Stay informed about COVID-19

COVID-19 website: To facilitate the ongoing sharing of information about the virus, Oregon State University has added a link on the OSU homepage to a new page that provides detailed and up-to-date COVID-19 information; links to OSU, local, state and federal resources; updates on the latest federal travel restrictions; and previous university communications about the virus and other information. Additionally CDC information (including Spanish resources) can be found here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/communication/factsheets.html 

OSU employees and students should observe 'stay at home' order: https://leadership.oregonstate.edu/covid-19/updates/osu-employees-and-students-should-observe-%E2%80%98stay-home%E2%80%99-order-march-23-2020
 

Today in the News Media

Today in the News Media is a synopsis of some of the most prominent coverage of OSU people and programs. Inclusion of any item constitutes neither an endorsement nor a critique, but rather is intended only to make the OSU community aware of significant items in the media. Content appearing includes timely news and feature stories from broadcast, print and online sources. Occasionally, opinion pieces and first-person columns appearing in mainstream media outlets that are written by faculty members and pertain to their academic or professional expertise may be included based on their unique, informative value, timeliness and space constraints. It is not the policy of OSU Today to include Letters to the Editor. 
 

Put on pants (and more) to cope with physical distancing (Psychology Today)

A piece by OSU's Regan Gurung.
 

OSU offers 'Punch Through Pandemics' course for students, public (KTVZ)

As the most basic elements of daily life become uncertain amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a team of professors in Oregon State University’s School of Psychological Science has put together a new course that helps explain what’s happening in our brains and offers some evidence-based coping skills. (see also Oregonian)
 

SAT, ACT scores optional for freshmen admission at Oregon public universities (KPTV)

“More than 1,000 four-year universities and colleges, including almost 400 top-tier four-year universities and colleges, have either abandoned standardized testing altogether or now provide students the option to take such tests,” according to Oregon State University. (see also KOINBend Bulletin)
 

Social distancing slowing not only Covid-19, but other disease too (Quartz)

Historically, Kinsa’s methods have been able to account for a sharp rise in the number of people taking tests, said Benjamin Dalziel, a professor at Oregon State University who studies infectious diseases. For his research, Dalziel has ensured that a spike in testing didn’t lead to inaccurate predictions, and so he believes the current decline in illness is a result of social distancing, and not a statistical anomaly. (Dalziel has had research funded by Kinsa in the past).
 

Connecting with nature, even just looking out the window, can reduce stress and anxiety (KGW)

"It's probably more important than ever that when people are pretty clustered up in their homes or their apartments... to be getting outdoors," said Ryan Reese, an assistant professor of counseling at Oregon State University Cascades.
 

Providers, insurers brace for virus financial fallout (Lund Report)

Hospitals, of course, bill insurance companies. And if many of the patients are on Medicare, the federal government would bear much of the cost, said Jeff Luck, an associate professor of health management at Oregon State University.

OSU Master Gardener Program offers free vegetable course (KLCC)
With “Stay at Home” orders in place more people are finding themselves with extra time on their hands, and an interest in growing their own food. In response, Oregon State University’s Extension Program is offering a free course to get folks started.

 

Today's photo


Today’s workspace: "Using social distancing to catch up on score studying for next term." Erik Leung, OSU 
director of bands. Send your home workspace photos to [email protected].

Today

Please be aware that in this quickly shifting environment, some events may be cancelled at the last minute and updates may not have been provided to OSU Today in time. 

NEW! Working From Home: Things You Need to Know: With the COVID-19 outbreak, many employees are finding themselves working from home for extended periods of time. Whether this is new for you, or something you do all the time, it’s important to be aware of how to prevent the risks that could lead to problems later on down the road. We’ll share some tips on how to properly set up your own personal remote workstation, how to stay connected with your team, and how to stay sane. March 26, 2 p.m. Link: https://ehs.oregonstate.edu/announcement/working-home-things-you-need-know

Free Virtual Nutrition Counseling: Help the OSU dietetic interns get their internship hours so they can stay on track to graduate and join the healthcare workforce as Registered Dietitians. We’re offering 1:1 virtual counseling sessions over Zoom starting Monday, March 23. Contact Michelle Bump at [email protected] if you’re interested with a time/day you’re available.

Support for Faculty on Remote Teaching: Open online training sessions are available March 23-27 to all faculty. Topics include teaching remotely with Zoom and Canvas, recording lectures, preparing course material, academic honesty in remote instruction, and more. See the schedule for live sessions, open Q&A, and recordings on OSU’s Keep Teaching site. Questions? Email [email protected].
 

Events

Board of Trustees: The OSU Board of Trustees will meet from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Friday, April 3, to consider tuition rates, mandatory fees and student incidental fees for the 2020-21 academic year and summer session 2020. The board also will consider public safety and enforcement programming at OSU’s Corvallis campus, the university’s biennial capital funding request to the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, updates to the educator equity plan required by state statute, the creation of schools within the College of Business, and other reports. The board will receive updates on the university’s COVID-19 response and on Oregon’s most recent legislative session. The board will hold an executive session pursuant to ORS 192.660(2)(d) to conduct deliberations with persons designated by the governing body to carry on labor negotiations. Given current COVID-19 guidance from the Governor’s Office, as well as university and health officials, the meeting will be hosted through a remote conferencing service. Members of the public can join the meeting by calling the toll-free number or connecting via the weblink provided on the agenda. The Finance & Administration Committee will meet from 8:30-9:45 a.m. that same day. Options for providing comments, agendas and meeting materials will be posted as they are available at http://oregonstate.edu/leadership/trustees/meetings. For accommodations: (541) 737-3449 or [email protected] at least 48 hours in advance.

Lectures, Workshops, Webinars

NEW! Punch Through Pandemics spring course open to students, public: Punch Through Pandemics is brought to you by Oregon State University's School of Psychological Science. This course is designed to harness the rich tools afforded by psychology to address the current and novel situation we are facing with COVID-19. The PSY 499 course is led by Dr. Kathy Becker-Blease, Dr. Regan A.R. Gurung, and Kate Gallagher. Students can enroll in an Ecampus or Corvallis section for credit, or sign up for the free public version through Canvas. Members of the public can also sign up for free. For more information, go to https://www.punchcovid19.com/.

InnovationX resource updates: All regularly scheduled programming offered by the InnovationX Center of Excellence for Innovation and Entrepreneurship will be provided remotely this term. Join us for a brief webinar and Q&A session to learn more: Friday, March 27, 10 a.m. Faculty, staff and students are invited. Contact Michelle Marie with any questions.(Portland). Meeting ID: 219 169 2947

Health and Community Building Webinars: Join the Adventure Leadership Institute as we host several webinars around adventure, health and community building topics during the age of social distancing. Click the links to register: Hiking in the Age of Social Distancing, April 1 at 3 p.mNature and Health, April 7 at 5 p.m., and Community Building in the Age of COVID-19, April 15 at 3 p.m. Check out more of our webinars offered Spring term here. Questions? Contact Emily Abrams.

FSF online classes: Faculty Staff Fitness is now hosting online classes. Programs offered will include strength/weight training, gentle exercise, cardio kickboxing, swim land training, pilates and yoga, which will be tailored to your home environment with household equipment. $20 for an unlimited three-month package. Register here, and receive an invitation to join the page. New content will be added throughout the term to supplement your well-being while being away from your usual fitness routine. If you were already registered for Spring 2020 Faculty Staff Fitness classes, you have two options: Email [email protected] and let us know that you want to sign up for our Online FSF programming and receive an account credit with the rest of your registration for future classes, or receive a full refund by emailing [email protected]. Contact Dee Gillen with questions about online classes or your account.

STEM Academy: STEM Academy is hosting a broad range of STEM Summer Day Camps from mid-June through early-August for students who will be entering 3rd-12th grades in the Fall of 2020. Registration for the summer program is open. Topics include: Transportation, Color Innovation, Coding, iINVENT, Web Design, Engineering, Computer Graphics, Cybersecurity, Biochemistry, Sketch Up, Computational Biology, Drones, Powered Machines, Science Exploration, Lego Robotics, Wildlife Science, and Computational Mystery of Board Games. For more information, or to register online, please visit http://stemacademy.oregonstate.edu. For questions, call 541-737-8139 or email [email protected]. Scholarships available for many camps.

Take Note

NEW! Support for Faculty on Remote Teaching: Open online training sessions are available March 23-27 to all faculty. Topics include teaching remotely with Zoom and Canvas, recording lectures, preparing course material, academic honesty in remote instruction, and more. See the schedule for live sessions, open Q&A, and recordings on OSU’s Keep Teaching site. Questions? Email [email protected].

NEW! Teaching Faculty — eSET Winter 2020 Reports now available. To access your individual Student Evaluation of Teaching (eSET) reports, use this link: https://adminfo.ucsadm.oregonstate.edu/prod/twbkwbis.P_WWWLogin?ret_code=E. Your ONID username and password are needed to access eSET. Once on the eSET page, your reports may be viewed by clicking the PDF and/or Excel icon under the heading, "Rating, Comments, Responses and Instructor Reports." For additional information, please see the eSET Faculty FAQs. You may also contact Tam Belknap, assessment coordinator and analyst, at [email protected] for assistance.

NEW! List of K-12 earth sciences online learning resources now available: OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences has curated a list of online resources including map exploration, learning apps, and lesson plans for families to learn about Earth sciences together at home. Click here for more information.

Surplus Pickups Suspended; Department Sales Continue: While OSUsed Store public sales are canceled until further notice, employees may shop for their departments weekdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at 644 SW 13th Street. Pick-ups and drop-offs of surplus property cannot be accepted until further notice. To address critical/emergency issues, please call 541-737-7341 on weekdays 9 a.m.-1 p.m.

Recycling Moving to On Call Service: OSU Corvallis campus buildings will now receive recycling collection on call only; all collection requests must be submitted in the form of an online service request. All residence halls and cardboard collection will be collected on a regular schedule. For questions please call the OSU Materials Management Warehouse at 541-737-7347.

Remote Teaching Canvas Template Available Faculty have access to a new Canvas course template that can be imported into empty Canvas course sites to help instructors rapidly prepare for Spring courses. The template homepage provides directions for use. Questions? Contact [email protected]

OSU Beaver Store physical space closes: With the Governor's order regarding Oregon businesses and social distancing, the OSU Beaver Store will have no choice but to close our campus store to the public, effective as of the end of business on Tuesday, March 24. The minimum social distancing requirements for customers mandated within the order can not be maintained within our store once spring term begins, particularly in our course material aisles. While our stores will be temporarily closed to the public, we will remain open as an online-only retailer to serve the needs of OSU students and faculty for spring term. All OSU course materials are available at osubeaverstore.com for electronic delivery (when in digital format), shipment, or pick-up at our campus store's outdoor service counter. There is ample outdoor space at our service counter adjacent to Dutch Bros. for social distancing and on-campus pick-up of your online orders.

OSU Libraries building closures: Public access to the Valley Library (Corvallis campus) and the Guin Library (Hatfield Marine Science Center) is suspended indefinitely. Digital services will be used to support remote teaching and research, and the libraries will focus on delivering materials to all OSU students, staff and faculty on campus and off-campus. Contact Valley Library through email, text, phone or chat to make arrangements. Contact Guin Library at [email protected]. For more info, go to http://library.oregonstate.edu/ or https://guides.library.oregonstate.edu/coronavirus.

Health & Safety: The University Health & Safety Committee would like to recommend employees who are working from home review SAIF online resources at https://www.saif.com/safety-and-health/home-office-safety.html with six tips for home office safety.

OSU Folk Club/Thrift Shop changes the deadline for non-traditional women scholarships due to revised OSU Financial Aid Review Process: Submission Deadline is now Friday, May 1. The Scholarship Committee is accepting applications from non-traditional women (age 30 or older, who will be attending OSU full-time or part-time in 2020-2021 pursuing their first undergraduate degree). Students must be U.S. citizens and residents of Benton County, Linn County or Monmouth or Independence in Polk County. Principal criteria are financial need and academic merit. These $3,000 awards ($1,500 for part-time) are made possible by the work of the OSU Folk Club Thrift Shop in Corvallis. Applications are available online at https://osufolk.oregonstate.edu.

COVID-19 cyber scams: Concern about COVID-19 has opened an opportunity for cyber actors to take advantage and conduct email fraud. Members of the OSU Community have been targeted with cell phone account scams — asking for cell numbers, likely to take over the provided number — and with email scams. If you see any suspicious emails, please send to [email protected]. For more information about the cell phone account scam, see https://uit.oregonstate.edu/ois/cell-phone-account-fraud

Traffic & Maintenance

POSTPONED - PLANNED POWER OUTAGE: The planned power outage along SW Jefferson Way scheduled for March 26-28 has been postponed. The work requires crews to work in confined spaces, which is not recommended during the COVID-19 response. Our priority is to maintain university operations while seeking to reduce the spread and transmission of COVID-19. Updates can be found at powergrid.oregonstate.edu.

UPDATED! Transportation Services: Effective immediately, any valid OSU parking permit may be used in any zone (All A, B, C and R lots) until further notice. Please observe all other signs, as these still apply. Until further notice the Beaver Bus will not be running. The Transportation Services office in Adams Hall is currently closed to the public, but Transportation Services is still offering direct customer service through their online portal, telephone and email during normal business hours, 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Please go online to purchase parking permits or pay citations. 

30th Street closure: Work is scheduled to take place along SW 30th Street and Washington Way for repairs associated with a campus steam vault. Southbound SW 30th Street will be closed from 6 a.m. on Monday, March 23 to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 25, and again from 6 a.m. on Monday, March 30 to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 31. View the map for detour information. For questions or comments on this closure, contact Construction Manager Jason Lundy at 541-270-0193.

Weather

"Instead of looking at the past, I put myself ahead twenty years and try to look at what I need to do now in order to get there then.” ~ Diana Ross, who turns 76 today.

Corvallis: Partly sunny today, high of 52, low of 37. Rain tomorrow.

Central Oregon: Sunny today, high of 49, low of 27. Partly cloudy tomorrow.

Newport: Mostly cloudy today, high of 48, low of 39. Rain tomorrow.

Statewide: For OSU employees around the state, find your local forecast here: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/