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As classes move ahead this week, it’s good to know about all the academic support services available at Oregon State. Not only can they help your grades, they can help you get more out of your classes. When it comes to learning, more is better!

For starters, connect with your professors and instructors. Ask questions and participate in class. And be sure to visit them during office hours, which should be posted on Blackboard, as well as listed on your course syllabus.

Come prepared with some questions. Naturally, you can ask about a specific item or grade issue, but use this time to focus on learning more about the subject. Be polite and respectful, and most of all, be curious! Look at it this way: professors are lifelong learners. Their job is to gain knowledge, then share what they know. So talk to them. Most professors encourage one-on-one interaction with interested students.

Here’s a list of the primary academic support resources at Oregon State. Use them! In addition to the services they offer, they can refer you to other campus resources.

• The Academic Success Center in Waldo Hall offers academic coaching, supplemental instruction, study tablesand referrals.
• The Writing Center can help with all aspects of the writing process — from brainstorming and organization to questions about grammar and usage. The Writing Center has two locations — Waldo Hall and the new Student Success Center across from Gill Coliseum and Reser Stadium — plus an Online Writing Lab.
• The Collaborative Learning Center (CLC) in the Valley Libraryoffers multiple services from peer tutors and graduate teaching assistants from the College of Science and the Academic Success Center. The Writing Desk is available by appointment Sunday through Thursday.
• The Educational Opportunities Program (EOP) provides academic support specifically to help non-traditional students navigate the opportunities, requirements and challenges they face. EOP offers for-credit classes in math, reading and writing skills. Other services require an application to the program.

The time to know about these resources is before you need them. So check them out this week and learn how they can help you. It’s your education; take charge of it!
Have a good week!

Now that you’re wrapping up your first week as an Oregon State student, how are you feeling about your classes? Are you thinking about a course you’d like to add? Or maybe one you’re taking isn’t right for you?

Talk to your adviser! The first-year website has a handy directory of advising offices for each college. He or she can answer questions and advise whether you should add or drop a class. That’s why they’re called advisers, you know.

Week 1 is the best time to add or drop a class, and you can do it online. Here’s how:

• Choose Online Services at the top of the Oregon State website, then Online Services Login.
• Enter your ONID username and password.
• Once you’re logged in, choose Registration, then Register/Add/Drop Classes from the menu. From Select Term, choose Fall 2012 to see your current class schedule.
• If you want to add a class, and you know its Course Reference Number (CRN), enter it in the Add Class table.
• But since this is your first week, you probably don’t know the CRN, so click the Class Search button. Choose the subject area, then Course Search. You’ll see a list of courses offered in that subject for this term. Choose View Sections to see which classes are available.
• If the class is open, check the box under Select, then click Register.
• The system will tell you if you have a time conflict with an existing class. If you still want to take the class, you can click Add to Worksheet. This will take you back to your Current Schedule with the CRN added to the Add Classes Worksheet.
• Find the class on your current schedule with the time conflict, choose Drop/Delete from the drop down menu under Action, then click Submit Changes. This class will be dropped and the new class will be added.
• If you just want to drop a class, go to the drop down menu under Action, choose Drop/Delete, then Submit Changes.

You can still add or drop a class after Week 1, but you’ll need department approval  to add a class if you wait until Week 2. If you want to drop a class, you’ll need to do it by the end of Week 2 to get a refund on your tuition and fees. The Office of the Registrar has more information about registering for classes.

For more tips and information, visit the first-year student website. Enjoy your weekend!

Now that classes have started, a little bit of planning will help you keep on track in the coming weeks. To get started, gather up the syllabi from your classes and a calendar:

• Mark your desk calendar with all the deadlines for your classes. When are mid-terms? When are major assignments due? When are finals? If it helps, use a different colored marker for each class.
• Put these deadlines in your electronic calendar, too. Need a week to get that paper written? Set your calendar to ping you with an alert a week before your paper is due.
• Go over your weekly schedule. Put in when all of your classes meet and when you have labs. If you have a part-time job, put in your work hours. How does the rest of your week look? Set aside blocks of time when you can study or work on assignments each week. And stick to them. Consistency will help you develop good study habits.
• Give yourself time for fun. After all, that’s also part of the college experience. Have you looked at joining any clubs? Want to play intramural sports or work out at Dixon? If you know when your club meets or team plays, put those on your schedule. But leave some parts of your week open to do whatever you want.
• Decide how you want to organize your class notes and other paper work, whether it’s in separate notebooks, file folders or whatever works best for you.
• The “computer ate my homework excuse” won’t work, so make sure you have backups for your electronic files. You can buy an external hard drive or use cloud services like Google Docs, Microsoft SkyDrive or Apple iCloud.

For more tips and information, visit the first-year student website. Have a good rest of your week!

Undergraduate Research Funding Opportunity: The Research Office is now accepting applications for the Undergraduate Research, Innovation, Scholarship and Creativity (URISC) program for Winter and/or Spring term(s) 2012-13. This program supports undergraduate research activities from all academic disciplines within the University. Program description and application: http://oregonstate.edu/research/incentive/urisc. Information: Debbie Delmore at debbie.delmore@oregonstate.edu or 541-737-8390. Submission Deadline: Nov. 5.

As the National SAF Convention nears, the US Forest Service gets closer to hiring the next talented group of students and recent graduates.  The US Forest Service will be conducting interviews for students to place in its Pathways Internship and Recent Graduate Programs at the 2012 Society of American Foresters (SAF) National Convention held October 25-28^th in Spokane, Washington.  Unlike previous years, students must apply for these positions prior to the convention in order to obtain an interview spot at the Convention.   Jobs will be posted on USAJOBS from October 3^rd to the 9^th.  Create your USAJOBS account now in preparation for the job postings.  In addition, this year letters of recommendation are highly encouraged and should be attached to the application.  Please remember that onsite applications will not be accepted. 

For more information regarding how to apply for the Forest Service’s Pathways Internship and Recent Graduates Programs please see:
http://www.fs.fed.us/forestmanagement/recruitment_saf/index.shtml

…we know what you did this summer!

http://rangerspointingatthings.tumblr.com/

As you may know, First Lady Michelle Obama will be our Commencement Speaker this year.  As you can imagine, OSU must make many preparations for such a visit and details may change frequently.  We encourage you to be flexible with your plans and regularly reference the 2012 Commencement webpage for details about the event:  http://oregonstate.edu/events/commencement/.  Note that this year tickets may be required for the Commencement Ceremony.  Ticket information will soon be available on the Commencement webpage. 

Remember that to participate in Commencement, you must have filed an application for graduation with the Registrar’s office by April 13, 2012.   The deadline to RSVP for Commencement is April 30.  Expect to receive important Commencement information from the Registrar’s Office in April.  Please read this information thoroughly!   Contact the Registrar’s office at 541-737-4331 or stop by 102 Kerr Administration Building if your plans change and you are unable to attend the ceremony. 

As always, the College of Forestry will hold a Commencement event prior to the main ceremony in Reser Stadium.  Currently we are planning a luncheon in Peavy Hall Courtyard to begin around 11:30 a.m.  We will then escort graduates to the MU Quad to line up for the processional to Reser Stadium.   Formal invitations to this event will be mailed to your current address (please update Student Online Services if you’ve recently changed addresses) in early May.  Please note, it is mandatory that you RSVP to the College of Forestry luncheon and provide an exact number of friends and family that will be joining you.

Please contact the Student Services Office at 541-737-1594 if you have questions about the luncheon before the main ceremony.  Please contact the OSU Registrar’s Office at 541-737-4331 if you have any questions about the Reser Stadium ceremony, tickets, logistics, etc.

Congratulations!  We are so very proud of your accomplishments and wish you a bright and successful future!

We here in the Student Services Office have been amazed by the quantity and quality of seasonal work available this year.  We’re posting at least half a dozen jobs each week on our jobs page.  If you are still looking for seasonal work for this summer be sure to check out the jobs page regularly.  And if you’re getting ready to graduate this spring, now is a good time to start that search for a permanent position.  Be sure to visit Career Services in Kerr Administration to take advantages of their services (help with your resume, cover letters, interview skills, etc.).

We also have a handful of scholarship applications from community organizations available here in the Student Services Office, Peavy 140.  If you’re still looking for money for school next year, stop by and take a look!

As spring term nears many opportunties for recognition and funding arise.  Among those opportunities are:

Hoener Participation Awards-  this fund supports domestic travel for individual students and student clubs. Their intent is to broaden students’ educational experience by enabling them to conduct independent study related to forest industry, observe forest industry operations, or attend industry-related
conferences within the U.S.  They should be used to highlight the CoF and Hoener Memorial Fund regionally and nationally.

The Bruce Starker Memorial Fund supports student and/or faculty travel to professional forestry meetings or to visit advanced forest practices in operational settings, experimental plots, growth studies, or other relevant sites with primary emphasis on private forestry.

The Ted Maul Professional Development Fund supports travel to professional meetings for juniors and seniors in the CoF.

The Louis & Alice Blaser Fund supports travel to professional meetings for juniors and seniors in the CoF.

Proposals for the above mentioned funds should be completed using the form available in the Student Services Office, Peavy Hall 140 and should be submitted  by April 13, 2012, at 5pm.

Bowerman Leadership Award is presented annually to a senior in the College of Forestry who best exemplifies outstanding leadership and/or service to the College of Forestry, the OSU community, or to the state/nation/world.  Nominations for this award may be made by students, faculty, or staff members of the College of Forestry; self-nominations are also permitted.  Nomination letters may be signed by multiple individuals, but a second endorsement is still required.  Nominees must be seniors enrolled in one of the undergraduate programs of the CoF.   Nomination forms and full details are available in the Student Services Office, Peavy Hall 140.  Nominations are due by 5pm on April 20, 2012.

T-shirt Design Contest
Traditionally, all incoming CoF students attending our new student welcome,
ANNUAL RING, receive a CoF t-shirt.  For 2012, we are soliciting designs from CoF students.  Submissions will be voted on by the CoF undergraduate student body.  The winning design will be announced at the May 31, 2012 Student Awards Ceremony.  The winner gets a free t-shirt and will be recognized at the ceremony.    Designs must be created using a computer-based design program (i.e. hand drawings or paintings cannot be accepted).  Designs are limited to 3
colors, must be related to forestry, natural resources and/or renewable materials.  All CoF undergraduates are eligible.  One design submission per student only!  Email your design by 5pm on April 6th to kira.hughes@oregonstate.edu.

Registration for spring term began yesterday and some or many of you may be getting registration errors and you don’t know why.  Well, here’s the explanation:

Due to high demand in many of our College of Forestry courses, we have instituted Major, Minor, and Option Coding restrictions.  This means that if a course is required by your major then you’ll have access to the course first (or as your registration date and time arrives).  If it’s not required by your major, minor, or option but is one of several options to choose from you will have to wait until Phase II registration to add the course.  Note:  You must have a declared minor or option to be able to access these restricted classes and if the course if also required by other majors in the CoF then those students will have first dibs. 

What do I do about this?
Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do other than work with your advisor to plan out your courses several terms in advance.  If a high demand course is one of several options you can choose from, be flexible and consider those other choices.  This will maximize the speed and ease with which you progress through your program of study.  We do sympathize and realize this is not ideal but with lots of students and not so many seats available incertain courses we have few options to ensure that those who truly need certain courses to graduate get them in a timely manner.

If you have questions you can stop by the Student Services Office in Peavy 140 and speak with Clay Torset, head advisor or visit your academic advisor, or the head of your major’s home administrative department.