DOSL Team Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Dean of Student Life

My little family! Richard, myself, and our dog-child, Toby McGruff

Kayleen Salchenberg’s Bio:

I am from Salem, Oregon (born and raised) and traveled all the way to Corvallis, Oregon for my undergraduate degree in 2005. My path WAS going to be nursing and after a couple study abroad trips I decided to major in Spanish before my luxurious career as a nurse.

Following four very social and fun years at Oregon State, I became a Certified Nursing Assistant at the Salem Hospital. I worked there for a year and realized the health field was not for me. Once I learned that Student Affairs was a career choice, I made drastic changes in order to work towards being a qualified CSSA applicant.

Beyond my experience as a student worker in the Office of Foreign Language and Literatures and teaching English to Spanish speakers in the Corvallis Community, I did not have a lot of experience in Student Affairs. I therefore became a Property Manager at a 95% college-aged populated apartment complex next to Western Oregon University and volunteered at the Service Learning Career Development Office. I got my big break as a teaching assistant/administrator for Chemeketa Community College working at an alternative high school, Winema West. These experiences continued to strengthen my passion for not only education, but for students and their goals. I continued to better my ability to serve them as a resource, and got a lot of joy from it.

I now work as a Graduate Assistant in the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships (OFAS). I assist students daily with a variety of Financial Aid issues. I maintain the Social Media for the office and I am able to be a part of many workgroups. Currently I am involved in the Assessment Council and I am able to not only learn how to assess, but I connect with professionals in an array of Student Affairs functional areas and share diverse perspectives from interdisciplinary areas on campus. In June, I will go to the NASPA Persistence and Assessment Conference and present a poster on my assessment. I have been to one other conference, the Northwest Returnee Conference for students that have returned home from studying abroad. These experiences are shaping my abilities to be a professional in this field.

My areas of interest in higher education are all over the map! I love teaching the topic of Academic Success, I adore my assistantship in the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, I like the topic of Transitions and helping students through that process, studying abroad, and I am open to explore what academic advising/counseling is like. With every new term, class, project, and internship, my career goal changes! The beauty of this program is having the support to explore the vast terrain of higher education.

Personally, I have transitioned from a “rolling stone” or a “free bird” to a more settled path. I have a peace and clarity in my life that was missing. I am engaged and very humbled to marry my partner in crime, Richard Steeves. Together, we are buying a home in West Salem and have recently celebrated our three years as a couple by purchasing a dog-child, Mister Tobias McGruff. I live near all of Richard’s immediate family and mine. I love to travel, but there is now home for me beyond a short car ride from my family and close friends. This page is a short version of a long biography, but I will spare you the rest!

Hello!

My name is Miguel Arellano. I graduated from Oregon State University (OSU) in 2012. As an undergrad I was extremely involved in student led organizations. I held multiple student staff positions that introduced me to the great field of student affairs. I worked in Student Leadership and Involvement, advising and supporting OSU student organizations. I also worked as a Community Relations Facilitator within University Housing and Dining Services as a live-in peer educator, leading discussions to foster dialogue between residents on topics of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, ability, etc. and to promote an environment that celebrates all students through facilitated workshops and programs

I am currently in my first year of the College Student Services Administration program. My current assistantship is with the department of Diversity Development. Specifically with the Centro Cultural César Chávez, one of the six student-ran cultural and resource centers on campus. This assistantship allows me to advise and support ten great student staff that program about 30 events a year in hopes to celebrate difference and solidarity within OSU.

One event I would like to invite you to is “Queer, Undocumented and Unafraid”. This event is sponsored by the Centro Cultural Cesar Chávez, Community Relations Facilitator program, Pride center, and the Black Cultural center. A student from California who is writing a book on “undocuqueer” will be speaking. The event will focus on the intersecting of identities of being both undocumented and queer. And the obstacles the speaker had to overcome and how both communities can come together for social justice. The event is on May 8^th in the International Living Learning Center (ILLC) from 7pm-9pm.

This is my first term interning with the DOSL team. I am very excited to be working on the 2013 CSSA Cohort orientation and social justice retreat. I will also be working on the NUFP pre conference and the 2013 CSSA cohort transitions course next fall.

I am very excited to finally see the sun come out. Spring term is always my favorite term. It is something about the spring flower aromas, sun, and blossoming trees that make me happy. Luckly, I will be spending this summer in the sunny state of California, interning with University of California Santa Cruz. I look forward to interning with DOSL. Stay Tuned for more blogging!!

Hello Fellow Beavers and Beaver Fans. I am excited to once again be a part of the DOSL Team. This quarter, I will be working as part of the CSSA Transitions team to assist the incoming CSSA Cohort with their transition into the Program. Specifically, I will be working on the 2013 CSSA Cohort Facebook group, providing important information about their next steps, making the move, getting acquainted to the program, and so on. I also hope to facilitate dialogue between the members of the incoming cohort, so that they may begin to establish their cohort love.

But today, I have other things on my mind. In light of all the global conflict that has made headlines in recent years, I am reminded once again about the fragility and difficulty of maintaining world peace. It may sound like a cliché, but I want to bring about world peace, and I want to be a change agent that can make this world a better place. I firmly believe that the best and perhaps the only way to do this, is by educating our future leaders and providing them with opportunities to see that people are people, regardless of their customs, beliefs, race, and other differences. My career as an international educator has been driven by this belief, a philosophy that was instilled in me by the late Senator J. William Fulbright. I’d like to share with you a little bit about this man and how his vision for world peace is as relevant today as it was when he first set about his work over 60 years ago.

J. William Fulbright, affectionately known as Bill Fulbright, is an important figure in American political history. As the longest serving chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he has been recognized for his tremendous contributions to international affairs and his profound influence on U.S. foreign policy. The list of his accomplishments are endless, ranging from his resolution to support the U.S. participation in a peace-keeping mechanism that later became the United Nations to his principled dissent on the McCarthy hearings regarding communists and his objection to President Kennedy’s invasion of the Bay of Pigs. However, the most notable is his vision for promoting mutual understanding among peoples of the world through an educational exchange program, the Fulbright program, which has gained international recognition for its contributions to world peace in the sixty plus years since its inception.

In the aftermath of World War II, Fulbright realized that misunderstanding, or a lack of understanding, was the root cause of strife among the peoples of the world. Though a very simple concept, he proposed to educate our future leaders to understand that, in essence, people are people. He advocated for the promotion of mutual understanding by providing opportunities for American youth to be exposed to other cultures and for youth from other cultures to be exposed to American culture. This program, to borrow his words, is “a modest program with an immodest aim – the achievement in international affairs of a regime more civilized, rational and humane than the empty system of power of the past…Fostering these – leadership, learning, and empathy between cultures – was and remains the purpose of the international scholarship program.”¹

I greatly admire Fulbright’s passion for world peace and his drive to educate our future leaders. As someone who has spent most of her life in an international environment, I have always been keenly aware of the complexity of international relations. Many of the conflicts faced around the world today are, I believe, due to a lack of understanding or communication. The Fulbright Program has made an impact on this world by educating future leaders and fostering mutual understanding and cross-cultural communication. Indeed, its alumni have contributed greatly to changing the global landscape, making it more peaceful. Fulbright’s leadership is admirable and I am but one of many who have been moved by his vision, philosophy and dedication toward global peace.

In addition to his vision and passion for world peace, I deeply respect Fulbright for his dedication, perseverance and ingenuity. Before the program could be implemented, Fulbright needed to find a means to fund his grand scheme. He creatively amended the Surplus Property Act of 1944 to allow the State Department to dispose of surplus military supplies that had been left behind in foreign countries at the end of WWII. Fulbright proposed “selling” these supplies to the foreign countries that could “purchase” them in exchange for assisting in the financing and/or administration of the exchange program that would allow its citizens to study in the U.S. and for U.S. citizens to partake in educational activities in their country. Not only was this solution a creative one, but Fulbright expended great efforts and patience in convincing fellow congressmen to support this bill. Furthermore, he presented it in a manner that did not give rise to much attention and therefore prevented any controversy over jurisdiction of the federal government in international education or concerns about the possible costs to American tax payers. Thus, Fulbright’s creativity, wit and persistence helped pass the bill which paved the way for one of the world’s largest and most effective international educational exchange programs.

“Educational exchange can turn nations into people, contributing as no other form of communication can to the humanizing of international relations… I do not think educational exchange is certain to produce affection between peoples, nor indeed do I think that is one of its necessary purposes; it is quite enough if it contributes to the feeling of a common humanity, to an emotional awareness that other countries are populated not by doctrines that we fear but by people with the same capacity for pleasure and pain, for cruelty and kindness, as the people we were brought up within our own countries.”² In these words lay the key to social change. J. William Fulbright was a man with a vision and the foresight to take a simple concept and make it into a driving force that has helped make this world a better place. I am humbled and honored to have had a role, though very small, in working with this great program and carrying on the legacy of this great leader whom I truly respect.

For more information about the Fulbright program, please visit the U.S. Dept. of State website at http://eca.state.gov/fulbright

Written by: Marigold Setsuko Holmes, DOSL Intern, Spring 2013

¹ J. William Fulbright, The Price of Empire

² J. William Fulbright, Speech before the Council on the International Exchange of Scholars, Washington, D.C., 1983

Hello Everyone!

My name is Jeffrey Tsang, I am a 3rd year undergraduate student studying Human Development & Family Sciences with an option in Human Services. This term will mark my first full year as an intern in the Office of the Dean of Student Life. I specialize in special projects and initiatives the office. This term I will be focusing on the Everyone Matters @ OSU campaign and relaunching it in the Fall. I will also be revamping our College Student Services Administration program website. I will also be developing a Photo Project for First Year Experience next year. I am usually the go to person for project in the office, so I get a lot of exposure to different things.

On campus, I work with University Housing & Dining Services as the Late Night & Leadership Program Assistant. I plan After Dark with a team of enthusiastic individuals from Rec Sports and the Student Events & Activities Center. I also do leadership development workshops for student staff and hall councils. I provide advising for large scale programs/events and risk management.

I am also part of the the NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program. I had a pleasure and opportunity to go to Orlando, Florida for the annual conference. Look at our group!

It’s Saturday, April 13 and I just wrapped up with the #SAtechOR unconference! More to come about that later… stay tuned!

Published in the Oregon State University Daily Barometer 4/12/2013

Change the World Through Interfaith Relationships

By Hannah Pynn

Religiously diverse individuals getting along is not captivating news. Everyone loves drama and polarized religious opponents happily provide it: Christians scream LGBTQ hate on the quad, atheists write letters to the editor that trivialize all believers, and Socratic Club debates pit scientists and theologians against each other. Although these passionate actions can stimulate our thoughts about religious extremism, do they cultivate relationships across boundaries of difference?

Chris Stedman, the Assistant Humanist Chaplain at Harvard and author of Faitheist, came to OSU recently to lecture on the importance of interfaith relationships and about 30 people showed up. Tonight, 400+ people packed Milam for a Socratic Club debate to see theologians argue with each other. I asked Stedman why more people did not see interfaith relationships as an important cause and he replied, “Interfaith work is not sexy.”

Every major news source features international conflicts that have religious motivations, demonstrating that religious difference often fuels disagreement. Many of us sit in classes with international students from religious states or we have plans to study abroad in countries that have a different religious history than the US. As students today, we will be leaders in global decisions tomorrow. Religious literacy is greatly needed as we enter into the professional world. But is religious literacy enough?

What are we doing to better understand one another’s values, morals, and ethics? Religious rhetoric is a driving force in shaping decisions about marriage equality, gun control, and abortion in our own country. Don’t we need to understand the personal narratives and ethical motivations of our classmates and future business colleagues to fix problems in our world?

We need more interfaith relationships where I can ask my friend Fatemeh why she is motivated by her Muslim identity to blog about women’s rights. Interfaith relationships allow me understand the ethical motivations of my atheist friend Harrison who travels with Patch Adams to spread joy to sick kids. Creating relationships that discuss personal values and spiritual backgrounds binds me together with people who believe very different things from me. It’s more than religious literacy, it’s personal. Relationships help me understand my friends so that I can work alongside them toward social justice.

Diana Eck, founder of the Pluralism Project, says we are living in the most religiously diverse country in history. In this religiously diverse country that values religious freedom, our generation needs to be the leaders in interfaith relationships and understanding. The global problems of clean water, poverty, nuclear weapons, and sustainability are our responsibility. When we understand the importance of these problems through the lenses of our religiously diverse relationships, we can solve these crises better together. Common humanity can heal the world, not just be dramatic news.

After the Socratic Club debates or the yelling Christians in the quad, start conversations about how diverse religious communities can come together to work toward peace and understanding. Listen to others and share your story, you could be the start of an interfaith movement.

Hi my name is Carmen López. This is my second term interning at the Office of the Dean of Student Life. I am currently working on making a video for Veteran Recourses. It has been an arduous process, but it is slowly getting there. I also help with little projects around the office.

This is my third year in Oregon State University and I am double majoring in Human Development and Family Science and Spanish. I just love how welcoming the Spanish professors have been. My favorite classes have been from the foreign languages department :).

I like to get involved on campus and I am part of Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán (M.E.Ch.A) and the research study at the Hallie and Ford Center. I love to participate in these programs because I love the camaraderie. I participate around campus because I feel like there is so much to learn outside of the classroom. I have also been abroad to Spain to experience a new culture. I loved the food there the Spanish tortilla was delicious! I also got to travel to other parts of Spain and Paris. I would love to go back in the future and I recommend other to travel!

I’m hoping to continue working at the Office of the Dean of Student Life!

Hi there,

My name is Meleani Bates, I am an Intern at the Dean of Student Life office. This is my second term with the lovely DOSL team, and I am having a blast. I am a fourth year here at OSU studying Ethnic Studies and Women’s Studies. I also work at ASOSU- the Associated Students of Oregon State University as the Executive Chief of Staff. Working with DOSL has provided me with an amazing opportunity to multiply my opportunities to serve and support the greater OSU community.

Fall term I worked closely with Kim McAloney, Student Life Programs Coordinator, and Mamta Accapadi, Dean of Student Life to develop the WS 430/530- Women of Color in the U.S course that Mamta is teaching this term. This term I am Mamta’s Teaching Assistant for the course. Last term I spent the majority of my time accumulating readings that are currently used in the course this term. Besides developing an APA formatted Bibliography, creating a reading landscape was one of my favorite activities of fall term at DOSL.

I was able to get hands on experience with forming and developing a course reading list. Kim, Mamta and I spent many days researching readings by women of color, reading and scanning our expanding library of literature. At one point, all three of us had merged our libraries together to increase our likelihood of finding remarkable and transformative readings that would tailor to the reading landscape that we began to cultivate.

As I had rapidly progressed through fall term and stumbled upon winter term, I noticed that the anticipation for the start of the Women of Color course had developed. As we are in the 7^th week of winter term, I can see all of the hard work that Kim, Mamta and I have put forth come to fruition. This task first started off as a project and WS internship, and has transpired to be a passion of mine.

As a Women’s Studies and Ethnic Studies major I am aware that there are some intersections that can be made between the two disciplines. It is very important to me that there are courses that highlight, embrace and incorporate the lived experiences of women of color in the Women’s Studies pedagogy. Intersectionality theory suggests that there are various ways in which people can interact with society based on their own social location and identity. This is the framework that I live by in the classroom. It is vital that I engage fellow students in the reading, challenge them in their privileged and ethnocentric ideals and deepen the discussions in class. As an aspiring professor, this experience has been challenging and revolutionary in many ways.

This course is taught as an undergraduate and graduate course in Women’s Studies and Ethnic Studies. In the class there are many perspectives that enrich our discussions, and provoke change and affirmations. I value and appreciate difference, in the same regards that I value and appreciate collective ideologies that revolve around feminist ideals. In this class, from my perspective, there seems to be a unifying effort put forth that allows us to merge in a cohesive direction toward social justice and understanding. Can’t wait to see how the rest of the class unfolds. Stay Tuned J

This month, I have been hosting a book club in the Pride Center on Wednesdays from 12-1 to discuss the book Faitheist by Chris Stedman. 25-year old Stedman tells the story of his journey from a family that he names “irreligious” through coming out as queer in an Evangelical Christian environment, to finally settling into his identity as an atheist humanist that engages in the interfaith movement. As the current Assistant Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University, Stedman highlights the need for interfaith cooperation in order to establish significant change in our diverse world.

I was drawn to Faitheist for several reasons. First, I met Chris this last summer and he is a generous, energized, gracious person. He is an atheist that validates the importance of faith and invites relationships around him to be honest and safe. Second, the number of Americans who identify as religiously unaffiliated is rising to be as many as 20% of the entire adult population. How do we recognize this rising population in higher education? Specifically within student affairs, how do we care for students and help them through this process of atheist identity development?

As an individual who identifies as religious, I recognize that there are certain privileges that I have in our society that “the nones” do not. In our government, it is the common practice for people to swear into office by placing their hands on a holy book. In movies and media, it is often a religious individual who sagely gives wise advice to a hero or provides a safe place for refuge. For many people who identify as atheist, going through the identity development process is incredibly painful and difficult within their social structures. Atheist student identity development has been paralleled to the marginalization that the LGB community experiences, feeling they are an invisible minority group that often has to hide their identity to protect themselves.

Fatheist prompts conversations of how the religious and the unaffiliated can engage in meaningful relationships through the collaborative action of community service, finding common ground in their desire to express their values through helping others. As I continue to develop as a student affairs professional, I want to know how to come alongside students who do not share my identities. I believe that the Faitheist book club is both a place of personal growth for me, as well as a caveat for beginning interfaith conversations on campus that recognize “interfaith” as an inclusive word for all spiritual, humanist, scientific, and religious identities.

Chris Stedman is coming to campus on February 20th to talk about his book and the interfaith youth movement. Join us in The Valley Library Rotunda on Wednesday, Feb 20th from 6-8pm. Click here to read a bit more about the event and to find out more about the Faitheist book club.

– Hannah Pynn

Graduate Assistant, Office of the Dean of Student Life

College Student Services Administration Masters Program

Hello fellow Beavers! My name is Marigold Setsuko Holmes and I am excited to be serving as an Intern for the College Student Service Administration (CSSA) Campus Days 2013 in the Dean of Student Life’s Office.

A bit about myself. I am Japanese on my mother’s side and a mix of European origins on my father’s side, with roots in Missouri (though I’ve actually never lived there). But mostly, I identify as a Navy Brat. My father was in the Navy and I spent most of my childhood on Navy Bases in Japan. After graduating Nile C. Kinnick High School on Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, I moved to Seattle to pursue an undergraduate degree at the University of Washington (go Huskies!)

As an undergrad, I got really involved with Residence Life, serving on the Residence Hall Student Association as Hall Rep then National Communications Coordinator for two years. My senior year, I served as Director of the PACURH Region on the National Board of Residence Halls Student Association. These experiences paved the way for my passion in Student Affairs. When I wasn’t busy being involved in the halls, I volunteered with Circle K, played soccer, sang for the University singers and of course, I studied a lot too. I was (and still am) interested in so many things – I dabbled a bit in Architecture, did a lot of experiments in Chemistry courses, enjoyed solving problems in Math, but eventually settled on English as a major, specializing in British Lit (Chaucer and Shakespeare are some men from my past).

When I graduated from the UW, I was fortunate to be hired as an Academic Advisor at my Alma matter. I advised undeclared majors for two years, before moving to the Economics Department to advise undergraduates Econ majors, all the while collecting more purple and gold in my wardrobe. Just as my wardrobe was nearing explosion, I was given an opportunity to work in Japan with the Japan-U.S. Educational Commission (Fulbright Program Japan). I had never heard of this organization or what they did, but was intrigued by an opportunity to live and work in Japan. When I think about it now, it must have been fate. When I showed up to the interview, my future boss turned out to be a fellow Husky and we hit it off right away. But more over, I was struck by the Fulbright philosophy and the role that this flagship international exchange program has played in promoting world peace through educational exchange.

I loved every minute of my 16 years (!) with the Commission, but all good things must come to an end, and with a drive to further my skills as a student affairs professional, I moved to Corvallis in September to pursue a Master’s Degree in CSSA. The first quarter was quite challenging, especially since it had been nearly 20 years since I was last a student. But I have learned so much and am enjoying every minute of this journey. I feel very lucky. Not too many people get to take two years off, to do what they want!

As you may have already guessed from the path that I have chosen in life, I am very passionate about education, especial educational and cultural exchanges and the promotion of mutual understanding among peoples of the world. After completing my Master’s Degree,

I hope to return to international education. But in the mean time, I am looking forward to absorbing as much knowledge as I can through the wonderful experiences that the OSU community has to offer. I am really excited about my internship with the Dean of Student Life’s Office. I am already learning so much, and best of all, I get to do what I love most, work with people (prospective CSSA candidates, OSU professionals, and fellow students). It will be a very busy two weeks until Campus Days, but with my fellow CSSAers, I hope to make it the best Campus Days ever, so that every candidate will want to come to OSU, and even more people will apply to the program next year!

P.S. My purple and gold wardrobe is slowly morphing to orange and black. Go Beaves!

Hello everyone! My name is Anissa Teslow Cheek and I’m an intern in the office of Dean of Student Life for the fall term.

This is my last term as an undergraduate here at Oregon State University and I’m excited to be graduating at the end of this term. I will be receiving my degree in speech communications and hope to attend graduate school to continue my passion of learning how people communicate their cultural identities. My goal is to receive my MAIS at Oregon State Univeristy and to do that I have started my application process.

As an intern, this term I have been working on a video project that was started this past summer by two interns. If you read, Maria Garcia’s post you will already be familiar with the video project. For those that do not know, the video project was created to help students learn more about services on campus in a visually engaging format. Each video has a student host or hosts that describe the services available and are captioned. If you are interested in viewing the previously made videos you can at http://oregonstate.edu/deanofstudents/home/ or on the Dean of Student Life’s YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/user/StudentLifeOSU?feature=watch. In order for next term’s interns to seamlessly create more videos, I’ve been working on a how-to-guide that details the process from start to finish.

When I’m not working on internship projects or finishing up schoolwork you can find me hanging out with my partner Jason and our three cats. Fear not, however, I am not a crazy cat lady, just a cat mom. I would love to get a dog but it just hasn’t worked out yet. Meet my kids, Charlie, Jinx, & Belvedere.

I also enjoy hanging out with my brother-in-law, Tim and my sister-in-law, Kat who just transferred to OSU this term. If I’m not spending time with family I love to hang out with my best friend, Kim, when our schedules align. If we aren’t causing trouble, we enjoy watching Chopped on Food Network, chatting, creating or at least trying to create crafts, and overall just enjoying each others company.

I hope that this fall term has been a good one for you all and that you aren’t overly stressed with final projects and papers. Good luck with wrapping up the term and then enjoying your winter break!

Dean of Student Life

Category Archives: DOSL Team

Kayleen Salchenberg

Hello Everyone, THE SUN IS HERE!!!

Senator J. William Fulbright, a Man with a Wish & Vision for World Peace

It’s Spring!

Change the World Through Interfaith Relationships

Dean of Student Life Intern

Merging: The Act of Becoming Unified.

Faitheist

Hello from Marigold – new DOSL Intern for CSSA Campus Days 2013

Anissa Teslow Cheek – Intern

Contact Info