09-13-94 Back to School part 2 part 2 SAFER ENVIRONMENT University Police have announced four new initiatives to improve campus safety: (1) a new communications center that consolidates the 16 different radio systems previously in use by police, Traffic and Parking, Physical Facilities and other safety-related departments; (2) renovation of the 36 "blue-light" campus emergency phones and installation of 40 additional such phones along High Street, at parking garages and bus stops and along 11th and 12th avenues; (3) a new 911 system that will direct all 911 calls from campus pay phones to University Police rather than Columbus Police; (4) expansion of community policing programs. The community policing programs include working with Columbus Police, the Office of Residence and Dining Halls and area bar owners on alternatives to alcohol consumption. University Police headquarters will be the new home of the Crimewatch Escort Service operated by the Undergraduate Student Government. Police will be helping to make the popular service more efficient and effective. The Crimewatch Escort Service provides free van rides or walking escorts to campus and near off-campus locations during the evenings. Ron Michalec, police chief, 292-3590. High on Pride is a cooperative project among the university, the city of Columbus, the campus area neighborhood associations and the local property owners to clean up the neighborhood east of the Columbus campus. On Oct. 1, volunteers will clean streets, sidewalks, alleys and other public spaces in the area bounded by High Street on the west, Norwich Avenue on the north, Fourth Street on the east, and Ninth Avenue on the south. Volunteers are being sought from among the Ohio State students, faculty and staff and from the neighborhood residents and property owners. They will pick up litter, remove bulk trash, sweep streets, collect recyclables and remove dead brush in two-hour shifts from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Volunteers are invited to enjoy food, music and prizes at a celebration to be held on the plaza in front of the Wexner Center for the Arts beginning at 2 p.m. High on Pride, University Community Clean Up is part of Ohio State's ongoing effort to improve the safety and liveability of the neighborhoods surrounding the campus. This effort gives everyone a chance to participate in the partnership and to gain a better sense of community. To volunteer, call the High on Pride line at 688-DIRT (688- 3478). SERVICES FOR STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF The Office of Admissions and Financial Aid has created a new tour for its Campus Visit Program for prospective students. Offered at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, the two-hour tour is led by student guides known as "University Ambassadors." =46rom the meeting point in the Drake Union, the first tour stop is a model residence hall suite in Morrill Tower, followed by a drive through the Medical Center. Visitors then walk through Mirror Lake Hollow, the Main Library, Orton Hall library and museum, University Hall, a classroom, and across the Oval to Enarson Hall (home of University College) and back to the bus via the Kuhn Honors House and Browning Amphitheater. They ride to Larkins Hall, around the stadium and back to Drake Union. A reservation system has been established, and those wishing to take the tour are asked to call (614) 292-3980 before they arrive on campus. Carol Hothersall, Admissions and Financial Aid, 292- 1783. In addition, there are numerous Campus Visit opportunities and career days scheduled throughout the year. These provide more specific information about particular colleges and academic programs. Most include open houses to view facilities and opportunities to talk with currently enrolled students as well as faculty in the college or area. Prospective students are advised to call the admissions office at 292-3980 for information about these days. In October, a new overview presentation for prospective students and their families will be unveiled. The hour-long program, offered at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. daily at the Drake Union, will incorporate slides and put more emphasis on university history. About two-thirds will be delivered by admissions staff and one-third by financial aid staff. A new book describes the more than 200 undergraduate majors available at Ohio State, listing each field and its career opportunities and salary trends, along with recommended high school preparation and university prerequisites. The degree requirements are spelled out along with sample curricula. Each entry includes the name, address and phone number of a contact person in the academic department. Paula Compton, Admissions and Financial Aid, 292-6633. Students will no longer have to stand in line to pick up student loan checks. The Office of Fees, Deposits and Disbursements and the Office of Student Loan Services are implementing new procedures to apply university loans directly to students' accounts. Information and instructions were mailed to students at their home addresses. Students may call 292-1056 if they have not received this information or 292-EASE (3273) to insure that loan funds have been applied to their account. The Office of Fees, Deposits and Disbursements has extended its customer service hours to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays. James Nichols, university treasurer, 292-6261. A new tool for student evaluation of courses is available. Called Student Evaluation of Instruction (SEI), it is the product of over a decade of research and development by more than three dozen faculty members, students and staff members. Unlike the previous student evaluation tools, SEI is to be used for monitoring teaching performance primarily for personnel decisions related to merit pay increases, promotion and tenure. Beth Venter, Office of the University Registrar, 292-1556. Introduced on the Columbus campus this fall, the new Buck=F9I=F9D card will allow students to make electronic cash transfers for such things as meals, laundry and bookstore purchases. All students with university meal plans automatically get the cards; others can sign up by depositing $10 to open an account. As students use their Buck=F9I=F9D cards in university dining halls, they receive up to a 35 percent discount from the cash prices. In addition, a number of vendors in the student unions, campus vending machines and residence hall laundry machines will accept the card. More money can be deposited in the accounts at any time, and money left over at the end of the quarter or end of the year will be refunded. There is no fee to establish an account and no interest charges. Other features of the new cards are two magnetic strips which can be programmed for a variety of purposes and a bar code strip on the front. The cards also carry ISO numbers, an international identification number not related to the Social Security number. Valerie Shafer, Residence and Dining Halls, 292-2431. There's a new telephone exchange on the Columbus campus. Numbers for undergraduate students living in residence halls have been switched to a new exchange, 688, from the 293 exchange which they had shared with the University Medical Center. The medical center now has about 4,000 additional numbers available for use. Graduate students living in Jones Tower and non-traditional students living in Buckeye Village are being asked to make the change voluntarily. Some may choose to keep their 293 numbers because they have resumes out with those numbers. University offices will remain on the 292 exchange. For all three university telephone exchanges, callers from campus phones need dial only the last five digits of any number for on-campus calls. Thus, to call a student in an undergraduate residence hall from a campus phone, one needs only to dial 8 followed by the four-digit number. Karen Patterson, UNITS, the university telephone system, 292-9155. A new two-tiered parking decal system has been implemented on the Columbus campus. Those who park on the central campus will pay more than those who park on the west campus. For instance, faculty who want to park on central campus must pay $204 versus $156 for a west campus decal. The annual rates for staff are $108 and $84, and for students $74 and $37. Purchasers of all decals get bus passes, which will allow them to ride shuttle buses between the west campus parking lots and the central campus at no charge. Three new parking lots with approximately 2,000 spaces have been constructed on West Campus this summer at a cost of $2.8 million. Caleb Brunson, director of Traffic and Parking, 292-9341. The Office of University Ombudservices is offering a new way to resolve student-to-student conflicts involving issues of diversity. The Intra-University Mediation Program uses trained volunteer mediators who are graduate students in business, law, social work, social sciences and humanities. In addition to working with individuals, the program will make presentations to interested student groups. Pat Williams, Ombuds Office, 292- 0307. New Employee Orientation is now offered quarterly for Ohio State staff. It consists of four three-hour sessions: (1) a welcome to Ohio State, (2) a benefits overview, (3) diversity at Ohio State, and (4) campus tour and support services. The orientation is targeted to staff who have held a regular appointment for less than six months. Nancy Campbell, Training and Career Development, 292-4500. OSCAR is the new name on campus. It stands for Ohio State Catalog for Automated Retrieval and is the new computer catalog/circulation system for University Libraries. It replaces LCS, which has been the libraries' online catalog and circulation system for nearly 25 years. OSCAR is menu driven, which means that users do not have to memorize commands as they did with LCS. It also has the ability to search hundreds of thousands of records by subject, secondary authors and alternate titles that were previously accessible only by primary author and title. Free workshops are offered each quarter for students, faculty and staff who wish to learn more about OSCAR, including tips for advanced searching. OSCAR is the first phase of Ohio State's integration into OhioLINK, the statewide system that will provide access to the collections of all member libraries. Susan Logan, coordinator of automated library services, 292-6151. The main Bookstore on Millikin Road will have special extended hours during the first week of classes and will be open one hour longer throughout the quarter in order to better serve evening students. The new daily hours are Monday-Thursday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Internet users can access the ASK-A-BOOKSTORE program to make inquiries and order merchandise at this address: bookstores@osu.edu. Robert Carlson, director, 292-2991. =20 The Purchasing Department has opened a new Bid Room on the 8th Floor of Lincoln Tower, 1800 Cannon Dr. It is open during regular business hours Monday through Friday for all vendors who would like to do business with Ohio State. Purchasing Department, 292-2551. Opening this month is the new Visiting Faculty Lodge at 1478 Pennsylvania Ave., just north of King Avenue and west of Neil Avenue. It has 15 furnished suites with private baths and mini kitchens. Residents have access to a great room for meetings and a full-size kitchen with appliances, dishes and cookware. There are self-service vending and laundry areas. Designed and built to meet the needs of professional guests (visiting faculty, artists, physicians and administrators), the suites rent for $550 a month on three- to 12-month leases. Several suites and all common areas are completely accessible under ADA guidelines. Because of high demand for the three existing Visiting Faculty Quarters apartments on Lane Avenue, three more have been created nearby. These one-bedroom apartments rent for $800 per month. Barbara King, Property Management, 292-0770. [Submitted by: REIDV (reidv@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu) Wed, 14 Sep 1994 11:35:26 -0500 (EST)] All documents are the responsibility of their originator.