2-5-99

OHIO STATE EMPHASIZES ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT, STUDENT LEADERSHIP

   COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University's commitment to academic enrichment and student leadership was highlighted in presentations to the Board of Trustees Friday (2/5).

   Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray was joined by several faculty members in presenting an update on the Academic Enrichment grant program. The offices of Academic Affairs and Research developed the program to stimulate and encourage excellence within and across academic units.

   "The program is working," Ray said. "More than $8 million has been awarded since 1995, and 61 faculty positions have been authorized as a result of this program and the matching funds provided by sponsoring units."

   Ray said he and Interim Vice President for Research William Baeslack are committed to continuing the focused funding "as part of the effort to move Ohio State to the forefront of America's public research universities."

   The new initiatives have received a total of almost $1.6 million in annual and/or one-time funding. Initiatives featured at the trustees meeting included:

   -- The Proposed Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities, which will receive $100,000 annually. The funding supports public education programs, the cross-disciplinary research activities of Ohio State and visiting scholars, and staff and graduate assistant salaries. Christian Zacher, director of the institute and chair of the Division of Comparative Studies in the College of Humanities, noted the institute's overall emphasis on facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration among scholars and students and promoting the engagement of the humanities with the public. The institute is located in the Humanities House, 1478 Pennsylvania Ave.

   Zacher said the institute will promote research among humanists within and outside the College of Humanities through the appointment of fellows and visiting scholars, a program of presentations organized around an annual topic, and cooperative ties with other university centers.

   The institute's outreach will include a traveling chautauqua show, a study of how ethnic communities in Ohio preserve their cultures through heritage schools, production of an encyclopedia of Midwestern history and culture, and other special projects. "Outreach is both more expected and more possible at a large public land grant university, and we have devoted a lot of our energy to such efforts," Zacher said.

   Finally, a Humanities House living/learning community will allow undergraduate honors students to engage intellectually and socially with scholars and faculty through fireside chats and lunch discussions, communal meals and a planned year-long comprehensive humanities course.

   -- New Media Technologies in Arts, which will receive $149,684 annually. The funding supports equipment upgrades and the hiring of a faculty member with a joint appointment in the Department of Dance and the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD). The equipment and software upgrades will link the College of the Arts' interdisciplinary technologies to university and external partners.

   Karen Bell, chair of the Department of Dance, told trustees the department began its pioneering work in technology in the mid-1980s with the creation of a computer software called Labanwriter, which facilitates the notation system for the reading and writing of dance movements. In the 1990s, the department expanded the documentation, linking video, floorplan and musical score to the notation. Computer technology also is used in creative work -- both in explorations in animation and in linking multimedia with live performance.

   "Until this year, we have done all of this with two part- time incredibly dedicated staff people," Bell said, adding that Academic Enrichment funding already has allowed the department to hire a full-time staff member and replace 10-year-old computers, and the faculty search is in progress. "We are well poised for the future and look forward to it."

   -- Interdisciplinary Program in Ecological Engineering, which will receive $117,000 annually and $30,000 in one-time funding. Annual funding will support development of a new multidisciplinary academic program in ecological engineering. One-time funds will assist with start-up costs and allow Ohio State to host a curriculum development workshop in March with other universities. The initiative was proposed by the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering, the School of Natural Resources and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science.

   "We at Ohio State are making a bold statement in declaring that we think the science of ecology and its application through engineering is worthy of development to a separately defined discipline, and that we are willing to commit our best effort to make it happen," said Robert Gustafson, associate dean for academic affairs and student services in the College of Engineering.

Enrichment funds to hire two faculty members in the College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and one in the College of Engineering are part of development of the program, which will focus on finding solutions to design, create and restore the Earth's ecosystems. Participants in the upcoming workshop are other universities identified as collaborators in the initiative to develop ecological engineering as a U.S. academic discipline. "We want to do it right to make this a worldwide and sustainable movement," Gustafson told trustees.

The other funded Academic Enrichment initiatives this year are:

ACADEMIC PROGRAM ENHANCEMENTS

-- Center for Materials Research Scholar in Polymer Synthesis and Processing, $88,650 annually.
-- Collaborative Midwifery Graduate Program, $90,750 annually.
-- Fine Particle Technology, $140,000 annually.
-- Health Sciences Initiatives, $186,550 annually.
-- Human Language Processing, $70,000 annually, $70,000 in one-time funding.
-- Modeling & Analysis of Space-Time Phenomena, $131,593 annually.
-- NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) Facility, $30,950 annually, $45,000 in one-time funding.

STUDENT EXPERIENCE

-- Computer Based Learning and Testing Through the Mathematics and Statistics Learning Center, $120,000 annually, $30,000 in one-time funding.
-- Interdisciplinary Graduate Programs in the Life Sciences, $75,000 in the first of two scheduled installments of one-time funding.
-- Strengthening the Undergraduate International Studies Program, $75,000 in the first of two scheduled installments of one-time funding.

Students have a variety of leadership options

   An emphasis on volunteerism is the focus of several new initiatives being introduced to students as part of efforts by the offices of Student Affairs and Academic Affairs to incorporate a service-learning component into undergraduate education.

   The program is supported by the Ruth Weimer Mount Leadership Initiatives Fund, created with memorial gifts from students, colleagues, friends and family. Mount, former associate dean of women, director of women's housing and first dean of students at Ohio State, had a long legacy of service to the university extending from the time she joined the staff in 1953 until her death in the summer of 1997.

   Sixty undergraduate students chosen from the top 20 percent of their high school graduating class will participate in the pilot program autumn quarter. Each student will receive a $600 annual scholarship, be housed in a common residence hall and participate in academic and co-curricular programming that focuses on leadership strategies, public policy and decision making, community service and problem-solving techniques.

   The students' courses will include English with a focus on writing about leadership and community service, allowing students to develop a portfolio of their leadership record; statistics classes with an emphasis on quantitative methods and policy; service-learning classes; and a university survey course taught by Student Affairs and Academic Affairs personnel.

   Kathy Cleveland Bull, director of training and development for Housing, Food Services, and Event Centers, reported on a new Leadership Institute that will integrate service learning, speakers, workshops and programming to give students a well- rounded experience with community service.

   "This program focuses on leadership, but not the traditional view of leadership in which a person is elected to lead a group of people," Bull said. "Rather, because every student has leadership potential, this program was created for all students to add a leadership component to their student experience."

The institute will serve as an information clearinghouse and resource center as well as offer internships, leadership grants and an official out-of-class leadership transcript -- for use by prospective employers and graduate schools -- that lists the students' activities. The institute also will offer a LeaderShape program, sending 60 students to the Agricultural and Technical Institute in Wooster for a week to participate in an intense program of self-discovery and learning from practical experiences.

   Cleveland Bull said the institute will teach students important lessons about helping others, and will help students form a sense of compassion that will be useful as they prepare for life after graduation.

   The institute also has a minority leadership component that addresses leadership in the context of the ethnic minority experience, said Becky Parker, director of the Ohio Unions and co-creator of the institute. More than 20 students are participating in the program, which includes self-reflection, service learning, community service, leadership seminars and academic classes.

   Funding for the student affairs initiatives comes from $80,000 trustees approved last July for leadership and community service programming.

   Garland said the value in offering students opportunities for community service and leadership programming can been seen in increased retention.

   "When students become engaged in their community through service and leadership, it helps to give them a sense of ownership, and a sense of belonging," Garland said. "When students feel as though they belong, they are more apt to connect academically and graduate. They can bring what they learn from the classroom and apply it to real life."

Student recognition award

   Trustees presented a student recognition award to Kate Brown of Canton, Conn. A senior majoring in environmental sciences, Brown was honored for her work as a volunteer with the engineering service honorary TXNIKOI, where she serves as a tutor. Brown is a member of Sphinx, the senior honorary, and has worked with members on service projects such as working in local soup kitchens. She has played field hockey for four years, serving as team captain her last year. She is also the chair- elect of the Student Athletics Advisory Board.

Contacts:
Edward J. Ray, Academic Affairs, (614) 292-5881
Christian Zacher, Humanities, (614) 292-2559
Karen Bell, Dance, (614) 292-0984
Robert Gustafson, Engineering, (614) 292-0573
Martha Garland, Academic Affairs, (614) 292-5881
Kathy Cleveland Bull, Housing, Food Services, and Event Centers, (614) 292-5927