For the fall semester, the college rolled out a new web-based guide called the Oz Concern Navigator to help students find a variety of resources and solutions on and off campus.  

Interim Dean of Students Christy Huynh and Director of Counseling Services Katherine Wolfe-Lyga spearheaded this web-based resource. 

“Oz Concern Navigator is an online platform that allows all stakeholders to identify a concern that a student may be having and connect them with resources both on and off campus that support that student,” Huynh said. Stakeholders can be students, faculty, staff and/or families.  

The project’s main purpose is ultimately to help connect students to needed resources. One advantage, Huynh noted, is that students can access these resources whenever they need to. 

“Whether that is 3 in the morning or in the afternoon, when an office is or isn’t open, they can at least connect and have that information to know where they go to get that information or support,” Huynh said. 

Some of the resources are available 24/7 for any critical concerns. 

The Oz Concern Navigator website offers seven main categories: Academic, Emotional, Financial, Physical, Sex and Relationship, Social and Spirtual. Each category has a variety of subcategories in which students can choose and find the resources they need. 

She explained that they are trying to break barriers for those students on campus that don’t know where to go for help. 

“We’ve heard a lot from our sophomores, as well as our first years, that they don’t know where things are due to the pandemic,” she said. “It’s really just trying to connect them and remove any barriers.” 

Normalizing seeking help

This website’s purposes include displaying all of the college’s resources in one place, and also acknowledging that struggle is a normal thing and that it is okay to get help.  

“We thought it was really important to provide that information to students and those who are supporting students,” Huynh added. “Sometimes families or staff have concerns and they don’t know where to go either, so it’s a way to be transparent.” 

Even though the website is still new, its organizers did a lot of research with other institutions to find the best way to share the website. 

“We are hoping to get it on other departments’ websites,” Huynh said. “Other schools have said that staff has implemented it on their course syllabi and added it to their email signature lines.” 

Huynh said they haven’t done all of their outreach yet, but they have a marketing plan in place to move forward with getting the information out there. 

Since the beginning of August, the website has had over 640 users. Huynh said the top categories chosen were Academics, Social and Emotional. 

“I didn’t really know what to expect, but I feel good about that usage, since there is a lot we haven’t done yet,” Huynh said. 

Although there are many resources on the website, if any student or staff has another concern they would like more information on, they can email the Dean of Students Office (deanofstudents@oswego.edu) or use the email linked on the website, oswego.concerncenter.com. 

-- Written by Cassandra Abel of the Class of 2021