Dean of Student Life

This blogpost series is called Holidays and Holy Days to inform our OSU community about significant religious or spiritual observances. If you know of a significant holiday or holy day coming up, please communicate the information to Hannah Pynn hannah.pynn@oregonstate.edu in the Dean of Student Life office.

This Wednesday celebrates the holiday of Guru Nanak Gurpurab.

Context

The Sikh holiday Guru Nanak Gurpurab Diwali (also called Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s Prakash Utsav) celebrates the birth anniversary of the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak who was born in 1469 in what is now present day Pakistan. Sikh’s holidays revolve around the anniversaries of the 10 Sikh Gurus and the dates change every year according to the traditional Indian calendar. Guru Nanak Gurpurab begins on 28 November, 2012.

Guru Nanak is regarded as the founder of Sikhism and celebrating his birthday is a time for festivals and prayers among Sikhs.

Significance

Guru Nanak is remembered in the Sikh sacred scriptures and is famous for saying, “There is neither Hindu nor Mussulman (Muslim) so whose path shall I follow? I shall follow God’s path. God is neither Hindu nor Mussulman and the path which I follow is God’s.” This is a fundamental belief of Sikhs, that there is a supreme God that manifests in all major religions.

Guru Nanak’s teaching is understood to be practiced in three ways:

Vaṇḍ Chakkō: Sharing with others, helping those with less who are in need
Kirat Karō: Earning/making a living honestly, without exploitation or fraud
Naam Japna: Chanting the Holy Name and thus remembering God at all times (ceaseless devotion to God)

In 1499, Guru Nanak was moved by seeing suffering in the world and set out to spread a message of peace and compassion. Guru Nanak is famous for his five journeys across Asia, spreading his Divine message.

Rituals/Traditions

Singing hymns
A huge procession, beginning at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, Pakistan, the birthplace of Guru Nanak
Swordsmanship and various martial arts to demonstrate mock battles
Flags and flowers are displayed
Early morning Katha, exposition of Sikh scriptures
A community lunch that welcomes all, regardless of caste
Demonstrations in the spirit of seva (service) and bhakti (devotion)
Sunset prayer sessions that last into the late night until 1:20am, the actual time of Guru Nanak’s birth

Additional Resources

Due to the political unrest in Pakistan, there is some tension about permitting Sikh’s entry to their traditional place of celebration for this holiday.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/police-banned-entry-of-sikhs-to-haridwar-say-devotees/1036817/0

A video of Sikh pilgrims to celebrate in 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxk-2PWTpBM

http://in.news.yahoo.com/citys-sikhs-prepare-guru-nanak-jayanti-183000129.html

http://www.newkerala.com/news/newsplus/worldnews-106495.html#.ULWentPjnbk

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ghouse/sikhs-and-muslims-on-542n_b_1087327.html

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!

This week celebrates the holiday of Diwali.

Context

The Indian festival Diwali (also called Divali and Deepavali) is translated into the Sanskrit definition of “row of lamps” and is often referred to as the Festival of Lights. Diwali, the five-day festival celebrated on one of the darkest night of the year, celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, and is one of the most important festivals of the year. An official holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore and Fiji, Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains around the world. Diwali begins on 13 November.

Diwali marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year, commemorating spiritual peace, familial relationships, and hoping for good things to come in the next year.

Significance

Diwali is celebrated by Hindu’s as the return of the Lord Rama from a 14 year exile. In celebration of his return, people light small lamps to light his way home after he defeated the evil of Ravana and his armies.

Janism observes Diwali as the attainment of nirvana by Lord Mahavira, a spiritual leader who valued meditation, the respect of all living things, and giving up earthly comforts for the sake of spiritual peace.

Sikhs also celebrate Diwali as the mark of Chhorh Divis, when their sixth guru Guru Hargobind Ji, released 52 Hindi kings from prison.

The spiritual significance of Diwali asserts the Hindu philosophy of good over evil, that humans have “the awareness of the inner light” that brings joy and peace.

Rituals/Traditions

Lighting innumerable small lamps, candles, and lights
Visiting family
Fireworks
Wearing new clothes
Exchanging special sweets with neighbors
Going to the temples as a family
Decorating homes with flowers, colored sand, and lots of lights

Additional Resources

President Obama is the first president to officially observe the holiday of Diwali. Take a look at his Presidential address wishing people a Happy Diwali. Presidential Happy Diwali

This is a short animated video that illustrates the story of Lord Rama and his victory of light over darkness. Lord Rama – Defeat of good over evil

National Geographic shows footage of beautiful sights in India during Diwali celebrations.

National Geographic Diwali

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/12/diwali-2012-festival-of-lights-photos_n_2115208.html

http://www.diwali2012.in/

Continue reading →

Hi! My name is Maria Garcia and I am fifth year student here at Oregon State University. I am from Hermiston, a small town in Eastern Oregon. I am very excited to be interning at the Office of the Dean of Student Life this term and even more excited to be receiving my bachelors in June! It has been a long journey but definitely worth the struggle because of the opportunities I have received.

Because of the very busy term, I like to take some time to relax in the Memorial Union and enjoy my surroundings. Besides interning in the office, I am also taking a few classes, including a cardio kickboxing class to ease away the stress! One of my biggest goals is to go to graduate school to obtain my masters and I would love it if it were in the College Student Services Administration (CSSA) here at Oregon State. Meanwhile, the drafts after drafts of resumes and personal essay questions will continue.

Peace and diversity in the Memorial Union

Working in the office has been quite enjoyable (as I have wonderful colleagues and supervisors)! I am currently working on a few projects, the first one being researching and compiling data on other dean of student life/student affairs websites and comparing it to our university and other peer institutions. This has proven to be quite a challenge when I dislike their website and can find nothing positive to say and bring back as an improvement to our own site. Nevertheless, the final product of this research will definitely contain a lot of information to consider when making improvements to our website and office.

Furthermore, what began as a summer internship with a couple of students creating videos to establish a more inclusive environment for students and easy access to a visual tool, has now expanded into this term as well. I am co-creating captioned videos with other interns in the office to offer students the opportunity to learn a little more about services identified as imperative on campus. Through this project, we hope students and families will be able to easily navigate our website and find the information they need. Our intention is to ensure that students are aware of everything our Office of the Dean of Student Life offers and create an enjoyable college experience.

Finally, I am also working with my internship supervisor, Kim McAloney, to try to establish a few Students of Color meetings where students interest’s can be met. Because my personal interests lie in student affairs and because I am in the NASPA Undergraduate Fellow’s Program (NUFP), I have targeted my meetings to students with these same interests. Currently, this is still a two-times-a-term project, but hopefully next term it will grow.

With all these projects, and the other projects currently underway in the office, it has been quite busy around here! I enjoy listening to the updates other interns have in our weekly meeting and establishing a cohort between our DOSL team as we engage in icebreakers.

I can’t wait to see the advances we make this term! Fall is here and besides the rain, it is time to appreciate the hot chocolates, yummy pastries and the changing color of leaves.

-Maria Garcia

Hello! My name is Hannah Pynn, I’m the Graduate Assistant for the Dean of Student Life (DOSL) at Oregon State University.

Now that the rain is here, it finally feels like fall in Oregon. Since this is my first term as a grad student, the rain gives me a good excuse to settle in every evening with a cup of tea and a stack of books to study for my College Student Services Administration (CSSA) masters program. The CSSA program is a masters program that studies student affairs and higher education, which means that maybe some day I’ll be a Dean of Student Life myself! For now, I’m focusing on writing lots of papers and absorbing lots of information about how to serve college students.

As the Graduate Assistant in the office, I am working on several campus-wide initiatives that focus on the community and holistic development of every student on our beautiful campus.

Everyone Matters @ OSU is a global social media campaign that promotes inclusivity and non-judgement. Check out how you can voice your thoughts on why YOU think Everyone Matters @ OSU.

I am also a coordinator for the Interfaith Community Service Initiative which is a campaign that aspires to initiate meaningful dialogue between religious and nonreligious individuals, bringing together students from all walks of life under the common umbrella of community service.

When I go home, I go home to a mansion that is the home of about 130 women. My husband and I are the House Directors at Kappa Delta Sorority and this is our fifth year living in the residence. We love our KD ladies. This is us at Mock Rock last year, the huge KD philanthropy event that raised over $35,000 for child abuse prevention locally and nationally.

I’m looking forward to continuing my work in DOSL for the next two years. I love when people visit me at work, so feel free to stop by to chat in Kerr A200.

Hannah

Hello everybody! I previously wrote a blog during my first week I started my internship here at the office of the Dean of Student Life. I cannot believe that 5 weeks already pass by and today is my last day of work here in the office. This journey has been a self discovery process for me and I am so thankful for the opportunity. The experience of working full time and managing my own schedule as long as I was getting my work done has been a new experience for me.

Part of my internship experience included having the opportunity to be a part of the Professional and Managerial Internships in State Employment (PROMISE) summer internship program. The PROMISE program allowed me to connect with other interns around campus while given the opportunity for learning and growth both professionally and personally through professional development presentations and dialogues.

Moving forward I am excited to see friends and family back home and being able to start planning and preparing to attend graduate school within a graduate program in student affairs here at OSU or potentially another school around the country. Thanks to the exposure of my work at OSU and the people the people that I met, I have learn some of the areas where I can improve and that are going to affect me in my future academic goals if I do not make the effort to rectify it. I am taking these coming up year to prepare for graduate school by taking a few classes such as research methods, writing and grammar. I am also going to start doing some readings to start familiarizing myself with the materials in student affairs programs and a portfolio to help me with my graduate school applications.

All in all, I really enjoyed my time here in Oregon, meeting new people, visiting local places, the nearby cities, and specially the coast. I am really passionate about social justice efforts towards understanding and inclusion. For that reason I am happy to know that my research findings such as best practices and recommendations for both the CRF program and the international student population are going to put into use starting next term. I am also exited to know that after I am gone any student interested in learning about graduate school and the process to get into a graduate program can have access to the graduate school guide that I was able to put together.

Big shout out to all of you that made an impact in my experience here at OSU.

Today marks my seventh week interning at the Office of the Dean of Student Life, and I still can’t believe it! It feels like just last week when I first came in, arranged pictures on my desk, and carved out my little corner in the office fridge.

One of the biggest accomplishments thus far has all been the media magic the office has been making. Our office is now online and you can learn even more about what we do on our helpful video titled Dean of Student Life on our YouTube page. In case that is not enough to wet your whistle make sure to view our other videos highlighting other OSU resources ranging from Dixon Recreation Center (feel the burn!) to Tobacco Cessation (did you know they offer free nicotine patches and gum?).

To view these video go to the following site (NOTE: You do not need to have a YouTube account to view these videos):

http://www.youtube.com/user/StudentLifeOSU

For even more social media in your life check us out on Pintrest. In case you have not hear of Pintrest, the site defines itself as “… a Virtual Pinboard. Pinterest lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web.” Well the beautiful things that we are sharing are related to Student Life at OSU. Our page includes boards titled, “Corvallis Restaurants”, “Just for Laughs”, “New to Corvallis”, “NUFP”, “Graduate School”, “Professional Organizations” and “Higher Education Journals”. There are even more boards for you to explore once you visit our Pintrest site (NOTE: You do not need to have a YouTube account to view these videos):

http://pinterest.com/oregonstateslp/

So what are you waiting for? Open up a new tab and learn some more about our office and OSU!

Cheers,

Sophie

Hello everybody my name is Joel Orozco and I am the NUFP (NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program) intern with Oregon State University of the Dean of Student Life. I am originally from Chihuahua Mexico but I went to school in Denver Colorado. I recently just graduated from Metropolitan State University of Denver and I am currently doing my search to apply to a student affairs graduate program.

My journey at OSU has been very rewarding so far. I started working for the University Housing & Dining Services (UHDS) office for the first 3 weeks of my internship by helping with initial student development research and comparison school interviews to designed the curriculum for the community relations facilitators (CRF’s), which is a peer mentorship program that is intended to embrace diversity and address social justice issues by having creative events within the resident halls at OSU.

A week ago I was moved to the office of the Dean of Student Life to work on two exiting projects. The first one has to do with a resources guide for graduate school with a focus on student who want to pursue a career in higher education and student affairs. The guide contains information from broad topics such as types of programs, financing, and application process to more specific topics such as terms and definitions, things one should know before grad school, and a section on knowing the details.

My second project involves international students and the office of Disability Access Center. The purpose of my project is for me to gather accurate information in regards of international students with disabilities cultural competencies when it comes to disabilities. I have been looking at the literature in a couple different databases and interviewing other schools and individuals to hear their feedback and to see how individuals from other disability centers in direct contact with international students are approaching this issue.

All in all, I have really been enjoying my time in Corvallis meeting new people, the nearby cities, and specially the coast. I am passionate about the work and research that I am doing and I am so thankful for the opportunity to be here!

Go Beavs!!!

I am so excited about my work in the Office of the Dean of Student Life as the Coordinator for Student Life programs! This week, I was full of excitement! Part of my work is coordinating the NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program (NUFP), a mentoring program for undergraduatestudents from historically underrepresented populations who are interested in exploring careers in student affairs and higher education. Stay tuned for more information about NUFP off of our website. As part of NUFP, we have two NUFP interns at OSU this summer. The interns are Isaiah Iboko, who just graduated from Grinell University who is working with UHDS and Joel Orozco, who just graduated from Metropolitan State College of Denver. Joel worked for UHDS for his first two weeks here on campus and this week transitioned to our office! It’s exciting to have so many amazing students and interns working with our office this summer!

Holidays and Holy Days – Guru Nanak Gurpurab (Sikh)

This Wednesday celebrates the holiday of Guru Nanak Gurpurab.

Anissa Teslow Cheek – Intern

Holidays and Holy Days – Diwali (Hindu)

This week celebrates the holiday of Diwali.

Holidays and Holy Days – Samhain (Wiccan/Pagan)

Maria Garcia, Intern

Hannah Pynn – Graduate Assistant

NUFP Summer Internship 2012- Reflection at OSU

We are Online!

Introducing NUFP Intern Joel Orozco

Week 3- Introducing Kim!

Contact Info