Vol. 38, No. 18

1-7-2009
By:

Newsbriefs, 1/8/09

Columbus health care experts help shape Obama policies
Area health care experts and advocates for health care reform met Dec. 30 in the Wallace Auditorium of University Hospital East to summarize their views and suggestions for a national health plan, which will be forwarded to President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team. Similar meetings are being held around the country at the request of former South Dakota Sen. Tom Daschle, who will serve as secretary of Health and Human Services. Steven Gabbe, senior vice president for health sciences at Ohio State and CEO of the OSU Medical Center, moderated the discussion.

Digital Storytelling Showcase features faculty, staff work
The Digital Storytelling Showcase is back, featuring an all-new collection of short multimedia presentations created by faculty and staff campuswide.

After an immersion workshop in Photoshop, iMovie and Garage Band, and a series of intensive story development roundtables, participants in this quarter’s Digital Storytelling program will present their work from 10:30-11:30 a.m. Jan. 9 in 060 Science and Engineering Library and answer questions about the production process.

Projects in this quarter’s showcase were created by members of the Theater Department, University Libraries, the College of Education and Human Ecology, the College of Dentistry, the Fisher College of Business and more. Learn more at digitalunion.osu.edu/story.

Delta Dental removes Social Security numbers as identifiers
Faculty and staff at Ohio State enrolled in the Delta Dental program will no longer have to use their Social Security numbers as identification. A Jan. 1 update to the system allows enrollees to use their eight- or nine-digit OSU employee ID for eligibility and claims processing.

Employees with nine-digit numbers can access the system with no changes. Those with eight-digit numbers must add a zero to the front of their ID.

New identification cards are being mailed out the first two weeks of January to faculty and staff already enrolled along with an explanation of the changes. For more information, contact the Office of Human Resources Customer Service Center at service@hr.osu.edu, 292-1050 or (800) 678-6010.

AT&T grant expands Student Success Centers
AT&T has announced a four-year, $380,000 grant to the College of Education and Human Ecology’s Student Success Centers as part of the AT&T High School Success program to combat the nation’s high school dropout crisis.

With the grant, Ohio State’s Student Success Centers will expand programs which provide academic mentoring, specialized counseling services, career/college advisement and skills training for at-risk students at Linden McKinley High School and South High School, both in Columbus.

Faculty in the Counselor Education program, James Moore III and Colette Dollarhide, will be placing their graduate students in the schools this coming year to work directly with high-risk 9th graders. This grant will allow the program to serve as many as 100 students at each school.

Mershon Center seeks applications for grant funds
The Mershon Center for International Security Studies seeks applications from OSU faculty and students for grants to support projects related to the study of national security in a global context. Junior faculty members and those who have not previously received Mershon grants are encouraged to apply by the Jan. 30 deadline.

Applications must be for projects that relate broadly to one or more of the Mershon Center’s three areas of focus: The use of force and diplomacy; the ideas, identities and decisional processes that affect security; and the institutions that manage violent conflict.

For more information, including application forms and instructions, please see the Grants section of the Web site.

Free biometric screenings begin Jan. 20
The calendar for campus biometric screenings is once again wide open, with appointments available beginning Jan. 20. All Ohio State employees are encouraged to take advantage of this free benefit annually to track blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, weight and height.

The biometrics obtained in the screening can be used to complete the Personal Health Assessment, which allows an employee to receive a $6.92 biweekly or $15 monthly discount off his or her medical premium and qualify for the 2009 Incentive Program, where additional rewards up to $125 can be earned. Appointments are available almost daily at a number of locations around campus. For more information or to schedule your screening, visit yourplanforhealth.com or call 292-1050.

Erzen earns CGS humanites award
The Council of Graduate Schools has awarded the 2008 Gustave Arlt Award in the Humanities to Tanya Erzen, associate professor of comparative studies at Ohio State. The winner was announced at an awards ceremony last month during the 48th CGS annual meeting, in Washington, DC.

The Arlt Award is given annually to a young scholar who has written a book that is deemed to be of outstanding scholarly significance in the humanities. Erzen won for her book, Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement (University of California Press, 2006). She was nominated by Ohio State, and received a PhD in American studies from New York University in 2002.

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