· Ohio State presents Reese Medal to Dan Heinlen
· University web site captures Ohio State in 2003
· Chiocca to chair new neurological department
· OSU leads federally funded bioterrorism effort
· Engineering professors named Fellows of IEEE
· Alliance to help increase minority grads
· Poet Citino is winner of 2004 Governor's Award
· Ohio State continues belt-tightening measures
· Sanfilippo named Business Player of the Year
· OSU-Battelle to use fastest supercomputer
· University wins $5 million for MD gene research
· Krenzel named 2003 Draddy Award winner
· Holbrook receives ODADAS Director's Award

Commencement Traditions "I congratulate you and welcome you to the company of Ohio State graduates." With those words, President Karen Holbrook concluded the autumn quarter commencement ceremony last month in St. John Arena. Dr. Holbrook has begun a new tradition of having the entire undergraduate class move their tassels to the left side of their mortar boards when their degrees are conferred. Another new tradition also began with this ceremony, with commencement moved to Sundays to make it more convenient for families to attend. It was the first Sunday commencement at Ohio State since 1943.

Ohio State presents Reese Medal to Dan Heinlen

Dan L. Heinlen, recently retired president and CEO of the Ohio State Alumni Association., was honored last month as the recipient of the university's highest honor — the Everett D. Reese Medal — in recognition of his exceptional service in private philanthropy. Established in 1984, the Reese Medal was named in honor of the late Everett D. Reese, who exemplified the type of volunteer for whom this award was created. A 1960 Ohio State graduate, Heinlen joined the staff of the Alumni Association in 1965. He has led the organization and served as publisher of the Alumni Magazine since August 1973 and has also served as secretary of the association's Board of Directors, the Alumni Advisory Council, and the Ohio State Student Loan Foundation. He is an ex-officio member of the university Foundation Board and its nominating committee. Heinlen was the first non-faculty member to assume the presidency of the Faculty Club Board of Control and took part in the university's last three presidential search committees.

University web site captures Ohio State in 2003

A national championship, rising U.S. News rankings, illustrious visitors, top-tier students and researchers — just a few of the great stories and events which graced the front door of Ohio State's web site in 2003. Take a look back at the notable faces which rotated on the "splash page" of the university's web site during the last 12 months. READ MORE >

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Chiocca to chair new neurological department

The University Medical Center will complement its strengths in neuroscience, neurology and cancer research by establishing a neurological surgery department and appointing a nationally recognized brain tumor specialist from Harvard University to chair the new department. Both actions were approved last month by the university's Board of Trustees. Dr. E. Antonio "Nino" Chiocca, an associate professor of neurosurgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, will join Ohio State in March as chair of the new department of neurological surgery and holder of the Dardinger Family Endowed Chair in Oncological Neurosurgery . Chiocca is hailed as a leading investigator in the use of gene therapies for brain tumors and other central nervous system disorders. READ MORE >

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OSU leads federally funded bioterrorism effort

Future health care workers in the United States will be educated in bioterrorism preparedness using curriculum developed by a consortium of the state's public universities and led by the Ohio State Medical Center. The project is supported by a nearly $1 million two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. At the Ohio Center of Excellence in Education for Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response, students will learn how to recognize indicators of a terrorist event or other public health emergency; safely meet acute care needs of patients; rapidly and effectively alert the public health system of such an emergency; and participate in a multidisciplinary coordinated response. The training also will cover the most common potential biological and chemical agents that could be used in a terrorist attack. READ MORE >

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Engineering professors named Fellows of IEEE

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers has named six Ohio State engineering professors IEEE fellows for their contributions to the advancement of engineering science and technology. The Institute confers the membership grade of fellow upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. In any one year, no more than 0.1 percent of IEEE members are elected fellows. READ MORE >  

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Alliance to help increase minority grads

A $3.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation will help Ohio universities and partners work together to significantly increase the number of minority students who earn bachelor's degrees in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. The NSF initiative, the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation program, is named in honor of the congressman from Cleveland and currently funds 31 alliances nationwide. Ohio State will lead a consortium of 15 universities and four other agencies in the state to form the Ohio Science and Engineering Alliance. The Alliance aims to double the number of minority undergraduate students earning bachelor's degrees in science and high-tech fields and increase the number of minority students who go on to pursue graduate degrees. READ MORE >

Poet Citino is winner of 2004 Governor's Award

The Ohio Arts Council Board has selected Ohio State English Professor David J. Citino as a recipient of the 2004 Governor's Award for the Arts in Ohio. Citino, who is the university's Poet Laureate, was selected as the winner in the individual artist category. Citino began his teaching career at Ohio State's campus in Marion in 1974, and moved to the main campus in 1985. He is the author of 12 collections of poetry. Among Citino's many awards and honors are an Alumni Distinguished Teaching Award, the Alumni Association's Professional Achievement Award, the Ohio Poetry Day Association's 1993 Ohio Poet of the Year Award, an Ohio Arts Council Major Artist Fellowship, and a Fellowship in Poetry from the National Endowment for the Arts. He also received the Nancy Dasher Award from the College English Association of Ohio and the Bjornson Award for Distinguished Service to the Humanities from the Ohio Humanities Council. READ MORE >

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Ohio State continues belt-tightening measures

In an effort to protect the university's resources in a time of continued uncertainty in the state and national economies, the university's board of trustees has approved several measures recommended by the administration to rein in spending and control borrowing. These plans — which include decreasing the payout from the university's endowment and setting more stringent guidelines on how and when the university takes on debt for capital projects — are designed to continue Ohio State's efforts to tighten its belt and improve its fiscal stewardship during this period of economic uncertainty.

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Sanfilippo named Business Player of the Year

Fred Sanfilippo, senior vice president for health sciences and dean of medicine and public health, has been named Business Player of the Year by Business First. Called an "agent for change" who has driven the Medical Center "toward the top of its class," Sanfilippo was featured in a year-end special issue about local newsmakers in 2003. The lengthy profile highlights Sanfilippo's strategy to fund a $151 million Biomedical Research Tower outside the state funding process. But his larger accomplishment, according to the publication, is the culture change he is shepherding at OSU Medical Center, and making progress toward steering the institution toward top-tier academic medical center status.

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OSU-Battelle to use fastest supercomputer

Battelle Memorial Institute says it's building the world's fastest supercomputer. The machine, expected to be capable of 1,000 trillion operations per second when completed in 2008 is being built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. Ohio State and Battelle will use the machine to join forces for biomedical research and create commercial applications for new technology. Among the collaborations at Ohio State are nanotechnology, designing devices on a molecular scale, and biomedical informatics, which use supercomputers to clarify and interpret huge amounts of medical data.

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University wins $5 million for MD gene research

Jerry Mendell, chair of neurology, in collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh, has been awarded $5 million to study gene therapy as a treatment for muscular dystrophy (MD). The funds, from the National Institutes of Health and the Muscular Dystrophy Association, are part of a national initiative to combat genetic diseases leading to muscle weakness and wasting. The OSU-University of Pittsburgh center is one of three sites that will focus on bringing laboratory findings directly to patients to implement new MD treatments. Mendell, principal investigator for the study and a member of the NIH Muscular Dystrophy Research Task Force, performed the world's first gene therapy procedure for MD in 1999. READ MORE >

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Krenzel named 2003 Draddy Award winner

Quarterback Craig Krenzel has been named the 2003 Draddy Award winner. Often referred to as the "Academic Heisman," the Draddy Award is given to the nation's top scholar-athlete and awards a $25,000 postgraduate scholarship. Krenzel's 3.68 grade point average in molecular genetics proves his academic prowess. Named 2003 Academic All-America of the Year, Krenzel received the Sporting News Socrates Academic Award and recorded a perfect 4.0 in four quarters. A three-time Academic All-Big Ten Conference selection, he received the Ohio State Academic Achievement Award three times, dean's list recognition six times and the Ohio State Exceptional Academic Award 11 times. READ MORE >

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Holbrook receives ODADAS Director's Award

President Holbrook was presented with the Director's Award from the Ohio Department of Drug and Alcohol Addiction Services (ODADAS) last month. The award is given annually to an individual for their major contributions toward alcohol and drug prevention and education. Holbrook was recognized for her demonstrated leadership this year to promote the responsible use of alcohol in the university community.

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