College Connect
College of Health
Get in on the fun and camaraderie each Friday at First Friday College Connect events!
These are an opportunity for you – faculty and staff throughout our college – to come together, socialize and learn more about one another, including your work and hobbies off campus.
The FFCC events are held the first full Friday of every month (except summer and breaks) via Zoom. Trivia kicks off every event, followed by break-out groups dedicated to diverse topics such as pets, planned travel and global adventures, food and gardening.
These experiences are designed to help us get to know each other, share experiences and ideas, and lead to deeper relationships. Add the FFCC to your calendar and connect with colleagues!
2024 schedule
- February 2
- March 8
- April 5
- May 3
2022-2023
October
Professor Mark Hoffman shared his experiences of fighting wildland fires during his summer "vacation" and how he envisions incorporating athletic training as a standard for wildland firefighting crews.
Aria Minu-Sepehr, director of Team Oregon, read from his New Your Times best selling We Heard the Heavens Then: A Memoir of Iran, his childhood memoir about escaping Iran during the revolution when his family was under threat.
November
(artist rendition of Russ in a very dark cave)
Professor Russ Turner shared stories and photos of exploring caves around the world.
Professor Urszula Iwaniec talked about her chance encounter with OSU professor and entomologist George Poinar Jr., who along with his wife, Roberta, inspired the original science behind the book and movie Jurassic Park, and how she and George used specialized imaging to learn more about what’s inside pieces of amber.
Associate Professor Stephanie Grutzmacher talked about fostering hundreds of senior dogs and creatively sharing the dogs’ personalities over social media. Get to know Professor Schnitzel.
December
A Peace/Service Corps panel featured moderator Allison Myers, associate dean for Extension and Engagement and FCH program leader, along with Jared Hibbard-Swanson, program manager for food security and safety; Professor Megan MacDonald; Instructor Ashley Vaughn; and Janet Swensen. They talked about their service abroad, and in the United States, and what they learned from those experiences.
Year of national service through AmeriCorps and 6 months of international service through the Chilean government’s Ingles Abre Puertas program.
Served with Canadian International Development Agency Internship 2003-2004 in Maseru, Lesotho, Africa.
Teach for America Trained in Philadelphia and taught in urban New Jersey and Detroit.
RPCV Tunisia, 1994-1996 Focus was on youth development
February
Retired professor Karen Hooker shared photos and stories of her adventures searching the world for petroglyphs.
MPH Administrative Director Hanako Justice performed stand-up comedy.
March
Associate professors Sam Logan and Diana Rohlman showed how creative and fun teaching can be by using popular culture as a touchpoint for learning.
Sam Logan
- 3rd generation Star Trek fan and hope to raise his daughter Ryker as the 4th
- Two-time Mac50k finisher
- Established the Florence Wood Award of Impact and Legacy in honor of his grandmother
- 10+ years of research, teaching, and community outreach related to Go Baby Go, a program that modifies off-the-shelf ride-on toy cars for children with disabilities to use for exploration and play
- Currently finishing up a project with our college’s librarian liaison assessing the reference accuracy of empirical studies about reference accuracy
Diana Rohlman
- Integrated her love of Star Trek into an Honors college colloquia, Science, Ethics, and Star Trek, now taught in-person and online. (Won Course of the Year in the Honors College)
- Worked with the Oregon Health Authority to translate results of a cancer analysis in an environmental justice community in Oregon.
- Worked with the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community to develop the 13 Moons Environmental Health Curriculum, now available online through the Native Plants and Foods Curriculum Portal.
- Worked with interdisciplinary researchers to respond to Hurricane Harvey within three weeks of flooding to collect personal chemical exposure data and reported individual data back to the over 200 participants
April
No trivia for April … we had too many great guests to focus on!
A panel of talented athletes in our community shared their experiences.
Heidi Wegis Clinical Associate Professor collegiate basketball player, Ironman
Mary Arnold Professor, equestrian
Kate MacTavish Associate Professor, competitive runner
John Schuna Associate Professor, collegiate track & field, strongman
Matt Robinson Associate Professor, mountain bike trialing
Kathy Gunter Professor and Extension Specialist, collegiate mountain biker, Olympic level cycling
Megan McClelland Professor, collegiate dancer
Erica Woekel Clinical Associate Professor, collegiate volleyball player
Alan Calvert Web communications manager, ultra distance trail running