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).

by Dr. Adam Lenz, Coordinator of Supplemental Instruction

As professional staff and faculty around the Oregon State University campus look to elevate conversations about the use and regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) programs like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard in course design and student work, another conversation is also taking place on campus among our students. I believe their voices and experiences are necessary for assessing what has, is, and could be attempted regarding changes to OSU’s policies, and view their insights as valuable for faculty when considering what is and is not deemed appropriate use of the technologies in their course.

The use of AI looks differently than it did a few years ago when the pandemic set many educators and students scrambling to find new and innovative solutions for learning challenging content without the same degree of support historically available in pre-COVID times. The development of AI tools is also rapidly advancing in to new iterations at an increasing rate, leaving many to feel under-or-misinformed about what is possible and considered ethical in the use of these technologies. In my own work as Coordinator for the Supplemental Instruction (SI) program within the Office of Academic Support (OAS), I have the privilege of overhearing many such conversations between students and have compiled a few salient takeaways to share below.

AI Use from the Student Perspective – What SI Table Leaders are Hearing 

Our SI Leaders have been hearing accounts of students relying on AI to help them accomplish coursework and study for exams for a few years now, increasing in frequency over the last twelve months. Perhaps not surprisingly, one of the most common examples SI Leaders overhear is that of students discussing how they used AI to help them write lab reports and essays, as well as to solve math equations and science homework that relies on fact-checking. However, the extent to which OSU students are relying on AI as part of their routine work processes seems to be highly variable. For example, one student in the Fall of 2023 told their SI Leader “I like having the AI tools as a backup in case I really can’t figure something out or I’m worried I made a mistake.” Another reported that they only used AI when they felt ‘stuck’ or ‘trapped’ by tight deadlines and limited opportunities to receive other forms of support that felt safe and available in a timely nature.

This kind of ‘safety net’ that AI can offer seems valuable to some, but there is also a growing fear by others that the use of AI leaves students open to potential repercussions without warning. A frustration point for many students right now is that faculty have the authority to decide on an individual basis when AI is allowed to be used for homework and studying, meaning that what is permissible in one course may carry heavy penalties (including risk of being reported for academic misconduct) in another. As an example, an email came to our program in Fall with a request to unregister from a study table as the student (paraphrasing) told us, “I’m dropping this course because the faculty thinks I cheated and I don’t know what else to do.” Another student reported asking AI to generate practice exam questions only for the program to generate actual exam questions from older copies of the exam uploaded elsewhere on the internet. They reported this to their SI Leader who was unsure if the faculty member knew about the leak of their content or whether they would prefer students to use old practice exams as study materials in the first place. Out of fear, the student requested that the SI Leader not disclose this to the faculty directly and instead make an anonymous report.

Student confusion about the issue of AI use is understandable given the relatively recent introduction of this challenging but opportunity-rich new technology to the wider landscape of Higher Education. The University of Oregon recently updated their guidelines and resources for faculty on their Teaching Support and Innovation website while the University of Michigan just completed an internal campus-wide review on the affects of AI on students, faculty, and staff. The executive summary of the report stated that AI would have a ‘significant’ impact on UM’s campus in Fall 2023 and ‘can not be ignored.’ The United States Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology released a report in May 2023 urging educators to consider more than plagiarism, but student privacy as well as transparency in their use of AI when designing new activities, warning that many students do not fully understand how AI algorithms actually compose responses, resulting in a need for urgent support for students in simply learning how to use these tools in the first place as a key part of future learning outcomes and workforce preparedness.

Oregon State University is also addressing the challenges that AI tools present for educators hoping to support students’ developing their own critical thinking and reasoning skills. An advisory group designated by the Office of the Provost has brought together representatives from student support services, ASOSU’s Office of Advocacy, members of the Faculty Senate, and student members of ASOSU to create guiding principles for using AI-assisted learning strategies. A second coordinating team has also been assembled to look for possible opportunities for OSU to invest in or collaborate with other AI-related programs and services, both on OSU’s campus and abroad. An OSU ‘AI Day’ is planned for later in Spring of 2024, with opportunities for campus innovators to share the unique work they have been developing related to AI and allow students and faculty to ask questions related to AI use in studying and learning.

Students’ Creative Uses of AI – Ideas and Strategies to Suggest 

While longer term campus-wide policies take careful thought and time to develop, there are unique and relatively safe ways students can use AI that we as educators might be able to offer as we work to help them come to terms with this ubiquitous new tool. Faculty and learning support staff in particular may benefit from some examples we’ve collected of students using AI in ways that did NOT break the rules of their instructors and which we saw as particularly effective or innovative. These included asking AI tools to:

1. Suggest other online learning resources about a topic, such as government websites, journal articles, and virtual lab activities.
2. Explain why they missed a particular question on graded assignments.
3. Summarize a list of important topics about a subject to build the outline of a study guide they then fill in using course materials.
4. Recommend different ways to study for exams, including asking for a schedule to follow in terms of hours spent and when to begin studying.
5. Describe a concept in multiple ways so that students can check where they may hold misconceptions or missed ideas.
6. Prompting the AI to ask students questions about a given topic that they then attempted to answer using course materials as a form of practice.

As always, if you are going to provide suggestions about the use of AI to a student, please urge them to check their course syllabus or contact their instructor before engaging in AI-assisted study. Oregon State University has launched a new website that includes thoughtful suggestions and resources for faculty, including ways to connect on research or course design, and can be a great resource to share with students who have questions as well. At the end of the day, what is most important is that we help our students make sense of and succeed in the future careers available to them and show them that asking questions and looking for support is its own vital learning skill to practice as well. If you have questions or concerns about how AI might be used by students in your course, I encourage you to please contact the Center for Teaching and Learning at CTL@oregonstate.edu, as their offices can provide suggestions through email or set you up with a one-on-one consultation discussion to help you strategize effective ways to incorporate language and strategies regarding AI into your syllabus and curriculum.

On November 4th, a team of peer educators hosted OSU’s inaugural Peer Education Conference “For Peer Educators, By Peer Educators” in Austin Hall, courtesy of the College of Business. There were 60-70 students in attendance from more than 26 different peer educator roles across campus: many attendees met peer educator colleagues for the first time through the conference! A Welcome and Panel Session started the schedule for the day, followed by two rounds of workshops with lunch in between, and we closed our day with activities and assessment at 2 pm.

What follows are “postcard” length self-reflections from some of the approximately 30 student leaders, most undergraduates, who helped to plan and put on the event. These are the second in a series that began in the last issue of The Success Kitchen. Some postcard writers facilitated workshops, such as the specially-featured Program Specialists from CEL (Community Engagement and Leadership), who facilitated story circles as a tool for active listening with peers (supported by Delfine DeFrank.) Some were on the core Peer Educator Conference Leadership team. All helped make the conference possible (and awesome!) through their planning, leadership, and participation in the peer ed community on November 4th. Their reflections are presented alphabetically by first name.

Addie

Hi Addie,

At the Peer Ed Conference we reflected on the importance of active listening and representation in education. I think these are both really important subjects for all students but especially those of us who do peer education on campus. My main takeaway from the event was really just the importance of compassion and respect in relational leadership.

XOXO,
Addie

Addie Schneider | Spring 2026, Bachelors in Electrical & Computer Engineering
Co-Facilitator at Peer Ed Conference
Community Engagement & Leadership (CEL) Program Specialist

Ella

Dear Ella, 

Wow! Remember the Peer Educator Conference? That was so cool and awesome. I am so proud of you for trying something new and walking into the fog so to speak alongside so many inspiring leaders like Wren, Woodrós, and Olivia. Yes, it was a little bit hectic and at times you felt very scattered, but it was the very first time you or anyone on your team had done something like that. You connected with others over personal experiences, you felt confident in yourself and your teaching skills, and proud of your teammates because you couldn’t have done it without their encouragement and support. Keep giving back to your community, keep learning, and keep walking into the unknown.

Love, 
Ella

Ella Johansen | Spring 2025, Bachelors in English & in Education
Peer Educator Conference Leader and Discussion Leader 
Beaver Connect Mentor (EOP), Resident Assistant (UHDS), and Waste Watchers Sustainability Club Officer

Faisal

I really appreciated attending the peer education and learning how I can do better in my role as a program specialist at CEL. I specifically enjoyed attending Naya Jakile’s [Andi Kinaya Putri Kesuma’s] workshop on how to support international students on our campus. There were many things I was unaware of in the obstacles that international students face on our campus, such as finding job placements, navigating life in another country, dealing with restrictions that other students on our campus face, and many more. It encouraged me to think about how I can better support international students in our role, and how dialogical programming can also provide a platform for international students to share their experiences to the larger community.  

-Faisal

Faisal Osman | Spring 2024, Bachelors in Public Policy
Co-Facilitator at Peer Ed Conference
Community Engagement & Leadership (CEL) Program Specialist, President of OSU NAACP Chapter

Ismael

Dear Ismael, 

It has been a couple of weeks since you went to the Peer Ed Conference. It was an incredible experience celebrating the power of education and collaboration with peers has left me inspired and energized. The diverse sessions shared different topics and different things on how to be a better person/leader. As I reflect on the Peer Ed Conference, I carry forward the importance of inclusivity, innovation, active listening, and more. By taking advantage of this opportunity, I learned new skills that I will be using in the future. I will also remember to keep attending these events not only for the experience and learning opportunity but for the food they provide!

-Ismael

Ismael Rodriguez Cardoso | Summer 2026, Bachelors in Business Administration
Co-Facilitator at Peer Ed Conference
Community Engagement & Leadership (CEL) Program Specialist, College of Business Mentor, Fundraising Chair for Association of Latin American Students (ALAS)

Jocelyn

Dear Jocelynn,

Remember the Peer Ed conference? If you don’t, let me tell you about what I’ve learned. Starting off with the dialogue our office facilitated on active listening, it was a great opportunity to reflect on active listening not only as a peer educator but in my own personal life. Recognizing the impact of intentional active listening on my personal relationships and how it has strengthened connections allows me to see how active listening as a peer educator is important to build trust and connection with those I work with and those I do work for. In the second workshop, I learned about representation in education. I learned how big of a difference it makes for students to be able to see themselves mirrored in their learning experiences, to be able to see themselves in positions of higher learning and that they belong there.

-Jocelynn

Jocelynn Saelee | Spring 2024, Bachelors in BioHealth Sciences (Pre-Pharmacy)
Co-Facilitator at Peer Ed Conference
Community Engagement & Leadership (CEL) Program Specialist

Julia

Dear Julia,

Hey girl! Greetings from the Peer Ed Conference! What an inspiring journey it has been. The active listening workshop was a game-changer, offering valuable insights into effective communication and connecting with others while fostering empathy and understanding. There’s nothing quite like celebrating the power of attentiveness and thoughtful, intentional responses! The workshop about the value of representation within the educational setting opened my eyes to its profound significance. It’s not just about being heard but truly understood, appreciating the diverse perspectives that make our community vibrant. It is so moving to imagine children being inspired to achieve greatness when they see people who look like them in positions of power or influence. The shared stories and experiences were a celebration of unity in diversity. I’ve learned that our voices matter, and so does every unique narrative. This conference has fueled my commitment to fostering inclusive spaces. I feel grateful for these lessons and the chance to connect with passionate peers. Until next time, PEC!

Warm regards,
Julia

Julia Gilsoul | Spring 2024, Bachelors in Environmental Science
Co-Facilitator at Peer Ed Conference
Community Engagement & Leadership (CEL) Program Specialist

Kayla

Hello me!

Look at where we are now! We freaking MC at a major event, which is crazy but AMAZING! Who would’ve thought that you would be a part of a team to create this event, it was amazing and smooth, you did it – pat yourself on the back. I must say my favorite part is being able to see all different peer educators teaching and learning from each other. That will always have a safe spot in my heart, let’s continue this journey of growing and learning from everyone else so that we can be prepared for the real world!

Sincerely,
Kayla (Your proud self)

Kayla Washington | Spring 2025, Bachelors in Business Administration Systems
Peer Educator Conference Leader and Emcee
Academic Success Center (ASC) Strategist

Seneca

Hi, me!

I learned that peer educators are disconnected on campus, however we do tend to clump depending on what programs we have in collaboration with each other. Not to mention who are friends and/or roommates between the student services. It’s not a bad thing, and the conference was extremely helpful to formally meet others in peer education. Much like the SEE luncheon during training right before Fall term is intended to meet other students who work under SEE, the Peer Ed Conference was a lovely way to connect.

Another aspect of the conference in the effort to understand what other orgs & offices do is that we may use the same words and have different intentions. To work better in collaborative situations, being on the same page of language, effort, and organization is a key point in executing successful projects and/or events.

-Seneca

Seneca Moback | Winter 2024, Bachelors in Public Health
Co-Facilitator at Peer Ed Conference
Community Engagement & Leadership (CEL) Program Specialist

Tiffany

🎀✨heeeeeey slay star🎀✨💅💅💅

My takeaways from the Peer Ed Conference were the impact we were able to make on the students who came. The presentations themselves portrayed passion and dedication about the topics, and it was definitely a learning opportunity for me since I have never done something like this before. The PECL team were super accommodating towards my needs and were very warm and positive during the day-of. One difficulty I encountered was the time aspect of presentations, and it was particularly challenging to implement a community dialogue format within a limited amount of time. However, I learned that there can always be different dialogical strategies that can be implemented that might best suit the timeframe given.

-Tiffany

Tiffany Li | Spring 2025, Bachelors in BioHealth Sciences (Pre-Optometry)
Lead Workshop Co-Facilitator at Peer Ed Conference
Community Engagement & Leadership (CEL) Program Specialist

William

Dear William of the Past,

These past few months I got the benefit of attending and helping to run the peer education conference at Oregon State University. There I was able to attend two separate workshops, one regarding AI usage in school and the other regarding how to support transfer students. Within the AI workshop I learned a lot about its positive usages for schoolwork and how it can help students skip over some busy work without fully doing a job for them. Alongside this I learned about supporting transfer students, which was very helpful in understanding the special challenges associated with being a transfer student. Overall, the peer education conference was very helpful and informative, and I am more than happy that I got to go.

Sincerely,
A slightly more futuristic William

William Lusby | Spring 2025, Natural Resources Major
Provider of Panel & Other Support (day of and in the weeks ahead) for Peer Ed Conference
Academic Success Center (ASC) Strategist

Wren

Dearest Wren,

Hi hi! Can you believe it’s been two months since the first EVER Peer-Ed Conference??? Kind of wild, right? Looking back, there are a lot of things that I—that you—cherish from this experience and a lot that I would want us to do differently, too!

For starters, communicate more with each other from the get-go!! We’re doing this as a team, so we need to work as a team, and it’s so much harder to reach out when you don’t know who you’re working with. Establish a place to communicate from the beginning and stick to it! Next, marketing! So much effort and love went into this conference; don’t forget to share it with others. (It’s for peer educators across campus, after all!) Lastly, trust in the team and that everything will be okay. Hijinks ensue (they always will), but everyone and everything will end up fine, I promise. You’ve got this!!

Always yours,
Wren

Wren P. Nguyễn | Spring 2025, Bachelors in Psychology
Peer Educator Conference Leader and Logistics Lead
Academic Coach (ASC) and MESS Lab Assistant

by Clare Creighton

One-on-one meetings (or 1:1s) is the shortcut term our department uses for meeting individually with someone, most often with a direct report or supervisor. Student employees meet with their supervisor in 1:1s at various frequencies throughout the year, and professional staff meet with their reporting line supervisor in 1:1s on a regular basis as well. I love thinking about how the questions we ask open up possibilities for different conversations. I asked the team what kind of prompts they use in their 1:1s with student employees and there were a lot of thematic similarities.

In these conversations, the question below is just a starting point, from there we can ask follow-up questions and unpack responses in detail. Some supervisors give their questions to the team member in advance, and not all questions make it into every conversation. Here’s a collection:

1. How has this past [week, month, term] been?
2. Tell me about a highlight from this past [week, month, term]. Or What do you feel like you’re doing particularly well?
3. What challenges have you experienced/faced? Or What’s been challenging about your work?
4. What is on your radar as you look ahead? What’s coming up?
5. What skills do you want to further develop this term? What types of projects do you want to take on? What areas of development do you have in mind?
6. In general, or specific to the projects and skills above, what kind of support would you like from me? What would be helpful this [week, month, term]?
7. Here’s an upcoming project, change, or workflow ____. What role do you want to play in that project? What do you think your strengths or contributions might be?

These prompts strike me as useful in a range of conversations – in your own 1:1s or similar conversations. I’ll add one of my favorite prompts to the list as well, which is to ask folks, “what would you like me to ask you about/check in on when we meet next?”