by Bria Kettenhofen and Bonnie Hemrick

Background and Scope of the Mental Health Improvement Project

Oregon State University’s (OSU) Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) was approached by the College of Engineering (COE) to engage in a collaborative effort to assess and create an action plan to improve the mental health of COE students. Starting in Fall 2022, CAPS has participated in a collaborative project with COE to complete a thorough needs assessment, which informed the creation of an action plan to improve on three focus areas of impact. The collaborative effort to create the Mental Health Improvement Plan concluded as of January 2024, with a recommended implementation and assessment to occur over the following three years.

The scope of the project was to collect and analyze existing and newly collected data to understand the experiences and challenges of students in COE and determine an action plan to guide efforts to improve the mental health of COE students. Risk and protective factors which were associated with mental health challenges in OSU’s COE students were determined based off surveys, facilitated focus groups, and ongoing dialogue and engagement with an Advisory Board (AB).

Advisory Board Makeup, Collaboration, and Guidance

A diverse Advisory Board was formed and consisted of COE students, COE administration, COE faculty, COE academic advisors, and other key OSU stakeholders. The AB was involved at the outset of the COE Mental Health Improvement Project, meeting weekly during the 2022-2023 academic year (AY) and Fall 2023 to collaboratively create needs assessment data collection tools, interpret themes from analysis, and provide perspective on the culture and policies of COE. Five COE students from various majors, lived experiences, and extracurricular involvement served as active members of the AB alongside OSU Faculty and staff, to center the student voice and perspective, and keep the student experience central to the project activities and decision making.

Maintaining student participation in the AB was one of the primary goals of the Mental Health Improvement Project. The AB was frequently consulted with relating to the needs assessment content and logistics, and the goal was for efforts to reflect the genuine student perspective and experience in COE.

What We Learned and What We Can Take Forward

The process of including an Advisory Board made up of subject matter experts, COE Faculty and staff, and students with lived experiences proved to be invaluable to the COE Mental Health Improvement Project. This suggests that this process could be duplicated in other colleges and communities which could benefit from informed and intentional intervention and advisement. Upon the culmination of the COE Mental Health Improvement Project, it became evident that the completion and fidelity of this community assessment was only made possible through active stakeholder engagement and involvement at all levels of the institution, from students to college leaders. Foundational to this endeavor was the buy-in from administrators in COE, as the leadership at COE was catalyst for this multi-year needs assessment effort.

Throughout the data collection, analysis, and interpretation phases of the project, COE administrators were provided updates and reports detailing the extensive efforts of the AB. After careful review and evaluation, the AB identified three priority areas for impact:

• Academic Practices
  • Practices in the classroom, on Canvas, during advising, or relating to an academic obligation of a course. Such practices include group work requirements, universal flexibilities around deadlines, discussion requirements, exams, and assignments.
• COE Culture & Classroom Climate Practices
  • The current attitudes, behaviors, and standards of faculty, staff, and administrators that influence the culture in COE. The shared beliefs, behaviors, and attitudes of students and teaching faculty in the classroom setting which determine the ways in which students interact and learn.
• Personal Well-being
  • How to address individual level well-being; how to teach students about mental health and supportive practices for their personal well-being.



COE administrators continuously demonstrated an openness to shift practices, policies, and embed health education throughout the curriculum and culture in COE, which made the project possible. With an engaging and open partnership between CAPS and COE, the COE Mental Health Improvement Project demonstrates that similar efforts can be undertaken at other colleges and institutions with the support and intentional buy-in from administrators.

If you have any additional questions about the COE Mental Health Improvement Project, please reach out to Bonnie Hemrick (Bonnie.Hemrick@oregonstate.edu).