Today's Update: Friday, June 13, 2025
June 13, 2025
Dear Student Life team,
Happy High Five Friday!
Off-Campus and Commuter Student Engagement recently hosted a group from Colorado State University's Off-Campus Life department for a program review site visit. High Five to Rachel DeMooy for planning all aspects and logistics of the visit, and to everyone who helped, including Dilna Cama, Chris Antjas, Rochelle Toth, Cece Albon, Jacob Glorioso, Kirsten Myers, Lindsey Shaw, Jennifer Kephas and Lauren Stazen, as well as a number of university and community partners. The CSU team later shared how impactful it was for them to hear directly from our partners and to understand the depth of collaboration that makes Ohio State’s off-campus and commuter support successful.
High Five to Dan Hausman for his guidance and help on a big project that is now complete, thanks to him.
Two team members in Housing and Residence Education get High Fives for being chosen as Staff in the Spotlight winners by the University Staff Advisory Committee (USAC). High Five to Rebecca Kapusta, described by USAC as “a leader who encourages us to be forward thinkers and proactive in the face of adversity. People know they can count on and trust Dr. Kapusta to listen, remember, follow-through and strive for ongoing development and improvement of our work on behalf of students.”
The other most recent USAC Staff in the Spotlight honoree is Avery Ruff. “Avery approaches everything from the viewpoint of care and compassion,” says USAC. “She makes sure all with whom she interacts is supported and connected to resources if needed.” High Fives to Rebecca and Avery.
The Scarlet and Great work of our Student Life team is noticed by others around the university and the parents of our students. In this case, it’s both! A colleague at Wexner Medical has a son starting at Ohio State this fall and offers this High Five to everyone involved in Orientation, “We did freshman orientation (last week) and … WOW! We were super impressed. Please pass along our kudos to the team that runs those events. Start to finish, it was so well done and so welcoming. It really shows that the university works hard to make a giant campus and city-sized community feel like a family. The efforts to break the students out into small groups right away, the attention to detail, all of it. As an insider, I know the university does things well, and I was still really impressed when experiencing it from the other side.”
Have a Scarlet and Great weekend, and, all together now, Go Bucks!
Melissa S. Shivers, PhD
Senior Vice President for Student Life
The Ohio State University