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Winter term 2022 kicked off with the New Year as we opened our doors on New Year’s Day so students could return to on-campus housing and prepare for the start of winter term. We welcomed back a robust number of residents who were excited to start the new year and the new with us in Housing.  

Even with COVID-19 continuing to be a concern, Housing and Residence Life was able to bring back in a limited manner a traditional event for winter term, hosting Tech Con 2022. Students had a chance to gather in small groups in the College Union to play video games, board games, casino games, and more! This event is always hosted over the long weekend in January to give students a chance to re-connect, enjoy the company of their peers, and perhaps learn a new game or two! We hosted over 100 students each day, all enjoying various games and the chance to hang out and earn tickets to go towards prizes. 

Winter term also saw Grocery Bingo come back for our campus residents to enjoy a game of bingo attempting to earn toiletries and dry goods as prizes. This event along with Jewelry Making part two, grilling in the Quad and root beer floats are just some of the activities on-campus students have participated in this term. And students have been good about making sure to continue to uphold our current COVID-19 precautions by wearing a face covering appropriately, frequently washing their hands, and maintaining distancing practices when in larger groups to help keep our residential community safe.

February saw the return of David Coleman to campus. David joins us each winter term to talk about relationships of all kinds-friends, roommates, dating relationships, and family! This in-person event is a highlight of winter term, and helps students remember that a kind word or gesture can go a long way to help someone else, and they learn fun ways to show someone they care while being thoughtful of COVID-19.

Winter term also brings on hiring season for Housing and Residence Life. Students are in the thick of their work applying to join the 2022-2023 Residence Life staff as an RA or an SSM, and more opportunities to join the team are coming out soon! We are gearing up to host our summer 2022 student staff recruitment process. In early spring, we will host our application process to fill open student positions at the Service Desks and  student workers in the Housing Office.  If your student is looking for an on-campus job, encourage them to check out the Career Services webpage as all current and future openings to work on campus and in Housing and Residence Life are posted there!

Winter term also hosts the kickoff for students to apply to live on campus for the 2022-2023 academic year. The application to live on campus is live now at www.oit.edu/housing. If your student is planning to live on on-campus for the upcoming year, consider applying soon as we expect a record year with a lot of interest in living on campus. Please visit www.oit.edu/housing to check out the rates, and terms and conditions of the upcoming year academic contracts. A spot in on-campus housing is guaranteed to all completed applications received on or before May 1, 2022. As a bonus, current residents do not have to pay the $100 deposit or the $50 application fee since they are current residents! And current residents who complete the housing and meal plan contracts get the first chance to Choose My Room, opening in late April! This program allows students to choose the place they want to call home for the 2022-23 academic year.
 
If you have any questions about on-campus housing, please contact us at 541-885-1094 or email us at housing@oit.edu.

Lessons from the COVID Front Lines

Looking back over the past two years, everything is a blur. Things are organized in my mind as being PC (Pre-COVID; which honestly is a bit hazy for me as I’m sure it is for you as well), and everything else that has happened since. Working with COVID-related issues in the face of the pandemic has been challenging to be sure, but has not been without positive repercussions, as well. Here are the things that I would like to pass along as lessons learned from the “front lines.”

•    It matters how you treat people – We have known this for quite some time as human beings, but this sentiment seems to have fallen to the wayside over the past several years. Yes, we are all stressed; yes, we are all experiencing COVID-fatigue; yes, we are on edge; but in the end, it matters how we treat others. It can make the biggest difference. Some people react poorly when we call to conduct contact tracing or notify them of an exposure. We understand that it can be an inconvenience, and a potentially scary situation, but ultimately, we are trying to keep our campus community as safe as possible. There are instances of negativity, but the conversations that stick with me – the ones I can recall quite clearly – are the moments when students (and yes, even employees) express gratitude at the work we’re doing, or even offer a brief word of encouragement. Those are the calls that re-energize me and remind me that it’s all worth it.

•    We do not exist in our own bubble – Despite the global economy and the internet bringing the world to our front door, the pandemic has significantly increased the sense of isolation among us. The shut-down was probably the worst of it, but many people fail to recognize that sense of alone-ness has lingered. There is no doubt that the mental health strain that our students are now showing has its roots in the various impacts of COVID. This has led, in some ways, to the idea that we all co-exist in our own bubbles; side by side, maybe, but never really impacting others. If there is one thing that contact tracing has shown us, it is that we are interconnected. Seeing the bird’s eye view that my vantage point provides, it is undeniable – even though we may feel alone, there are inevitably other lives that we touch. The ripple effect magnifies those connections. From a COVID-perspective that’s not so great, but from a human perspective it’s rather beautiful.

•    We are more similar than we think – COVID is non-partisan; it is not prejudiced; it does not care about SES, race, educational background, or pronoun choice. So, in working with students and employees who have had an exposure, are symptomatic, or have tested positive, I have had the opportunity to interact with quite the variety of people. When it comes down to it, we all share common joys, fears, a distaste for uncertainty, and concern for our friends and families. During stressful situations we learn the most about a person’s true qualities, and that certainly applies to how people react to the pandemic. We may disagree about how to proceed (Should we continue wearing face coverings after the law is changed? Should we continue on-campus surveillance testing?), but at the heart of it is a desire to stay safe, provide a positive environment for the campus community, and do the best that we can in a less-than-ideal situation.

So, what am I asking of you, as parents? If you could remind your student of the above lessons learned and encourage them to keep making healthy choices, I think it might go quite a long way. And maybe you can use this as your own teachable moment to pass along some wisdom of your own!

WINTER 2022

3/18/22	Final Payment Plan payment due (or ANY remaining balance)
3/18/22	Last Day of Winter Term
3/21/22	Interest assessed on balances over 30 days@ 1%/month
3/21/22	Late fees assessed on accounts with past due balances greater than $99*
3/21/22	Final Winter Statements generated (available on CASHNet Mar. 22)
3/21-25/22	No Classes - SPRING BREAK

SPRING 2022

3/21/22	Spring Term Statements generated (available on Transact Payments Mar.22)
3/24/22	Financial Aid begins disbursing to students' accounts
3/28/22	Spring Term classes begin
4/8/22	Last day to drop courses for 100% refund (Deadline is 5:00 p.m. PDT/PST)
4/8/22	Full Spring Term balance due or 1st Payment Plan payment (at least 1/3 of balance)
4/11/22	Holds placed on accounts for students that failed to pay balance due or 1st payment plan payment
4/15/22	Statements generated (available on Transact Payments Apr. 18)
4/15/22	Last day to drop courses for 50% refund (Deadline is 5:00 p.m. PDT/PST)
4/22/22	Last day to drop course for 25% refund (Deadline is 5:00 p.m. PDT/PST)
4/25/22	Processing of refunds due to students for dropped courses begins this week
4/29/22	2nd Payment Plan payment due (second 1/3 of balance due)
5/2/22	Holds placed on payment plan accounts for students that failed to make 2nd payment plan payment
5/16/22	Late Fees assessed on accounts with balances greater than $99*
5/16/22	Interest assessed on balances over 30 days @ 1%/month
5/16/22	Statements generated (available on Transact Payments May. 17)
6/10/22	Final Payment Plan payment due (or ANY remaining balance)
6/10/22	Last day of Spring Term
6/13/22	Late fees assessed on accounts with past due balances greater than $99*
6/13/22	Interest assessed on balances over 30 days @ 1%/month
6/13/22	Final Spring Statements generated (available on Transact Payments June 14)
*Only one late fee per student per term will be charged.

Spring Term 2022

Date	Event
Mar 28	Classes begin
Apr 1	Last day to use Web for Student for all registration changes
Apr 8	Tuition and Fees due
Apr 8	Last day to drop without a 'W'* must request by 5pm
Apr 8	Last day to register without late charge
May 2	Registration for Summer Term
May 9-19	Registration for Fall Term
May 13	Last day to withdraw from an individual course*
May 30	Memorial Day holiday
Jun 3	Last day to completely withdraw
Jun 6-9	Final Exams week
Jun 10	Spring Term ends
Jun 11	Klamath Falls Commencement
Jun 12	Portland-Metro Commencement
Jun 14	Seattle Commencement

Each year the ˿����Ƶ Tech Alumni Association hosts alumni, students, faculty, and staff at a Portland Trailblazers basketball game. This year’s event is on Friday, March 25, 2022 at 6PM. Thanks to a devoted sponsor, guests will enjoy a private pre-game reception in the Moda Center before heading to their seats to watch the game. The discounted ticket price is $45 per person. Seats are limited so

Peer Consulting is a completely FREE academic support service available to all students at ˿����Ƶ Tech. The consultants who work at Peer Consulting are your student’s peers and have taken the same classes your student has and have earned a 3.0 or greater.

Peer Consulting services boost your student’s learning and help them reach their academic goals. It also encourages your student to discuss academic content and talk about their understanding of that content with another person. And Peer Consulting assists with assignment comprehension and knowledge retention. 

What we offer:

• Scheduled individual or group tutoring appointments
• Drop-in Tutoring
• Supplemental Instruction study sessions
• Help with Math, Physics, Computer Science, Engineering, Writing, and more

We are also continuing to add Supplemental Instruction (SI) courses to our Peer Consulting offering. SI incorporates a student SI leader into historically difficult courses. SI leaders are juniors or seniors who have previously completed the course with a 3.0 or better. SI leaders attend class lectures and collaborate with faculty to provide at least one study session each week for their class. The mission of SI is to increase academic success by providing a collaborative learning environment to help students strengthen their foundational knowledge, improve study skills, and foster critical thinking.
In addition to peer tutoring, we also offer:

• Expert online tutoring through TutorMe. With TutorMe, students can connect with a live tutor in under 30 seconds for over 300 subjects, 24 hours a day 7 days a week – FOR FREE! Their network of over 10,000 tutors is ready to help with any question, no matter how big or small.  
• Students will be connected to an online tutor from TutorMe by clicking on the TutorMe tile located on their TECHweb account.  TutorMe also provides writing assistance.

Peer Consulting in Klamath Falls: Located in the main library.
Winter Term Hours: Monday – Friday 9am-5pm
Questions: peerconsulting@oit.edu or call 541-885-1790

Peer Consulting in Portland-Metro: Located on the 4th Floor.
Winter Term Hours: Monday - Wednesday (10am-6pm), Thursday (12:30pm – 5:00 pm), Friday (1pm-6pm).
Questions: portland@oit.edu or call 503-821-1250.

Students may drop-in or schedule appointments through our online scheduler accessed via the Student Resources tab in TECHweb.

Career Services is excited to announce the return of on-campus Career Fairs!
 

After some successful in-person Winter Information Sessions hosted by employers such as Boeing, Siemens, and HP, we are thrilled to bring some larger and more energizing events to campus this spring.
 
On April 7th, from 1-4pm, Career Services will be hosting an Engineering & Technology Career Fair on our Portland/Metro (Wilsonville) campus. A-Dec, Garmin, Qorvo, and Power Engineers are just a small sampling of employers who plan on attending. Our second Engineering & Technology Career Fair will take place on our Klamath Falls campus on April 14th from 1-4 pm. This fair will include employers such as Black & Veatch, Garmin, Hamilton Company, Jeld-Wen, and more!
 
While we are excited to be hosting events on-campus, some of our majors really benefited from Virtual Career Fairs. We will be hosting a Virtual Business, Government and Nonprofit Career Fair on April 13th from 1-4 pm, with employers such as Interfor and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
 
Career Fairs are open to students from all grade levels, from Freshman to Senior and beyond. Opportunities for both Internships and Jobs exist. Students are strongly encouraged to take advantage of all the Prepare for the Fair workshops and events leading up to the Career Fairs, including resume reviews. Tips and tricks on standing out and landing an interview can be found on our Canvas course, titled Internship and Job Search Resources, which can be found at oit.edu/career-services. 
 
Students can register for the Career Fairs, register for Prepare for the Fair workshops or events, or schedule a one-on-one appointment with a Career Services professional on our student job board, Handshake at oit.joinhandshake.com. Handshake is also an excellent place for students to find and apply for both on-campus and off-campus jobs and internships. Students are highly encouraged to utilize this tool by completing a student profile and uploading their resume, as the job postings on this board are highly relevant to ˿����Ƶ Tech students.

On our Klamath Falls campus, we'll also be hosting a Professional Etiquette Dinner on May 4th from 5-8pm. Students can expect a four-course meal, along with a number of speakers on a variety of subjects related to professionalism, especially focused on meal-time interviews. Students can also register for this event on Handshake. 
 
And last but certainly not least, Career Services is thrilled to announce the addition of two new staff members! Taylor Burke has joined the team as the Director of Career Services, and Desiré Wooten has joined the team as the Assistant Director of Career Services. Both of them have been a wonderful addition to the Career Services team.  
 

Each month, the alumni newsletter and website feature an Alumni Spotlight story, highlighting alumni doing great things in their careers and for their communities. These exemplary models of ˿����Ƶ Tech graduates bring us so much pride and are inspiring for current and future students. Recently we featured , married alumni who work in healthcare and in video production; , an international student who completed his Master’s in Renewable Energy Engineering and just published his first book, who started his own on-demand manufacturing shop, and who just ended her reign as Miss ˿����Ƶ and is doing great things with her radiologic science degree.

It’s that time of year when we seek nominations for our annual alumni awards. These awards are presented during the Student and Alumni Awards Brunch in June and include the categories of Distinguished Alumni, Scientific Achievement, Recent Alumni Achievement, Alumni Spirit, Outstanding Alumni Veteran and Honorary Alumni. If you know an ˿����Ƶ Tech graduate who is worthy of receiving one of these awards, we invite you to submit a nomination today. For details on award criteria, previous recipients, and to submit a nomination, please

Mark Your Calendar for April 20, 2022

We're gearing up for ˿����Ƶ Tech's 3rd Annual Give A Hoot Day on 4-20-2022! It's a 24-hour fundraising extravaganza when Owls everywhere join together in support of their personal passion for the people, programs, and projects at ˿����Ƶ.  

Battle of the Decades 
Once again, ˿����Ƶ Tech's alumni will duke it out to see which decade has the most donors during Give A Hoot Day! To be a Decade Champion and help promote giving among your fellow alums, contact Rebecca Burkeen, Alumni Relations Manager, at 503-821-1145, or Rebecca.Burkeen@oit.edu.

Give a Hoot Day

The ˿����Ƶ Tech Foundation and are here to show support for your students! Through initiatives that fund priorities such as academics, classroom upgrades, student projects, faculty development, capital projects, athletics, and scholarships, we work to further the goals of the University and enrich the educational experience for all students, supporting the greatest needs of the University. 

Our job at the Foundation is to support the mission of ˿����Ƶ Tech, especially students. One of the ways in which we strive to do so is through our scholarship program. This year we are thrilled to have awarded over $875,000 in scholarships to very deserving students, helping each one get another step closer to achieving their degrees and their dreams. This means that over 300 students will have a brighter future, a boost in morale, and a vote of confidence. These opportunities are made possible through the generosity of individuals, including faculty, staff, alumni, students, industry partners and community members, and foundations, organizations, and businesses who believe in our exceptional students.

The Foundation’s first scholarship award process for the 2022-2023 academic year just wrapped up with over $586,000 in scholarship awards made for next year. Many more students will receive renewals of their existing scholarships, increasing their likelihood of retention and success.

Applications for the 2022-2023 ˿����Ƶ Tech Foundation scholarship program will open again for a second award process this summer, and details will be available through the Financial Aid Office. We hope you will encourage your student to apply! For more information regarding the scholarship program or the ˿����Ƶ Tech Foundation, please contact Mira Wonderwheel at 541.851.5679 or mira.wonderwheel@oit.edu.

HEERF 3/ARP
Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds / American Rescue Plan Funds (ARP)- The Financial Aid office again this year has HEERF funds to award to students for the 2021-22 award year. As of 2/15/2022 we have awarded  $2,534,730.  For summer term, ARP funds were awarded to the top neediest students as demonstrated by their EFC (admitted, matriculated, good standing.)  For fall term, $500 mini grants were awarded to admitted matriculated students in 6 credits or more. For winter term, Pell eligible students were given $1,200 (admitted, in good standing, matriculated and in 6 credits or more.) 

Professional Judgment Notification
Students were sent an email in January letting them  know that the Financial Aid Office has the ability to update income information on the FAFSA if it no longer represents their current financial circumstances, since the 2021-22 FAFSA uses income and tax data from the 2019 calendar year.  

Students were told if they believed that 2020 or 2021 income is a more accurate representation of their household financial circumstances, FA can review your 2020 or 2021 household income to see if the overall reduction in income might result in any additional financial aid eligibility, as determined by the FAFSA.  There would need to be a large difference to make an impact. 

Financial Aid Awarding 22-23
Financial Aid award notifications for the 2022-2023 award year will be processed in March. Please have your student check their ˿����Ƶ Tech email for a request for more information or for a notice of award. Please note ˿����Ƶ Tech Foundation scholarships and Leadership and Diversity scholarships will not have been decided when initial awards are sent. 

Owls’ Worth Financial Literacy Program

Each term the Owls’ Worth program puts on financial literacy sessions on a variety of topics. Scholarship drawings and food (when possible) are included with many sessions. , including recordings of previous sessions and upcoming events.

Led by the Student Involvement & Belonging (SIB) team, ˿����Ƶ Tech honored Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy by inviting our community members to serve in various ways. Each year, SIB will promote their service events with a themed quotation from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

January 17th was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and ˿����Ƶ Tech decided to dedicate the week of January 17th to the 21st to doing service for our greater community. Klamath Falls and Portland-Metro campus participated in the first annual MLK Week of Service. On the Klamath Falls campus, MLK Week of Service offered a variety of opportunities for students to get involved with giving back to their community. The Klamath Falls campus hosted a weeklong winter clothing drive along with activities like tie-blanket making and hygiene kits building. We had several donations to our clothing driving and students created 14 tie-blankets and over 100 hygiene kits. The SIB office worked with two local shelters to give the donations collected through the week of service, Integral Youth Services and the Klamath Falls Gospel Mission Center.

At the Portland-Metro campus, SIB hosted a table where folks could assemble a hygiene kit donated to a local homeless shelter.

Winter Student Involvement Expo Klamath Falls

On January 6th Student Involvement and Belonging (SIB) and ˿����Ƶ Tech’s student government group, Associated Student of ˿����Ƶ (ASOIT), hosted the Winter Student Involvement Expo. Student clubs and programs along with student services departments gathered together in a tabling event to provide students with many opportunities to connect and become involved on ˿����Ƶ Tech’s Klamath Falls campus. Along with 18 student clubs, four departments on campus collaborated with the SIB and ASOIT to make this involvement expo bigger than the last. We were lucky enough to even have Hootie the Owl show up to the event as well!

Portland-Metro Clubs Fair

ASOIT Portland-Metro (student government) hosted their second Clubs Fair of the year. All students were encouraged to vote for the club that had the most engaging display, their favorite club, and what club they would like to join if they had more spare time. ASOIT was thrilled to report that every active organization at the PM campus received at least one vote and interest in a new musician's club was gathered. ASOIT provided snacks, funded by student Incidental Fees, as welcome back to campus. ASOIT provides free snack foods and coffee from their office every week day. 

 

New Student Programs has had an amazing Fall 2021 Term, with over 300 new students it feels great to have everyone back on campus. We started off the term having 20 plus students participate in our S.O.A.R.-ing to Success program. This program was created based on the ˿����Ƶ Community Foundation grant focused on creating a bridge program that would help historically underrepresented groups succeed on campus. We had some exciting outcomes from the program especially seeing that 95% of the students who participated were retained from fall to winter term. As we continued into Winter Term, we started off with Hootie's Winter Wonderland which allowed students to participate in different organization's events throughout the first week of school. We love celebrating our favorite Hustlin' Owl, Hootie, who (or perhaps we should say hoo) looks forward to seeing what our new students can accomplish throughout the rest of the year!

The Student Involvement and Belonging Office is now offering a new leadership and cultural competency development program available to all students called Wing Shop! Wing Shop is a series of workshops that give students an opportunity to develop skills and competencies that will not only help students become successful in their career(s) but in their personal lives as well. These Wing Shops are geared around the importance of leadership and cultural competency. The workshops consist of virtual and in-person workshops that are centered around five themes: Civic and Cultural Engagement, Cognitive Complexity, Interpersonal Competency, Intrapersonal Development, and Practical Skills. 

We have already had two Wing Shops take place, Leadership 101 and Flying through Diversity. Our final Wing Shop for the Winter term will take place on March 8th at 3 PM. This workshop will be hosted by Zach Jones. This event will be held online and in person on the Klamath Falls campus. 

˿����Ƶ Tech’s Hustlin’ Owls have been busy this term and extremely successful. Follow the links for full stories.

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