Office of Student Life

Today's Update: Thursday, November 2, 2023

November 2, 2023

Dear Student Life team, 

The Office of Student Life is firmly committed to consistently reviewing and revising our processes and structures to best serve our students, staff and the university community. We also place significant importance on the staff experience and greatly value the work our Student Life team is doing in supporting our students as they engage, learn and thrive.

Accordingly, I am very excited to announce two upcoming structural changes: 

  • We will combine our efforts around the belonging, education and well-being of our staff by merging the great work being done by Angie Wellman and Morgan Hammonds. The effective date of this transition is November 6, 2023. Angie Wellman will continue with her work leading belonging, education and well-being initiatives with our teams as the Director of Belonging, Staff Education and Well-being. Morgan Hammonds will report to Angie continuing her focus on employee engagement as the Program Manager for Staff Education and Well-being. The alignment of the work of Angie and Morgan will continue to facilitate the community building and educational opportunities scaffolded to continuously develop Student Life team members’ capacity to effectively relate, work and lead across identity, cultures and experiences.  

  • Following the recommendations of a 2022 program review of the Suicide Prevention Program (SPP), the organizational location of the program will transition from the College of Education and Human Ecology to the Office of Student Life, with the program’s assistant director, Laura Lewis, reporting to Dr. Micky Sharma, director of the Counseling and Consultation Service. Dr. Darcy Granello, a tenured faculty member in the College of Human Ecology and current Director of the Suicide Prevention Program, notified us previously of her intent to step away from her leadership role of the program and into more of an advisory capacity. We thank Darcy for her many years of service to the creation and growth of the Suicide Prevention Program and evidence-based REACH training, and we appreciate that she has agreed to serve as the faculty affiliate on the advisory board of SPP. Transition planning will begin immediately with the effective date of the reporting line transition being the start of the 2024 calendar year. The actual transition of physical space and certain processes may take longer, as we want to be sure to get things right rather than fast. 

An organization that is changing is an organization that is committed to continuous improvement, though I know that transitions can sometimes be challenging. I appreciate our entire team’s willingness to be flexible, open to change and dedicated to helping students and staff engage, learn and thrive here at Ohio State, and beyond. I am Scarlet and Grateful for this extraordinary team, and please join me in welcoming the Suicide Prevention Program aboard! 

 

 

Melissa S. Shivers, PhD 

Senior Vice President for Student Life