96-09-13 Trustees: Development, Research, Miscellaneous TRUSTEES ENDOW CHAIRS AND PROFESSORSHIPS, APPROVE CONTRACTS COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees on Friday (9/13) established endowed chairs and professorships in constitutional law, ecological management, children's literature and agricultural marketing and policy. The board also approved research contracts and conducted other business. Board creates chairs in law, ecological management Trustees established The Heck-Faust Memorial Chair in Constitutional Law, created with a gift of $2,765,244 from the estate of Grace Fern Heck-Faust, who lived in Urbana and earned her bachelor's and law degrees from Ohio State in 1928 and 1930, respectively. Annual income from the endowment will provide salary and program support for a scholar and teacher in constitutional law. The W. K. Kellogg Foundation-endowed chair in ecological management was created with a $1.5 million gift from the Battle Creek, Mich., foundation. The annual income from the endowment will support the work of a professor whose research, teaching and public service focus on ecosystems design and management and on farming systems. The chair holder will lead a multi-disciplinary stakeholder team to produce innovative research and teaching programs concerned with an ecological approach to farm and resource management. The thrust will be in the area of whole farm, farming community and natural resource management. The Charlotte S. Huck Professorship in Children's Literature was created from a $512,181 fund established to support a faculty member specializing in children's literature. The fund was created in 1986 with gifts from Ohio State alumni and friends of Charlotte S. Huck of Columbus (43202), a professor emeritus in the College of Education, who was instrumental in establishing Ohio State's nationally renowned program in children's literature and played a key role in helping to establish Reading Recovery and other programs. The Francis B. McCormick Professorship in Agricultural Marketing and Policy was created with $250,191 from a fund established in 1991 with gifts from the estate of Francis B. McCormick, an alumnus and former associate chairperson of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. In addition, trustees created several other named endowed funds with gifts to the university's development fund and foundation: -- The John W. Wolfe Chair Fund in Cancer Research, $750,000. -- The John Adam Sammet and Emma Miller Sammet Trust, $237,638, for research and education in the School of Natural Resources. -- Mary Keller Moyer Memorial Fund, $235,345, to provide funds for academic use in the College of Veterinary Medicine. -- The Affiliate to the Ohio Optometric Association (AOOA) Endowed Fund to Support the BuckEYE Van in the College of Optometry, $115,000, for annual costs of the van's use in on-site vision screenings of school children, pre-school children, and residents of nursing homes. -- Miriam and Stanley Schwartz Jr. Cancer Research Endowment Fund, $100,375. -- The Richard A. Yarrington and Esther Rabe Yarrington Endowed Scholarship Fund, $60,385, in the Knowlton School of Architecture. -- The Professor Samuel E. Rasor Mathematics Scholarship Fund, $52,146. -- The A. Alfred Taubman Innovation Fund in Business, $50,000, for new projects and activities. -- The Franklin M. Rhodes Memorial Scholarship Fund in Industrial and Systems Engineering, $30,000. -- James B. Umsted Scholarship Fund, $30,000, for university students who are financially needy. -- The Glenn C. and Janet L. Wenz Scholarship Fund, $29,844, for students attending the Agricultural Technical Institute. -- The Smith E. Howland and Aristech Chemical Corporation Scholarship Fund, $28,000, for students in the Department of Chemical Engineering. The Sarah M. and William F. Spengler MBA Program Enrichment Fund, $26,400. -- Edward F. Lopina Scholarship Endowment Fund, $25,586, for students in the Fisher College of Business. -- The Drug Emporium Scholarship Fund in Pharmacy, $25,000. -- The William M. and Rosalind W. Wolfson University Scholarship Fund in the Fisher College of Business, $25,000. -- Paulding County 4-H & Youth Endowment Fund, $15,363. Research projects approved The board approved 401 contracts totaling $33,333,123 for research projects funded in June and July. Singled out for special mention were: -- The business plan for the National Regulatory Research Institute for fiscal year 1997, funded with $1,660,091 from the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. The association established the institute at Ohio State in 1976 to provide research and educational and technical services to the nation's state public utility commissioners. This year, the institute is involved in 15 new projects focusing on helping states adapt to restructured and more competitive utility markets. The institute is directed by Douglas N. Jones and has a full- time staff of 25, in addition to faculty from Ohio State and elsewhere and several graduate and undergraduate students. -- A study of the development of myopia, or nearsightedness, in children, conducted by Karla Zadnik of the College of Optometry. The National Eye Institute is providing $830,582 to investigate factors that may predict the onset of juvenile myopia, assess the influence of ethnicity on the development of normal ocular and refractive error, and use the phenotypic characterization of children in the Orinda Longitudinal Study of Myopia to identify prevalent cases of myopia and their families. -- A study of the function and assembly of carbon dioxide assimilatory enzymes. F. Robert Tabita of the Department of Microbiology is heading the study, funded with $257,766 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. -- A study of the large blooms of microcystis aeruginosa, a non-nitrogen-fixing species of cyanobacteria, that occurred in the western basin of Lake Erie last year. While levels of other cyanobacteria have remained low, microcystis aeruginosa has suddenly increased. Because microcystis can produce virulent toxins, David A. Culver of the Department of Zoology and other investigators plan to delineate the interactions of the algae and its toxins with Lake Erie, monitor the frequency and distribution of the blooms, examine their causes, and communicate the results to the public, Lake Erie managers, and the scientific community. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is providing $227,402 for the study. -- A project to retrieve information on precipitation that fell over Greenland from 1979 to 1995. Variations will be studied and contrasted and the relations between Greenland precipitation and cyclonic activity, temperature variations, and large scale atmospheric circulation will be studied and summarized. David H. Bromwich and Qiu-Shi Chen of the Byrd Polar Research Center are conducting the project, funded with $227,208 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Resolutions in memoriam The board approved resolutions in memory of: -- Alfred B. Garrett, professor emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and Ohio State's first vice president for research, who died July 12. -- Florence A. Hendee, assistant professor emeritus in University Libraries, who died July 6. -- Thyra B. Kabealo, professor emeritus in the Department of English, who died July 31. -- Iris Macumber, professor emeritus in Ohio State University Extension and retired Montgomery County extension agent, who died June 4. -- Walter E. Mitchell Jr., professor emeritus in the Department of Astronomy, who died July 26. -- Andrew I. Schwebel, professor in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, who died June 4. -- Floyd S. Stahl, professor emeritus in the School of Physical Activity and Educational Services and former head baseball and basketball coach, who died July 26. -- Vern A. Vandemark, associate professor emeritus in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, who died July 13. -- Marilyn Robinson Waldman, professor in the Department of History and the Division of Comparative Studies in the Humanities, who died July 8. Miscellaneous matters In other business, trustees: -- Elected William J. Napier as secretary of the Board of Trustees through the May 1997 meeting. Napier succeeds Robert M. Duncan, who stepped down this summer. -- Presented a student recognition award to Karen Lee Gallagher, a medical student from COLUMBUS (43214), for her outstanding leadership and volunteer services to the university community. -- Accepted 115 waivers of competitive bidding requirements for purchases totaling $39.7 million, including $27.4 million for merchandise for resale and $8.2 million for health care services and equipment for the hospitals. In all, 88 purchases totaling $37.1 million were from sole- source suppliers, nine purchases were made for emergency reasons, and 18 others for sufficient economic reason. -- Appointed architect Curtis J. Moody and retired Columbus Dispatch editor Robert B. Smith to terms on The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute Board. Smith's term ends May 13, 1999, and Moody's term expires May 13, 2000. Trustees also reappointed Richard J. Solove and Ellen Hardymon to terms expiring May 13 in 1997 and 1998, respectively. -- Heard a report on the annual Campus Campaign from Richard Hill, professor and dean emeritus of the College of Optometry, and Marquetta Peavy, assistant director of hospital human resources. The campaign works to educate faculty, staff and prospective graduates about fund raising, nurture a philanthropic attitude, and increase the level of giving and percentage of participation on campus. Hill and Peavy noted that since the campaign's inception in 1985, current and retired faculty and staff have contributed more than $33 million to Ohio State. -- Heard a report in the Educational Affairs Committee from Nancy M. Rudd, vice provost for academic policy and personnel, regarding two draft policies that are being discussed this fall by a number of university groups. One addresses two kinds of conflicts in employment: conflict of commitment and conflict of interest. The other clarifies the university's policy and process for approving faculty external professional service activities such as consulting. An interim revised process for approving and monitoring external professional service activities will be implemented this fall pending approval of the new policy. -- Heard an update on Ohio State's accreditation by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Alayne Parson, vice provost, and Randy Smith, provost's faculty fellow, reported that approximately 20 evaluators are expected to visit Ohio State in early May. The Accreditation Steering Committee is finalizing a draft accreditation report, which will be reviewed by numerous university committees and individuals. Ohio State and all other universities and colleges are accredited every 10 years to ensure they meet academic standards. # Contact: Tom Spring, University Communications, (614) 292-8309. [Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu) Fri, 13 Sep 1996 16:44:08 -0400] All documents are the responsibility of their originator.