Keeping Bobcats informed, March 20, 2020

Dear Students,

Our Ohio University community is just a few days away from making history, joining together to shift your academic experience to a remote and online environment and doing our part to combat the spread of coronavirus.

Over the course of OHIO’s 216-year history, we have weathered many challenges, both internal and external. Together, we have met all of those challenges, guided by our commitment to growth in wisdom, knowledge and love. It is that commitment and resilience that will see us through the challenge we face today and together.

Here is today's update:

ADOBE SOFTWARE

Adobe Creative Cloud available at no cost

Adobe is waiving the subscription fee for its Creative Cloud suite of professional design and media creation applications through May 31, 2020. Because OHIO has an active enterprise license with Adobe, all students and faculty are eligible for this offer.

Bobcats Helping Bobcats

When you enrolled at Ohio University, you joined a Bobcat family of fellow students, faculty, staff, more than 250,000 living OHIO graduates and friends of this University – all committed to your academic success and well-being. One of the uplifting moments of the past week has been hearing from OHIO alumni, donors and friends who have reached out to the University to express their concern for and lend their support to all of you.

Yesterday afternoon, Ohio University launched a “Bobcats Take Care” campaign at https://bobcatstakecare.ohio.edu/. This online campaign is a space where members of our community can share messages of support and comfort to Bobcats near and far, as well as donate to the newly-created COVID-19 Ohio University Student Emergency Fund. In true Bobcat spirit, #BobcatsTakeCare messages of support are already being posted, and, in less than 24 hours, more than $15,000 has been donated to help students on our Athens and regional campuses who are experiencing financial hardships as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

COLLEGE CORONAVIRUS UPDATES

Information from your colleges

Many of your individual colleges have developed coronavirus response websites to supplement the University’s coronavirus website with information specific to your area of study.

College-specific coronavirus update websites:

• College of Arts and Sciences
• College of Business
• College of Fine Arts
• Honors Tutorial College
• Patton College of Education

STUDENT EMPLOYEES

A reminder about student employment

As was announced earlier this week, Ohio University is committed to providing remote work opportunities to all student employees who were employed in University positions for spring semester but who are not currently working. We have also committed to continuing graduate student stipends without interruption through the end of spring semester.

Supervisors of on-campus student employees will be reaching out no later than Monday, March 23, to discuss remote work with students whose original job responsibilities required them to be on campus. During these unprecedented times, it is important to Ohio University to continue to offer opportunities for employment for the many students who rely on campus jobs to support their income. Supervisors are currently developing plans to directly engage students in meaningful work such as review of websites, social media assistance, job documentation, video tutorials or testimonials, professional development and more.

CORRECTION

Correction: OHIO’s Global History

In the rush to provide you all the information you need to successfully transition to a remote and online learning environment, we regrettably rewrote OHIO’s global history. In the March 20th “Keeping Our Bobcats Informed” email, we mentioned that our first international student graduated in 1985. We were a good 90 years off on that one. Saki Taro Murayama of Japan graduated from OHIO in 1895. Click here to read more about the history of Ohio’s first and finest university.

Continue to carefully monitor your Ohio University email, your college/campus/department websites for new information, and the University’s coronavirus website. If you have additional questions that are not answered on the University’s coronavirus website or its FAQ section, please email them to coronavirus@ohio.edu or direct message them to Ohio University’s Facebook account or Twitter account.

As you prepare to resume your spring semester studies on Monday, March 23, please know that there are hundreds of thousands of Bobcats near and far who are committed to your success. We are invested in you and your future because we believe in you.

Continue to take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and get ready to make OHIO history once more.