Around Campus

Outlook: Broadening Horizons

Oakland University Chief Operating Officer Scott Kunselman proposes enhancing your campus life with a new experience

Oakland University Chief Operating Officer Scott Kunselman

Campus Life

icon of a calendarAugust 28, 2017

icon of a pencilBy Scott Kunselman

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It certainly has been a busy summer on Oakland University's campus as our facilities team wraps up several improvement projects for the new school year, including parking and road enhancements, repairs to sidewalks, landscaping and building needs.

Yet as the function of our physical campus continues to improve on a grand scale, I encourage you to intimately consider how best you can improve your personal OU experience.

Without question, we spend a great deal of our time on campus — rarely deviating from our established routines. But how many of us make the effort to take a detour to a new experience? I hope that I can inspire you to make a change; to make certain that your time here is accented by experiential OU moments you'll remember beyond campus. And there is no better time to start than now:

Oakland University student in science lab
Hands-on Education

Oakland's broad, student-focused curriculum makes us unique, but we are also uniquely positioned as a metropolitan university to have valuable experiences outside the classroom that complement our curriculum. Whether it is solely to advance your degree or fulfill a personal interest, volunteering can be intensely rewarding. The Center for Student Activities & Leadership Development is a hub for this information, and I encourage you to visit it often.

Oakland University Music, Theatre and Dance performance
Entertainment

Entertainment on campus comes in various forms, from sporting events, pep rallies to world-class productions from our School of Music, Theatre and Dance in Varner Hall. At the nucleus of all of this is our founding history at Meadow Brook Hall. Among the many types of tours Meadow Brook offers, there are also year-round events that allow you to enjoy the mansion's expansive grounds, (which extends to events at the Meadow Brook Amphitheatre), and get acquainted with the life and times of our incredible founder Matilda Dodge Wilson. But don't simply take my word for it. Experience our history first-hand by visiting meadowbrookhall.org.

Oakland University students eating in the Oakland Center
Food

It may seem out of place to highlight food as something to actively seek out on a college campus, but our varied food selections have brought many members of the surrounding community to our campus for lunch. In addition to Chick-fil-A and Panda Express in the OC, there is Einstein Bros. Bagels in the Engineering building, Starbucks in the Kresge Library (verify), and refreshing, healthy offerings on the first floor of the Human Health building. Keep an eye out for the organic farm stand (location) offering phenomenal selections once a week.

But also, inside the golf course clubhouse is a wonderful pub venue called Finnegan’s. They offer a fine dining experience for lunch and dinner, and the view from the patio is second to none! Deciding where to eat on campus is made easy thanks to University Housing. 

Oakland University campus
Outdoors

Finally, no depiction of Oakland University would be complete without mentioning the vast opportunities to explore the natural wonders of our outdoor campus. And if you take the time to explore, you'll find our University's natural features are just as experiential as the facilities we've made. Our outdoor venues —such as the disc golf course and our sports fields, where I recently enjoyed the culmination of the administration’s kickball tournament — are managed by the University Recreation Center (https://oakland.edu/recwell/). There are also trails to walk on the property of Meadowbrook Hall, open fields and two championship golf courses on the east side of campus; hammocks along Bear Lake, and art sculptures to savor that also function in some cases as fountains.

My point being, your OU experience is more than what happens in the classroom. So, take a moment. See the sights. Savor the sounds. This is our OU, and its legacy of greatness lives through you.

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