Today's Update: Friday April 29
April 29, 2022
Dear Student Life team,
Happy High Five Friday!
This week included Administrative Professionals Day. I sent each of our admins in Student Life a note earlier this week, and now I want to give them a High Five for all they do every day. A special High Five to Stacy Smith: I can’t imagine trying to get through a day without her support and assistance.
High Fives go to everyone who helped us deal with the water main problem this week. There are too many to name, but making sure students and staff were supported took an amazing amount of fast planning and response. From those who thought through every contingency, those who acted very quickly, those who took the calls (Service2Facilities saw a 312% increase in call volume) to those who rushed out to buy bottled water to distribute in our residence halls, High Fives to you all!
I am proud of our team for finishing the year on Scarlet and Great notes, celebrating the successes of each other and our students.
Student Philanthropy including Félix Alonso, Elissa Rodriguez and Lizzy Ehren get a High Five for a successful Philanthropy Week and BuckeyeThon Launch Week.
High Fives to Tonya Dawson, Krystal Vielman and Jaden Royal for an O-mazing job at the OUAB Banquet and their advisement and support of OUAB this entire year.
A special High Five to a friend from outside Student Life: Dr. Michelle Thomas, proud Ohio State alum and President of The James Franklin Group, LLC, and I have been hosting a series of leadership workshops for students called Empowering Women in Conversations. It has been a true joy to work with Dr. Thomas and simply inspiring to engage with students in such a meaningful and supportive way.
One of the valuable outcomes from engaging at conferences are all the connections you can make. High Five to all those who recently helped host and tour a prospective grad student here on the Columbus campus: Stacy Smith, Hosanna Tekie, Dr. Shawnte’ Elbert, Jen Pelletier, Matt Altendorf, Domonique Dunn and Brian Menard.
High Five to BuckID’s Josh Bodnar who won the Outstanding Volunteer Award from NACCU, the National Association of Campus Card Users. I’ll make sure this gets in the next Slice, too.
I read in Slice this morning that Student Conduct’s Kirby Bell has been appointed as a new member of the Association for Student Conduct Administrators Raymond Goldstone Foundation. High Five, Kirby.
High Five to the Associate Dean of Students for Leadership and Service search team chaired by Dr. Shawnte’ Elbert. And a warm welcome to Dr. Kristen Rupert Davis who will be joining the Student Life team on Monday. She’s actually rejoining our team; she was here previously as Coordinator of the Keith B. Key Center for Student Leadership and Service.
Have a Scarlet and Great weekend.
Melissa S. Shivers, PhD
Senior Vice President for Student Life
The Ohio State University