Today's Update: Friday, February 6, 2026
February 6, 2026
Dear Student Life team,
Happy High Five Friday!
I hope you enjoyed this week’s Scarlet and Great Gathering as much as I did. I love celebrating our amazing team! High Five to the planning committee of Morgan Hammonds, Aubrie Smith, Angie Wellman and Jen Vandemark, High Fives to everyone who attended, those celebrating milestone years of service and special High Fives to our Student Life Service Award winners: Kirby Bell and Leah Halper for Excellence in Leadership, Brandon Horton and Kelly Kyser for Outstanding Campus Partner and Erica Horn, Marjorie Freggens, Kori Montgomery and Lacey Gosnell for Excellence in Initiative. The Culture Commitment Champion award winners are Kady Gies, Jordan Rutherford and Maria Mejia Cano, and the Special Friend to Student Life award goes to Anne Schira. If you missed the event, or want to take another look, the Scarlet and Great Gathering livestream playback is available online.
As I promised at the Gathering, here is a link to a list of important dates coming up this semester on the Student Life intranet. You will also find registration information for some of the events.
Buckeye Love is underway, a time to celebrate positivity, kindness and mental health support at Ohio State. High Five to Tracy Stuck for organizing random acts of kindness all across our campuses throughout the month. I’ll have more High Fives for the people helping make Buckeye Love special as we go through the month of activities.
High Fives to John Cronin and Joe Hast for helping with Buckeye Love programming, plus helping the Monda Student Resource Center with the pickup and delivery of a major donation from Bob Evans, ensuring that we could receive critical support for our students.
Jess Romer gets a High Five for going above and beyond to help a corporate partner in receiving the appropriate paperwork and proper thank you.
High Five to Alex Green in the Center for the Study of Student Life who recently received the Student Affairs Assessment Leaders Emerging Professional Award. This national award is given to a student affairs assessment professional with fewer than three years of experience and acknowledges individuals having high impact in their work.
The Student Organization team of Elizabeth Westrick, Abigail Frank, Katie Connor and “special guest” Brooke Olson gets High Fives for a very successful Spring Student Involvement Fair. Almost 5,000 students attended over the two nights, and more than 500 organizations participated.
Have a Scarlet and Great weekend, and, of course, Go Bucks!
Melissa S. Shivers, PhD
Senior Vice President for Student Life
The Ohio State University