Judy was able to integrate her wealth of knowledge into an interactive conversation that us, the advisors, were able to control. The advisors in attendance were able to ask questions about students and scenarios and Judy would walk the group through the concepts and tactics that she uses when building meaningful relationships.

Some of the topics covered:
Empathetic/Mindful Listening
How to make a student feel they are the center of relationship and conversation
What makes a good mentor/bad mentor
Remembering perspective – Meeting students where they are at
How to talk to apathetic or combative students
How and when to validate feelings

The presentation: Meaningful Relationships
Judy Neighbors, PhD
Psychologist
SASS Coordinator
CAPS

After reviewing the results from the latest DiA survey, the Diversity in Advising Group came to our talk with some truly great information (and acting) to share.

The DiA Group shared information on Jones’ and McEwen’s Multiple Dimensions of Identity and how it applies to us as individual and how it can affect the way we interact with others, including our students.

The group also talked about microagressions. Microagressions were defined to us as: “brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages” to a target group like multicultural and multiracial persons, religious and ethnic minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and LGBT individuals (Sue & Sue, 2008). It can be described as death by 1,000 paper cuts – each exchange on its own not amounting to much, but altogether they can have an adversely negative impact on a students well being.

The last topic the DiA group talked about was Costumes and Campus Resources. With Halloween right around the corner, it was perfect timing. The DiA Group talked about the ‘We’re a Culture, Not a Costume’ Campaign as well as outlined the resources surrounding this issue at Oregon State.

After each topic, examples, discussions and ‘what would you dos’ were shared.

Presentation: ACT-DiA
Handouts: Jones’ and McEwen’s Multiple Dimensions of Identity
                  Microaggressions

DiA Group Members: Jeff Malone, Claire Colvin, Oscar Montemayor, Katie Whitehead, Tristan Shay and Janet Nishihara

As we begin preparing for our Winter Term retreats Intercultural Student Services is asking for your assistance in identifying students who would benefit from the below opportunities. Below is a brief summary of the experiences and the web address to forward to OSU students who may be interested.  ISS would like to receive all applications by Tuesday, December 2, 2014.

There will be an information session for students to learn more about the retreats: Thursday, November 20^th from noon to 1 in MU 208.

To apply for a retreat please go to Web address: http://oregonstate.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_77f7sxCPqzte74x

Racial Aikido Retreat:
Racial Aikido seeks to empower Students of Color at predominantly White institutions (PWI) using the principles of aikido to recognize, respond, and replenish. Originally created at the University of Vermont, Racial Aikido acknowledges that People of Color may be ill prepared to deal with issues of race and racism as it affects them personally. Racial Aikido promotes tools for People of Color to maintain a positive self-image and be able to respond to overt and covert racism. By the conclusion of the retreat students will have a better understanding of White privilege, in-group and internalized oppression, identity development models, and be more self-aware of their multiple identities. Students will learn by active participation how to recognize racism, respond to racism in a self-affirming and positive manner that is appropriate for the situation, and replenish by taking care of their needs in order to maintain a healthy physical, emotional, and spiritual self. This year’s retreat will be the weekend of January 9-11, 2015 at Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, OR.

Examing White Identity in a Multicultural World Retreat:
The Examining White Identity (EWI) retreat focuses on White identity development, White privilege, and oppression in both personal and institutional contexts, and introduces strategies to dismantle oppressive systems. We will look atways that understanding these issues will help us address White privilege and oppression in ourselves and with other White people and become better allies for social justice.  This year’s retreat will be the weekend of January 9-11, 2015 at the B’nai B’rith Camp near Lincoln City, OR.

If you have any questions about either of these retreats please contact:

Miguel Arellano at Miguel.Arellano@oregonstate.edu or 541-737-9758

Ben Medeiros, the Assistant Director of the Living Learning Communities, from UHDS talked to advisors about the different programs and initiatives that are being done within the Residence Halls in conjunction with academics. Ben was able to elaborate on what is being done in the residence halls that are Living Learning Communities (LLC). He was also able to provide some data that shows the effectiveness of LLC’s at OSU. Along with academically based LLC’s, a new student position, the Academic Learning Assistant has been created to facilitate in hall participation and partnerships with academic units. Ben also talked about how the residence halls have also been helping in the STAR program and have also expanded their in hall tutoring options. Lastly, Ben left us with some up coming projects to look forward too, inculding; New LLC’s, In-Hall Advising, Linked Classes and expansion of in hall tutoring. Ben’s Presentation: Academic Initiatives in the Res Halls

Guest speaker, Sally Garner, lead OSU advisors in an engaging workshop on Creating a Professional Development Plan.  Sally is the NACADA Region 8 Chair and Director of Student Services at the UO School of Journalism.  Workshop participants reflected on their advising “major” (aka. special focus area within advising) and work values.  Sally described how to craft your personal mission statement, which outlines the guiding principles of your career, as well as a 30-second elevator speech, which allows you to articulate your mission to others.  The presentation and handouts from today’s workshop are posted here.  Full presentation: CreatingPDplan    Handout: PDplan_handout

Janet Nishihara, Urmila Mali, Marilyn Stewart, and Courtney Garcia shared about OSU’s Educational Opportunities Program, which supports the full development of the personal and academic potential of students who have traditionally been denied equal access to higher education.  This includes students of color, students with disabilities, students who are single parents, low-income students, students who have been rurally isolated, veterans, older-than-average (25+), or first-generation students.  Advisors are encouraged to refer students who would benefit from extra support to the EOP office in 337 Waldo Hall.

See full presentation here:  EOP presentation

Karen Ast, CSSA master’s candidate, shared the findings from her thesis research on first-year students transitioning to OSU from rural high schools in Oregon.  Karen’s thesis defense is on Friday, April 25 at 1:00 p.m. in Furman 404 if you missed this session or are interested in learning more.

See full presentation here:  Coffee Talk-Karen M. Ast OSU