In alignment with the university’s and college’s philosophy of supporting work/school and personal life balance, the college has several lactation spaces available in our facilities: The Optometry Clinic (rooms 4083 and 6083) and Hamilton Hall (room 209). The doors to these rooms are equipped with swipe locks managed by the College of Medicine’s building support services staff. However, Optometry’s building support team, led by Mat Johnson, can help you obtain access to a room by submitting a ticket through the college’s Help Desk application.

As most of you are aware, the college Help Desk can be found at College of Optometry Help Desk (osu.edu). Under Request Type, select Building and Equipment Services and then the sub-type 06 Door Swipe Access, 05 General College Access, and Lactation Rooms (The Optometry Clinic 4083 and 6083, Hamilton 209). After Mat’s team receives the ticket, they will work with the College of Medicine staff to obtain swipe access to Hamilton 209 on your behalf.

Moreover, Ohio State provides more than 60 lactation spaces across campus. A list of those spaces can be accessed through the web site of the Office of Human Resources, found at Nursing Mother / Lactation Rooms – Human Resources at Ohio State (osu.edu). If you have any questions about gaining access to these spaces, please reach out to Mat Johnson.

Starting Friday, August 15, new weapons detection scanners will be active at the Brain and Spine Hospital main entrance. Everyone entering through this public entrance will pass through the technology, designed to detect items such as firearms, knives (including pocket knives), and mace. Non-weapon metal items (e.g., laptops, umbrellas, metal water bottles) may also trigger an alert.

This is the third Wexner Medical Center location to add scanners, following Harding Hospital and the East Hospital tower entrance. Additional entrances on main campus and at the East Hospital surgery center will be added in September.

UniPrint has been added as an option under “Connect to Supplier Website” in Buckeye Buy. This new feature allows customers to start and finish their online printing of standard orders directly in Workday without jumping between two different websites to purchase products. (Previously, you would have to set up the order on UniPrint’s website and then submit a non-catalog requisition in Workday.)

This feature is only for standard orders such as business cards, envelopes, letterhead, mailing labels, name inserts, name badges and more. Custom orders will need a quote and non-catalog requisition. Go to: Order Online | UniPrint for ordering instructions on both standard and custom orders. Please reach out to Tiffany Garner with any questions.

You might occasionally see guide dogs in Fry Hall or on campus, diligently working alongside their handlers. These highly trained partners are crucial for their handlers’ independence. To help them do their jobs safely and effectively, here are a few key things to remember:

• When a guide dog wears its harness, it’s working. So, please don’t pet or distract the dog. Instead, speak directly to the person, not the dog. Also, avoid making sounds or gestures to attract its attention.
• It’s also important to never offer the dog any food; their diet is carefully managed. And please, be mindful about leaving food on the ground, as this can distract the dog and pose a health risk.

Your cooperation helps these incredible dogs continue their vital work!

Our IT Team has provided significant basic training resources on our website, available at Training & Development | Welcome to Optometry. There, you will find more links to valuable LinkedIn training courses on Outlook, PowerPoint, Adobe products, Zoom, and more. Be sure to avail yourself of these resources provided to you free of charge.

Ohio State faculty, staff and students have free access to LinkedIn Learning, provided by the Office of Human Resources, the Ohio State Wexner Medical Center and the University Staff Advisory Committee. You get 24/7 unlimited access to learn at your own pace in courses that are relevant to your current role, as well as many other interests. There are 30-70 new courses added weekly, which gives you the ability to grow and develop in the areas you care about both at and outside of work.

You can access this training with your name.# account via HR Connection at LinkedIn Learning – HR Connection. This page will walk you through how to establish your LinkedIn Learning profile to get started.

OneDrive is Microsoft’s cloud-based storage solution that helps you save, access, and share your files securely from any device. It’s especially useful for beginners who want to share files across campus with other users who aren’t eligible for Optometry’s VPN access to our internal drives (such as the I: or P: drives).

You can upload files by dragging them into the OneDrive – The Ohio State University folder in File Explorer or saving them directly there. Organize your files into folders just like you would on your computer. OneDrive automatically syncs your files across all connected devices, so any changes you make are updated everywhere.

Sharing is easy—just right-click a file or folder and choose “Share” to send a link via email or copy it. You can control whether others can view or edit the file. OneDrive also integrates with Microsoft Office, allowing you to collaborate on Word, Excel, or PowerPoint documents in real time.

When you click the “Try the New Outlook” button in the classic Outlook desktop app, you’re opting into Microsoft’s redesigned version of Outlook for Windows. This new experience is built on the web-based Outlook platform, offering a very different experience.

Once clicked, Outlook will close and relaunch in the new version. Your existing accounts, emails, calendar events, and settings will be imported automatically. You’ll notice a changed layout, enhanced search, and new productivity features like message pinning, snoozing, and a unified inbox. The app also integrates better with Microsoft Teams and To Do, making it easier to manage tasks and communication in one place.

If you toggle the switch on accident or later decide the new version isn’t for you, you can easily switch back by clicking the toggle in the top-right corner and selecting “Go back to classic Outlook.” Microsoft continues to refine the new Outlook based on user feedback, so features and compatibility may evolve over time.

By the end of October, all Optometry computers will be the Windows 11 operating system. Some of you may already be on it or familiar with it through your home computing experience. For others, this will be a new experience.

Our IT team has prepared a video walkthrough of the changes you should expect to see with the updated operating system. It can be found at Windows 11 Walkthrough | Welcome to Optometry. In just under four minutes, you can get yourself ready with a basic understanding of what will change.

There is also a LinkedIn training available through BuckeyeLearn that you may want to view when your machine switches over. It is called Windows 11 Quick Tips and is only 26 minutes in its entirety. It is designed to help you get up to speed with everything from modifying the interface to working with apps and files. Each video is about one minute long, so you can quickly jump in and get answers to your most urgent “How do I …?” problems.

Watch for more training recommendations to come from the Optometry IT team.

Effective July 1, Anthony Travel will replace Corporate Travel Planners (CTP) as the university’s Travel Management Company for individual business travel. All individual business travel bookings made before July 1 must go through CTP. Bookings made with CTP on or before June 30, will continue to be serviced by CTP through trip completion. Starting July 1, all new bookings will be handled by Anthony Travel. Please contact Tiffany Garner for more information.