7-24-98 STORY TIPS This and every University Communications news release is available on the Internet and World Wide Web. Our Web address is www.acs.ohio-state.edu. BASKETBALL ANYONE?--July 24. William E. Kirwan, president of The Ohio State University, will host a picnic and basketball tournament with students from the Samuel DuBois Cook Summer Young Scholars Conference today (7/24) from noon to 3 p.m. in the area between Park and Smith Halls, 110 W. 11th Ave. The event marks the closing of the week-long conference, in which underrepresented low-income students from nine Ohio cities took part in career exploration, personal development and college preparatory course work. The Young Scholars Program gives first generation college- bound Ohio minority students a college education at little or no cost to the students with a goal to increase the number of underrepresented minority students at the college level with particular emphasis on African American, Latino American, Native American, and Appalachian students. CONTACT: Paula Smith, acting director of YSP, 292-4980. OSU HOSTS SUMMER PHONICS INSTITUTE--July 26-29. The Ohio State Summer Phonics Institute will emphasize what constitutes a good phonics program for pre- service teachers at its conference Sunday through Wednesday (7/26-7/29) at the Marriott North Hotel, 6500 Doubletree Ave. Richard Allington, professor of education and chair of the Department of Reading at the University of Albany, State University of New York, will speak on "Characteristics of Exemplary Phonics Instruction" at 7 p.m. Sunday (7/26). Under mandate from several state legislatures, including Ohio's, new public school teachers will need phonics classwork to meet licensure standards. Education professionals from around the state will stress how to set up programs to instruct future teachers on how to teach phonics and how phonics can improve literacy in children. CONTACT: Gemma McLuckie, College of Education, 292-4658. BUCKEYES, START YOUR ENGINES--July 28. The Ohio State University will announce the "Ohio State Motorsports" program and unveil an Ohio State stock car and a NASCAR truck at a news conference on Tuesday, July 28, at the Center for Automotive Research, 930 Kinnear Road, at 11 a.m. Reporters should enter through the garage at the rear of the building. Appearing at the press conference will be two drivers and their vehicles with Ohio State logos. A merchandising program -- including an Ohio State Motorsports logo -- that will support initiatives at the Center for Automotive Research (CAR) and the student motorsports project teams in the College of Engineering will also be announced. CONTACT: Rick Van Brimmer, Trademark & Licensing Services, 292- 1562. The person listed as the contact for each item will have the best information about the story. Feel free to call on our news services staff for assistance with these or other Ohio State news stories -- Ruth Gerstner, 292-8424; Tracy Turner, 688-3682; and Emily Caldwell, 292-8309. **Compiled by Tracy Turner, University Communications, (Turner.44@osu.edu).