March 2006

What's going on at Ohio State?

Both Buckeye basketball teams win outright Big Ten titles. A legal clinic saves students who live off-campus big bucks. An undergraduate goes to Amsterdam to show off a documentary produced by students. Researchers discover what made the man on the moon. An undergrad spends fall quarter in New York interning with the zany Conan O'Brien. A couple funds a medical research fellowship to honor their son, who died at age 12. An Ohio State professor goes to Uganda to accept an award from the African Crop Science Society. Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer discusses Ohio State's motto. And it's Scarlet vs. Gray at next month's spring game.

Buckeye b-ballers lead the Big Ten

Ohio State made Big Ten history March 5, when the men's basketball team beat Purdue: For the first time in conference history, a university's men's and women's basketball team won the regular season title outright, in the same year. It's been quite a roll for Buckeye Athletics (remember last football season?) and it's not over yet: Both the men's and women's squads head into the NCAA tournaments this week.

Watch a video of the men's post-game celebration, and congratulate the players.

Rent control

Renting that first apartment can be hard: Not only are you living on your own, you have to sign a binding legal document and figure out how to get along with your landlord.

Nowadays, students have a leg up: The Student Housing Legal Clinic, a joint project between Student Affairs and the Moritz College of Law, offers all Ohio State students free lease reviews and rental tips, and takes the lead in court when landlord-tenant relationships go awry.

Since 1999, the clinic has helped students get more than $300,000 owed to them by landlords.

Read how.

The Smithsonian's calling

Imagine you're an undergraduate finishing your first documentary. Then the Smithsonian calls asking for a copy. It happened to Genna Duberstein, an honors student, last month.

"I never anticipated all this project would become," says Duberstein, who didn't have any film experience when she signed up to tape interviews with Japanese-Americans interned during World War II. On March 25, she'll present the film at the European Social Science History Conference in Amsterdam.

Watch the documentary. And, read about one of its subjects, an Ohio State alumna who was interned at age 6.

Explaining the Man in the Moon

People see all kinds of things when they look at the moon: a woman, a hare, a buffalo, a frog, a moose, and — in the United States — the Man in the Moon.

But when Ohio State researchers look into the night sky, they see something else: the result of a collision 4 billion years ago.

Read about the crash.

On the set with Conan

When Kyle Bethea, a junior in Ohio State's Communication Technology Scholars program, got an internship on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, his friends thought he'd be mopping floors.

Actually, he got to do much more — including, sit in while Conan ran through his monologue before air time.

Read about Bethea's daily routine.

Fellowship honors pre-teen

As a young boy, Jeffrey Thomas Hayden didn't want to be a rock star or a fireman. He dreamed of going to Ohio State, becoming a medical researcher, and finding a cure for his inoperable brain cancer.

Jeffrey died just before his 13th birthday, but his parents are helping him realize part of his dream. They've created the Jeffrey Thomas Hayden Foundation Postdoctoral Endowed Fellowship in pediatric brain tumor research.

Read more.

Feeding Africa

Rich Pratt's lab at Ohio State's Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster has an international flair.

The professor brings Ugandan students there to help him develop tools to fight corn-killing disease — invaluable knowledge they take back to Africa.

"OSU has shown a sustained commitment; we are not just a fair-weather friend," says Pratt, who recently won the 2005 African Crop Science Society Award. "We've been developing these relationships both in times of peace and when the bullets were flying."

Read more.

Moyer on the motto

What's in a motto? At Ohio State, a lot, says Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Moyer.

Moyer, a two-time Ohio State grad (1961 and 1964), writes about the university's motto, "Education for citizenship," in the current issue of the Ohio State Alumni Magazine.

"'Education for citizenship' is not just a textbook," he writes. "It is a way of life."

Read the full story.

Are you ready for some football?

It's been more than two months since the Buckeyes won the Fiesta Bowl, but relief is in sight — and you don't need to wait until the new season starts September 2.

On April 22, $5 will buy you a chance to see the new team in action at the Spring Game.

Check out the new players. Then, buy tickets.