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Welcome to OSU Today

Your daily news source about all things Oregon State.

OSU Today is published by University Relations and Marketing and is the university’s primary internal communications publication. Submit events, lectures and other activities via the OSU Main Calendar. To submit story ideas and general announcements, email us at [email protected]. Fill out the form here to subscribe to the twice-weekly digest.

 

On OPB this week

  • Oregon State University, where researchers have found eating almonds can help those with metabolic syndrome. 
  • Oregon State University, where a study finds that outdoor recreation is a public health necessity. 

Bluebirds fly: Melissa Clark says, “I backed my car right into a fence trying to capture this rainbow in Tangent.” We are accepting photo submissions at [email protected]. To view past submissions, visit us on Instagram at @osutoday1.

Take Note

NEW! Timely Teaching Tips: Have you used the Canvas Course Checklist recently? The checklist has easy-to-implement tips to streamline the course navigation menu, organize weekly modules, improve accessibility, and align the gradebook with your syllabus. This is a quick way to ensure your Canvas course is set up to support student learning.

UPDATE! Closure announcement: Campus Freight and Hazardous Shipping will be closed July 21-25. No shipments can be shipped or received during this time. Any non-freight and non-hazardous items may be shipped at the PCMM Shipping Services location at 4100 SW Research Way.

Research study on mental health and substance use:  Are you 18 years or older, fluent in English, and a US citizen? Participate in this research study to understand how substance use is related to mental health. Participation involves a 20-35-minute online survey and the chance to enter a gift card raffle for completing the survey. For more information, please contact us at (541) 737-3137 or [email protected]. Principal investigator is Anita Cservenka 

Part-Time Job Fair: Jumpstart your 2025 hiring. If your department hires student employees, join The Career Development Center in promoting your opportunities at the Fall 2025 Part-Time Job Fair. This is a great time to connect with students early in fall term and highlight your organization’s mission. Claim your spot at the Part-Time Job Fair now, before registration opens to off-campus employers. For questions contact [email protected].

Enhance Your Impact at OSU with Certified Coaching Skills: Boost your effectiveness as a leader, mentor, or educator with neuroscience-based coaching techniques — OSU’s ICF-accredited Empower Coach program helps you support student success, strengthen teams and elevate your professional influence right where you are. You can register for the Certified Coaching Program here. 

Timely Teaching Tips: Looking for tangible strategies to support learning and academic integrity in the presence of generative AI?  See Meet Agentic AI: Implications for Academic and Learning Integrity by Ecampus instructional designer Ashlee Foster, for resources, guidance and practical examples.  For more information, go to Artificial Intelligence Tools from Ecampus and AI in Teaching and Learning from CTL.

Closure announcement: Campus Freight and Hazardous Shipping will be closed July 28-Aug. 1. No shipments can be shipped or received during this time. Any non-freight and non-hazardous items may be shipped at the PCMM Shipping Services location at 4100 SW Research Way.

OSU Engagement Conference: The third annual OSU Engagement Conference (Dec. 4, 2025) invites OSU faculty, staff, students, and community partners to submit presentation proposals that demonstrate strong examples of current engagement work; reference relevant frameworks and best practices; and provide attendees with tools and ideas to apply to their own teaching, research and/or outreach and engagement efforts. Submission deadline is Sept. 12. Also, there’s still time to apply or nominate a colleague for the OSU Engagement Awards of Excellence. The submission deadline is July 31.

Monthly Emergency Preparedness Topic: Fire. What would you do if a fire started? Understand how to Stop. Drop. Roll. Learn how to properly use a fire extinguisher and if your building is on fire: Get out. Stay out. English and Spanish versions of this bulletin can be found on the emergency preparedness website.

Cat study: Veterinarians at the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital are recruiting cats for a placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial evaluating fecal transplants in cats with kidney disease. Your cat may qualify if your cat has been diagnosed with kidney disease, has elevated kidney values on lab work (specifically, creatinine between 1.6-3.4 mg/dL), or is a senior cat older than 15 years. Participation involves: collection of stool samples from the litter box by cat caregiver; exam visits at the OSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital; monitoring blood tests over a three-month period; cats receiving a single enema (donor feces or placebo) once in the hospital; cats receiving one capsule of lyophilized donor feces (or placebo) by mouth once a day for 30 days at home; cats receiving diagnostic testing (bloodwork, urine tests, ultrasound) to stage and monitor their disease. There is no cost to participate in the study. Email Stacie Summers (principal investigator) to find out more information: [email protected].

Health and Safety: The University Health & Safety Committee wants to promote health and safety by providing a link to a new forklift safety video from SAIF. You can also access OSU’s University Health & Safety Committee online, including past meeting minutes, information on how to contact a committee member, and a link to report safety concerns online.

Policy updates: The Controller’s Unit policy for Prepaid Expenses has been implemented.  Please see the Controller’s Unit Policy Program site for more information and contact the Policy Steward listed on the policy with any questions.

Pilots sought: OSU Robotics' group HMT Lab is looking for pilots to participate in a 2-hour evaluation on-campus at Oregon State which looks at UAS supervision performance.  Participants will receive a $75 Amazon gift card as a thank-you for your time.  Sign-up at this link.

 

Calendar

Around Campus

OSU in the News

New technology from OSU-Cascades and community partners is aimed at reducing food waste (KTVZ)

OSU-Cascades students in Hospitality Management and Engineering have been working together since 2018, hoping to better understand and reduce food waste. With the help of new technology and crucial community partners, they are doing just that — and even more.

 

Outdoor recreation key to mental health during crises, OSU-led survey concludes (OPB News)

Outdoor recreation played a key factor in improving people’s mental health during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey led by Oregon State University researchers and published this spring by a major scientific journal.

Students show off innovative new foods at Chicago’s ‘Show and Taste’ (Good Day Chicago)

Oregon State students compete in a national food science competition.

Policy success: Fees and bans on plastic bags reduce beach trash (Eos)

“In some ways it’s like, well, of course, if you use fewer plastic bags, you’re going to find fewer plastic bags on the beach, but it’s good that [researchers] documented that in a quantitative way,” said Susanne Brander, an ecotoxicologist at Oregon State University who was not involved in the study. “We need those data in order to convince additional lawmakers and agencies to take this seriously and to think not just about plastic bags, but about other single-use items as well.”

Oregon has a massive new wave energy testing facility. But who is going to use it? (OPB News)

Construction on Oregon State University’s $80 million PacWave South near Newport wrapped up this spring. But uncertainty around federal funding for the research and technology development threatens to derail plans to use the facility for testing wave energy converters. At least one wave energy developer initially slated to deploy its technology at PacWave has canceled its testing plans because it lost a federal grant.

A fire charred this research forest. What happened next dazzled (Seattle Times)

“People say, ‘Oh the forest was lost.’ It’s not lost. It’s changed,” said Mark Harmon, a forest decomposition expert and professor emeritus at Oregon State University. Half of his research plots at the Andrews burned. The experiment may now be more exciting than ever. There is so much to be learned, Harmon said, “as long as you throw out everything you think you knew about fire.”

Oregon leaders, anti-hunger advocates warn of ‘deeply alarming’ SNAP cuts in GOP megabill (Oregon Capital Chronicle)

The bill also ends the Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program, more commonly known as SNAP-Ed, that funds nutrition and public health education programs run by state agencies and partner organizations for SNAP recipients. More than 95 Oregon State University extension staff who work with the state on nutrition education initiates funded by the program could be laid off, according to the Portland-based Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon

OSU-Cascades puts Graduate & Research Center up for sale for $8.2 million, will consolidate Bend campus operations (KTVZ)

Planners at Oregon State University-Cascades said Monday they are seeking to sell the Graduate & Research Center as they prepare for the consolidation of academic and other operations onto the university campus on Chandler Avenue in Bend.

Inside the Oregon lab trying to change people’s minds about sharks (CBS News)

Pulling a seven-foot shark out of the water to flush its stomach is just another day at the office for marine scientists at Oregon State University, who have spent years trying to change public perception about the sea creatures.

Iran struck five IDF bases with six missiles during war - report (Jerusalem Post)

This radar data was shared with The Telegraph by US academics at Oregon State University, who specialise in using satellite radar data to detect bomb damage in war zones.

Oregon Coast’s blue tiny visitors spark a son’s memory of his late father’s sailboat (OPB News)

Oregon State University’s Hatfield Visitor Center advises caution. While touching Velella velella generally isn’t dangerous, people should avoid rubbing their eyes or putting their hands in their mouths afterward, as it could cause pain or more serious issues. The center also recommends not walking barefoot through freshly stranded Velellas.

Where there’s smoke, there’s… wine? (Slate)

The good news is that smoke-impacted grapes aren’t any more dangerous than a nice smoked lox bagel, but the 2020 vintage still raised a lot of questions. Following the statewide wildfires that year, a team of researchers at Oregon State University received a $7.65 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to explore smoke’s impact on wine. As part of their research, OSU scientists have honed in on the specific compounds that cause smoky or ashy flavor.

Oregon State’s lowest-tech endeavor: book-making (Gazette-Times)

Beyond an inconspicuous garage door on the side of an otherwise conspicuous Snell Hall is the home of a student-staffed book press, joining other Oregon State University artistic endeavors, including studio art classes and the theater program.

How cuts to federal research funding are impacting Oregon academics (Think Out Loud)

We’ll hear from three researchers whose federal grants were cancelled: Marguerita Lightfoot is a professor at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. Lauren Forrest is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. Tala Navab-Daneshmand is an associate professor of environmental engineering at Oregon State University. They join us to talk about the negative impact the cuts will have on efforts to address health disparities in the U.S.

Hermiston Potato Field Day, addressing the news of growers (Pacific Northwest Ag Network)

“This gives [growers] an opportunity to see how their money is being effectively spent," said Sagar Sathuvalli, OSU potato breeder. "So, that's the main thing, or one of the things, is you are giving us money, we want you to see what we are doing. And it takes a lot of time and effort, so it's an opportunity for them to see money well spent.”

1 in 10 Oregon schools operate 4 days a week. This schedule may harm students, review finds (Oregonian)

About 130 Oregon schools across at least 70 school districts run on a four-day schedule, according to Paul Thompson, an Oregon State University professor who conducts research as part of the Four-Day School Week Policy group. That means that more than 35% of Oregon districts have schools that operate on a four-day week.

Oregon awards $2.15M to boost local food supply infrastructure (KEZI)

Oregon State University’s Food Science Pilot Plant in Corvallis will use received funding to renovate its facility, purchase a canning line and washing station, build food ingredient storage, and acquire new packaging materials.

Pat Casey earns spot in ABCA Hall of Fame class of 2026 (KLCC)

Pat Casey, the former head baseball coach at Oregon State, is set to be inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2026. The honor marks his second college baseball hall of fame recognition, following his 2024 induction into the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

 

 

Traffic and Maintenance

Dixon: Due to construction and roofing work happening at Dixon Recreation Center, the ADA accessible path that runs along the north and east sides of Dixon will be closed starting on Monday, March 24. This will be a long-term closure which is scheduled to end on Friday, Oct. 10. Bike parking on the east side of Dixon will be closed for the duration of this project. All bikes must be removed from the bike racks before Monday, March 24. Any remaining bikes will be removed by the OSU Department of Public Safety. The east entrance to Dixon Rec Center will be closed.

Use extra caution & avoid construction zones on Washington Way: Infrastructure along SW Washington Way is currently undergoing improvements and the area around SW Washington Way and SW 17th St. is an active construction site. For your safety, please detour around work zones (marked with barriers). We recommend allowing more time to travel around campus as this project continues. For more information about construction work on SW Washington Way and the current closure schedule, click here. If you require accommodations or assistance crossing the SW Washington Way construction zone, please contact [email protected].