{"id":2120,"date":"2026-02-18T21:04:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T21:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/science\/?p=2120"},"modified":"2026-03-13T21:08:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T21:08:32","slug":"february-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/science\/newsletter\/february-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"February 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n
\n
\"College<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
\n

Research<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Honors<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

News<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\n

Events<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Smiling<\/span>
\n
\n
\n

Words from the Dean<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

February 202<\/strong>6<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Words from the Dean<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

February 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear Colleagues, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are good things happening in our College and at OSU that I want to make sure everyone has noticed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, the federal funding picture is looking much better than we feared, with Congress restoring much funding to NIH and at least some areas of NSF. And it seems unlikely that the threatened reduction of indirect rates to 15% will really happen. Much remains to be seen, of course, but the continuing congressional interest in funding science is reassuring. Kudos to all of our faculty who have kept submitting and kept submitting through the last year – it is paying off with some very high success rates on grants across the College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the student side, we\u2019ve seen some encouraging outcomes that are potentially attributable to all of the new student success initiatives. We are settling into the new advising model, the new Core Education, and the new first-year retention routines. Retention rates from fall to winter are up slightly, and the number of students who had a rough fall academically seems to be down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As everyone probably knows by now, my favorite thing in the student success space is the Transitions course, which is an unparalleled opportunity to give new students both social connection and concrete academic and life skills. I had a blast teaching it once I got over the hump of learning all the GradeScope and Canvas tricks, and I\u2019m looking forward to doing it again next year. We\u2019re looking now for a crew to teach Transitions next year – faculty, advisors, and other student-facing folks are all welcome.<\/strong> An email with details went out earlier this week, but let me or Liz Gire know if you have questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something else that feels like a big win right now in the student realm is that we were able to use Foundation funds to support five proposals submitted in December to the College\u2019s Equity Projects proposal process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n