Limited Brands founder Leslie Wexner reacts to the Board of Trustees decision to rename OSU's Medical Center in his honor at the trustees meeting Feb. 10.

Leslie H. Wexner doesn’t blink when he tells you that Ohio State researchers and scientists will find cures for cancer.

He realizes that sounds like a lofty goal, but the man who turned a small Columbus clothing store in into a multibillion-dollar empire, is known for thinking big.

“Why can’t it happen here?” he asks. “We’ve got a super medical center that’s advancing by leaps and bounds. And the James is doing great research and great work with patients. They’re a model for the entire university.”

Of course, Wexner has played a major role in enhancing Ohio State’s ability to produce breakthrough research and improve patient care. Last year, Wexner, his family and his company gave $100 million to the university-the largest gift in its history-with much of the money expected to go to the medical center, Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

But while the gift generated widespread publicity, fewer people seem to know that beyond giving hundreds of millions of dollars to Ohio State, Wexner also donates thousands of hours of his time.

It is that commitment of both time and resources, said OSU President Gordon Gee, which spurred the Board of Trustees to vote unanimously today to rename the Ohio State Medical Center the Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University.

“He has taught me a great deal about creating the future, inspiring others, and always, always, always reaching beyond the known,” an emotional Gee said just before the vote. “That is what we celebrate with today’s honorific naming.”

It is a recognition that Wexner seems a bit awed by. “I think the naming is like, ‘wow.’ It’s an appreciation I never expected,” he said. “It’s also a responsibility on my side to stay connected and to help (the medical center) get better and better.”

Speaking at an afternoon event for the medical center’s faculty and staff, Wexner said he is both “humbled and thrilled” by the honor. He credited his wife, Abigail, for having the idea to give their most recent $100 million gift, saying she encouraged him to “do the right thing.”

To be sure, the Wexners have already built deep ties to the medical center. As chairman of the Ohio State Board of Trustees, Wexner is helping guide the center’s $1 billion expansion, the largest undertaking in the university’s history.

Abigail Wexner currently serves on the medical center’s board of directors. The two have been a driving force behind Pelotonia, an annual grassroots bike tour that has raised more than $25 million for cancer research. And they have been a part of countless university steering committees and fundraising campaigns.

For his part, Wexner said he doesn’t think of it so much as giving but as giving back. After all, he points out, “but for Ohio State, I wouldn’t have gone to college.”

“It never feels like work”

Beyond his extensive philanthropic work, Wexner continues to serve as Chairman, President and CEO of Limited Brands, which include Victoria’s Secret, Pink, Bath & Body Works, La Senza, and Henri Bendel. The company employs 90,000 people and its products are available at over 3,000 stores around the world and online.

That’s a long way from his start as a small shopkeeper in Columbus.

Born in Dayton, Ohio in 1937, Wexner learned about the world of retail from his parents, Harry, a Russian immigrant, and his mother, Bella, the first in her Russian family to be born in the U.S. He moved to Columbus with them in 1951 so they could open a store downtown named “Leslie’s.”

Besides an intense work ethic, what set him apart back then was his idea for launching a new kind of business-and a deep passion for making it happen. “I put myself into it with full hearted-optimism. No caution.”

So four years after graduating from Ohio State, Wexner borrowed $5,000 from his aunt to open a women’s apparel store in Upper Arlington called The Limited. Unlike his dad’s general clothing store, he limited his offerings to popular women’s sportswear-a plan his father originally dismissed, telling him: “You’ll never be a merchant.”

The store reached $160,000 in sales in the first year.

Wexner had found his calling, saying to an interviewer for the New York Times Magazine in 1986: “If you want to torture me, take my work away.”

Today, at 74, Wexner still feels the same way. He radiates energy when talking about his company, describing it as a “young business” that is always exciting. “It never feels like work. The community stuff never feels like work. Raising a family never feels like work,” he said, adding with a laugh, “Golf felt like work. So I quit.”

Wexner said his wife, Abigail, told him a few years ago that he might want to consider retiring. But she quickly changed her mind, saying he just had too many big ideas.

“I have to have something that gets me going,” he explained. “Like saying, ‘we’re going to double the business in the next five years.’ Or like Ohio State saying, ‘we’re going to rank in the top 10 in the next five years.’ ”

This year, Wexner continued his business expansion with new retail stores in Moscow-in a sense coming full circle. His father, he explained, left Russia on foot with people chasing him.

“When I visited the store, I walked back out, put my arm on the railing, got a few tears and thought, ‘Oh dad, isn’t this something.”

A giving spirit

Wexner has little patience with donors who wait until after they die to bequeath large philanthropic gifts. Doing great things only after you’ve gone to heaven, he said, is “cheating yourself.” Better to assess the need in the here and now.

He’s believed that ever since he gave Ohio State his first donation three years after graduating-for $5.

“When I started to do community work, my dad said, ‘Don’t be disappointed because you can’t change the world.’ ” he recalled. “And I thought about that for a while. And thought, he may be right, but I choose to believe that I can. Even if I can move it a fraction of a centimeter, it is worth the try.”

Besides, Wexner said, good leaders are visible leaders. And big donations can spur the additional gifts-big and small-needed to build the best facilities, recruit the best faculty and attract the best students.

Board of Trustee Member Gilbert Cloyd told the other board members on Friday that Les and Abigail Wexner have consistently provided extraordinary leadership to the university. “So it is appropriate to name the center for Les and his family - for all the passion, energy and leadership they bring to enhance the quality of people’s lives,” he said.

To describe the renaming, Cloyd said he borrowed a phrase that Wexner often uses: “This is really a big deal.”

Wexner said that both of his parents would be proud to know he’s making a difference in the medical arena-and to see the new name, Wexner Medical Center, go up on signs across the hospital grounds. Then he laughed and added,

“My mother would say, ‘you deserve it.’ My father would say, ‘it’s nice that they acknowledged what you’ve done. But what now? What are you going to do next?”

Just in time for United Black World Month and 200Columbus, the School of Music and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion present the story and voice of  almost-forgotten alumna Ruby Elzy

The word “diva” in today’s vernacular is firmly attached to larger-than-life stars like Mariah Carey, Beyoncé or, historically, Barbra Streisand. But for David Weaver, development director for the Ohioana Library, there is no diva like Ruby Elzy, a young black opera singer from the 1930s who overcame tremendous challenges to become a successful stage and screen presence and the pioneering voice of Serena in Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.

In fact, Weaver is more than Elzy’s biggest fan — he’s also the author of the definitive work on her legacy, titled Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy.

Ruby Elzy in 1937, the same year she returned to Ohio State as a full-fledged Broadway star and gave a concert to her alma mater.

“When I first wrote Ruby’s story, my primary objective was to have people discover her again because she has kind of fallen through the cracks,” said Weaver, a Columbus native who has a background in opera and musical theater. “I hadn’t even heard of her before 1998.”

Now, almost 70 years after her death, Elzy is once again taking center stage as the Ohio State School of Music and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion bring The Ruby Elzy Story to the historic Lincoln Theatre on Feb. 11, designed to coincide with United Black World Month. The fact that Elzy’s an Ohio State alumna — graduating with honors in 1930 after studying voice under Royal Hughes, founder of the university’s music department — is icing on the cake.

“There are so many things that came together for this, it was clearly the right moment in history to put Ruby back on the radar for the local arts community and beyond,” said Patrick Woliver, co-producer of the concert and associate director of the School of Music.

“Our production will coincide with the bicentennial celebration of Columbus — we’re really happy that it will take place on the ‘birthday weekend,’” he added. “Ruby Elzy was a pioneer of African American performers who broke ground for others that came a mere generation later.”

Elzy’s story is compelling even apart from her musical accomplishments. Born in an impoverished and segregated part of rural Mississippi, she grew up singing spirituals in church services and dreaming big dreams of a career on stage, even though as a black woman in the Jim Crow South she knew her prospects were limited. And then, in 1927, Ohio State Professor Charles “C.C.” McCracken, while visiting Mississippi’s Rust College, heard Elzy singing and was so impressed that he arranged for her to pursue her talents at Ohio State.

Upon her graduation, Elzy went straight to Juilliard and then to Broadway, making a name for herself in radio and film as well. Throughout her meteoric rise to fame, however, she never lost sight of Ohio State and its role in making her dreams possible. Unfortunately, those dreams were cut short when she died in 1943 at the young age of 35, after what should have been a routine operation.

“There are some questions about what really happened, but it was in Detroit at a time when everyone didn’t necessarily receive the same quality of medical care,” Woliver said.

Gathered around the piano after a rigorous rehearsal are the undergrad and graduate opera students who will be performing in the Feb. 11 aproduction, The Ruby Elzy Story. Seated at the piano is Ed Bak, a lecturer in the School of Music and accompanist for the production.

To honor the full spectrum of Elzy’s remarkable career and personal triumphs, Woliver and his colleagues decided to split the concert into two distinct halves. The first part will trace a path through her life, starting with her student days at Ohio State and blazing the trajectory of her professional career and her concert at the Roosevelt White House. Along with actual audio recordings of Elzy singing, undergraduate and graduate students in OSU’s opera program will sing songs from different time periods and productions in which she starred. In the background, photos from her life and career will be projected on screens and David Weaver will narrate a script that chronicles her life.

The second half of the production will feature OSU students singing excerpts from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, the great American opera in which she performed more than 800 times between 1935 and 1943.

“In addition to rediscovering the talents of Ruby Elzy, I hope the community recognizes that there is some real talent here at the Ohio State University,” Woliver said. “In many ways, we’re at the forefront of the community, not only in the sciences and other disciplines across campus but in the School of Music as well, so I want the audience to leave being inspired by the story and perhaps wowed by our talent.”

If you go…

“The Ruby Elzy Story” plays for one night only, Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. at the Lincoln Theatre, 769 E. Long Street in Columbus. Reserved-seat tickets are $15 general public and $8 senior citizens and students (with ID). Advanced ticket sales through the OSU Theatre Box Office,
292-2295, or the CAPA ticket office, 469-0939.

Did you know…

Columbus-based Huntington Bank, founded in 1866, has worked with Ohio State at various levels since both institutions were in their infancy.

The partnership today becomes “official.”

Leaders of both institutions are announcing a 15-year agreement they describe as the largest, most comprehensive and most innovative of its kind in the nation.

“This is an exciting, trailblazing new partnership between Ohio State and Huntington Bank, a great Ohio company and a true champion of the university,” said OSU President Gordon Gee.

As the official consumer bank of The Ohio State University, Huntington will provide $25 million up front (and additional revenue annually), the bulk of which will be used to directly enhance the educational experience for students.

Nearly half of that will go into the endowment and be used to update and renovate classroom space across the university.

The Office of Student Life will use another portion to support financial literacy programs, career initiatives that will take students into the community for internships and service learning projects, and seed money for student-developed initiatives to enhance student wellness.

The new funding also will be used to sustain and expand Alumni Association programming, including alumni career services, enhanced regional programming and events and the development of volunteer opportunities for alumni and supporters of Ohio State.

As part of the agreement, Huntington has committed to another $100 million in lending and investment to revitalize the University District and East side neighborhoods, and provide 20 internships per year of the agreement to OSU students. The bank also will open as many as three new branch offices and operate 25 ATMs on campus.

“This collaboration with Huntington wholly supports our core academic purposes — to educate young people and to enrich the lives of 11 million Ohioans,” Gee said. “I have no doubt it will help us advance our efforts to become a better neighbor and to build stronger communities.”

The partnership provides Huntington exclusive access to directly offer tailored products and services to the entire Ohio State community.

“We are delighted to partner with Ohio State,” said Steve Steinour, Huntington’s chairman, president and CEO. “Huntington believes strongly that partnerships like this can help universities grow and prosper while providing their employees, students and alumni access to valuable financial services and benefits.”

Geoff Chatas, senior vice president for Business and Finance at Ohio State, was charged from his first day on the job to find new and creative ways to fund the university’s strategic initiatives. His task is not only to sustain but also to enhance the university’s mission of teaching and learning at a time when the world’s economy is undergoing fundamental changes and governmental support is dwindling.

“The point of making a deal like this is to raise incremental funds to sustain our core, but it’s more than that,” he said. “We’re actually building and building upon a relationship, forming an agreement that not only is beneficial to both partners, but is one that helps the world around us.”

Chatas said the totality of the partnership is what makes it unique — the long-term aspect, the investment not only in the university but also in the surrounding community and the agreement that there will be no marketing of credit or loan offers to students.

He stressed that while anyone can opt out of the marketing, the offers likely will be attractive to those in the market for the services Huntington offers — similar if not exactly equal to the benefits available to Huntington employees.

“It’s a validation of the strength of the institution that we can form a partnership like this,” Chatas said. “What we’ve put together is a model that could have implications nationwide.”

By Julia Harris

Over the long lunch hour of Jan. 13, within the highly decorated walls of 400 Stillman Hall, some of Ohio State’s best and brightest minds gathered to share wisdom and experiences around the issues of building and managing teams.

Roughly 15 female faculty brought their lunches and their questions to the bi-weekly workshop, sponsored by NSF-funded Project CEOS (Comprehensive Equity at Ohio State) as part of an ongoing effort to increase the representation and advancement of women in the STEM disciplines through projects that transform workplace culture.

Among the topics up for discussion were the challenges of communicating within teams, setting and communicating rules of behavior, keeping team members motivated and giving/receiving feedback.

Karin Musier-Forsyth enjoys working with students in her lab — both undergraduate and graduate — and helping them succeed in research. Here she goes over a lab notebook with Brianne Sanford, a 4th-year graduate student in chemistry.

“For most science disciplines, you must have a research team and/or lab in order to be successful,” said Deb Ballam, CEOS program director. “However, science curriculums do not train scientists to become managers — even though that is precisely what they become when they have their own lab or research team.

“This series attempts to provide some of those management skills.”

No two women gathered around the table had exactly the same configuration of lab or research team, but they all had one thing in common: The often thankless job of managing other people’s time and energy.

One of the presenters at the Jan. 13 event was Ohio Eminent Scholar Karin Musier-Forsyth, a biochemist and researcher whose work focuses on replication of the HIV virus in human cells. Musier-Forsyth heads up a research group of almost 30 people, from undergraduates to graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. As the group has grown larger — and, admittedly, more unwieldy — Musier-Forsyth has had to learn and implement new management skills.

“I haven’t done actual lab work in something like 12 years,” said Musier-Forsyth, smiling. “I basically spend as much time as I can talking to my students about how they do their research and helping to direct them and write papers. As your lab grows, you have to change your management style a little bit in how you run your groups, your sub-groups and your interactions.”

Even though she was one of the presenters, Musier-Forsyth says that participating in the CEOS series of workshops and courses — and building collaborative relationships with other women faculty across campus — has taught her more than she has brought to it. “To be successful, you have to be successful at managing people, and I think women do have different management styles than men do.”

Another participant in the team-building workshop was Tracey Papenfuss, an assistant professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine who manages a much smaller lab that studies animal models of human disease, primarily multiple sclerosis. She has been taking part in CEOS workshops since October and says she has already benefitted from what she’s learned, particularly in terms of understanding the “people dynamics” of hiring and managing group dynamics.

“We had a strengths assessment at one point and even though I inherently knew a lot of my strengths and weaknesses, seeing them outlined in such a manner and then seeing how everyone in the class lined up was really interesting,” said Papenfuss. “It was helpful to look at ways I could improve and characteristics I could capitalize on to be more effective in my role as a Principal Investigator.”

Also beneficial, Papenfuss says, are the interactions and connections she has made with other faculty participating in the program, learning about common areas of challenge and discovering creative strategies for addressing some of them. An example she cites is the delicate negotiations between PIs and graduate/lab assistants who may not be pulling their weight in the lab.

“A large proportion of people in the workshop have graduate students working for them and they’re a different entity than a regular staff,” she said. “There are very prescribed ways of handling regular staff, in terms of evaluations and hiring or firing. With a graduate student, it’s more of a mentoring environment than a supervisor situation, and that particular nuance is different from the standard HR questions.”

Papenfuss anticipates that future iterations of the CEOS series will address these and other issues. For now, she looks forward to the rest of this year’s workshops, which will cover topics like project management, technology transfer and commercialization, and budgets and grant writing.

“An investigator in a lab is almost like a small business owner,” Papenfuss mused. “They have to know so much — and this program provides a lot of training, leadership and aspects to be aware of as you’re navigating academia.”

Scott Conlon, director of projects for OSU Facilities Design and Construction, smiles as he talks about cheating the system. It sounds a bit dastardly, but circumventing a standard practice will actually save Ohio State hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

Construction workers from Bergerson Caswell drill holes in the Hale Hall parking lot to create geothermal wells. The wells will feed the new South High Rise project.

And frankly, cheating a building’s chiller system is nothing to feel guilty about. It’s merely putting more than 50 years of solid engineering principles into practice.

In its current iteration, a chiller system takes heat from the water and makes it colder. The cold water is used to cool the building in the summer months for air conditioning, and the heat extracted by the chiller is typically expelled to the outside air as waste. In the colder months, hot water is produced by typically burning a fossil fuel to heat the buildings.

But Ohio State’s cheat — a heat pump that sends the water through a series of 6-inch-diameter holes bored into the ground — allows Mother Earth to keep the water at a constant temperature of about 54 degrees. Known as geothermal wells, the holes, which hold protective sleeves with water coils, allow buildings to conserve energy and use less capital equipment for heating and cooling, which lowers maintenance costs.

This relatively constant temperature allows the heat pump to add heat to the ground in the summer and then extract the heat in the winter, similar to charging a battery and then using the energy at a later date.

The two current projects that will use these wells, the South High Rises Renovation and Addition (Park/Stradley, Smith/Steeb and Siebert halls), and William Hall Complex (between 10th and 11th avenues), each expect to realize a 32 percent energy savings and a combined minimum cost savings of $415,000 annually.

The 147 wells adjacent to Hale Hall, which will feed the South High Rise project, will be completed in May. The parking lot formerly adjacent to Hale Hall will be turned into a green space called the Hale Green, which will be sodded and ready for use by the autumn semester.

No structures can be built on top of the wells, so it will remain green space. As part of the planning, Hale Hall could eventually come down to create one large green space that stretches out from the South Oval.

The South Oval’s 259 wells won’t be complete until May 2013, and the South Oval is currently scheduled for an October 2013 opening, although Conlon said the project team is working hard to find opportunities to expedite that schedule.

The William Hall Complex wells are being drilled in an inner courtyard and are nearly complete.

“If we weren’t using geothermal for these projects, we would be using steam, and by using geothermal instead we can reserve the steam capacity for future projects,” Conlon said. “But we’ll use virtually no steam for the heating and cooling in these buildings, and that’s not even calculated in the savings.”

The drilling was expected to be finished sooner but hit a snag when it became evident that the drilling method was not compatable with the subsurface conditions at the South Oval.

OSU hired a new drilling firm that is employing a more productive drilling method known as mud rotary. The new firm started on the Hale project and will restart the South Oval drilling this spring.

“While the extended closure of the South Oval is disappointing for everyone, this commitment to geothermal reinforces the university’s leadership position regarding energy savings and sustainability,” Conlon said.  “It will not always be an easy path, but it is worthwhile.”

Geothermal wells have been used on one prior project, the Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Building, which earned a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver designation. But the wells weren’t as numerous there as in the current projects since the 4-H building is smaller.

Conlon said people should expect to see more geothermal wells added as more projects are approved.

The North Residential District, for example, which is currently in a conceptual study phase and is to include 3,200 new student beds, dining options and a small recreation center, has green space being planned which could support geothermal wells. And the planning envisioned in the One Ohio State Framework Plan includes places along the Olentangy River OSU could look to add wells to support potential new academic growth around St. John Arena.

While geothermal wells are fairly new to Ohio State, the federal government and the US Military have been using the technology successfully for more than 50 years. And numerous other colleges and universities are taking advantage of the wells’ benefits.

In Ohio these include Miami University, Ohio Northern, Hocking College and Oberlin. Outside of Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Cornell, Missouri and other locations have geothermal projects built or under construction.

“Because we’re adding so much energy consumption via air conditioning to the South Residential halls (which didn’t have A/C before), it would have been very difficult to meet our own Green-build policy if we hadn’t done geothermals,” Conlon said. “It has really had a huge impact.”

OSU cutting its green-power chops

During the 2010-11 academic year, Ohio State drew 9 percent of its power from green sources, equaling 51.4 million kilowatt hours. That helped the Big Ten Conference earn its first title in the EPA’s Green Power Challenge.

The Ivy League won the first four years of the competition. The University of Pennsylvania was the only participant from that league last year, but it was easily the individual champion with 200.2 million green kWh purchased (48 percent of its power needs).

Penn State led the conference with 83.6 million kWh for 20 percent of its power used. Northwestern acquired 74.3 million kWh for 30 percent of its electricity needs. Also participating were Wisconsin (38.9 million kWh, 9 percent) and Iowa (8.7 million kWh, 3 percent).

This year’s Champion Green Power Conference will be announced in the spring.

Ohio State alumnus and entertainment industry leader Lawrence Barnett has committed $6 million to the university to enhance arts facilities and education.

The gift to the university’s College of Arts and Sciences will establish the multi-disciplinary Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise, a collaborative effort to engage students in learning not only how to be successful and creative professional artists but also successful and entrepreneurial business people in the arts. It also supports renovations to Sullivant Hall, a focal point for many of the arts at Ohio State, which is set to reopen next year.

Barnett and his late wife Isabel Barnett have supported Ohio State students in the arts for many years, through the Barnett Fellowship for graduate students in Art Education, the biennial Barnett Arts and Public Policy Symposium, and the Barnett Distinguished Visiting Lecturers Series, which has brought both Robert Redford and Sidney Poitier to campus.

Larry Barnett has donated $6 million to Ohio State to create a center for arts and enterprise to be named for him and his late wife, Tony-award winning actress Isabel Barnett.

The renovated Sullivant Hall, new home for the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, also will house the College of Arts and Sciences’ departments of dance and art education, as well as the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design, which will interact with the new Barnett Center.

Sullivant will be a crux of arts activities, with gallery spaces for student exhibitions, a state-of-the-art performance space, collaborative research facilities and quarters for guest artists and scholars, as well as the designated home for Barnett Scholars. The gift also supports the new Barnett Conference Room and the Barnett Theatre in Sullivant.

“The arts and artists have always been so important to my wife, Isabel, and me,” Larry Barnett said.

“Getting my degree from Ohio State was a key to my success, and it is particularly meaningful to help today’s students develop into professional artists as well as businesspeople in the arts. We are so proud of the meaningful careers our graduates have established. It’s an honor to broaden our involvement and we hope that many more people will decide to support the arts.”

A native of Orrville, Barnett attended Ohio State in the 1930s and worked his way through school by booking his Larry Barnett Orchestra in venues around Columbus. One quarter short of graduating, he became ill. While recovering, he was offered a job with the Columbia Broadcasting System Artist Bureau and left for California to become a booking agent.

He handled the careers of big band stars such as Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Guy Lombardo and the careers of motion picture stars including Jack Benny, George Burns, Judy Garland, Marlon Brando and Ronald Reagan.

Barnett later became president of Music Corporation of America (MCA), chairman and president of General Artists Corporation (GAC), executive vice president of Chris-Craft Industries and vice chairman and director of United Television.

He married actress Isabel Bigley, who at the time was performing in the hit London production of Oklahoma. Mrs. Barnett won theatre’s highest honor, a Tony Award, for her role as Sarah Brown in the original Broadway production of Guys and Dolls. She hosted the TV program Café Continental and appeared on the programs of Ed Sullivan and Eddie Fisher and the game show What’s My Line. She donated her extensive collection of theatre memorabilia to Ohio State’s Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute in 1993.

Larry and Isabel raised six children and shared 53 years of marriage until Mrs. Barnett’s death in 2006.

“From his days on campus in the 1930s to his commitment and support of students over the years, Larry Barnett has been a true champion of young people pursuing their arts degrees at Ohio State,” said Joseph Steinmetz, executive dean and vice provost, College of Arts and Sciences. “The Barnetts’ vision and noble generosity will prepare our students for life-long accomplishments in their fields, and the Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Center will be an innovative and highly visible anchor for Ohio State’s revitalized arts district.”

The gift will expand Barnett’s vision of preparing students for their careers in the arts via involvement in new undergraduate degrees and minors in arts management. The center will reach out to the community as well, promoting Mrs. Barnett’s passion for the arts by partnering with local professional arts organizations for performance opportunities and collaborative projects.

“Larry Barnett has been both a treasured friend and a personal inspiration to me since my first tenure at Ohio State,” OSU President Gordon Gee said. “Throughout the years, he and his late wife Isabel demonstrated a unique commitment to the arts, in particular to helping our students develop their talents as young artists.

“I am deeply grateful to Larry and Isabel for their extraordinary commitment. Thanks to the remarkable foresight and generosity of Larry and Isabel, our students, faculty and staff are able to pursue excellence in all manners of the arts and human expression. That is surely a legacy that will only deepen over time.”

After Mr. Barnett retired, he contacted Ohio State about his unfinished degree and ultimately completed his coursework, earning a bachelor of science in 1988 from Fisher College of Business.

In 1996, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Ohio State in recognition of his outstanding work in entertainment and business.

In a survey of faculty at more than 1,400 colleges and universities worldwide, Alexander Wendt was named as having the most influence in the field of international relations over the past 20 years. Wendt is Ralph D. Mershon Professor of International Security at the Mershon Center. The survey was part of the Teaching, Research and International Policy Project conducted at the College of William and Mary.

The survey also named John Mueller, Woody Hayes Chair of National Security Studies, as among scholars doing the most interesting research over the past five years.

Welker elected president of American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation

Mary Jo Welker, a family physician at the Medical Center, has been elected president of the American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation Board of Trustees.

Previously, Welker served as treasurer and vice president of the AAFP Foundation Board of Trustees. The AAFP Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

As president of the AAFP Foundation, Welker will lead the organization in its efforts to advance the values of family medicine by promoting humanitarian, educational and scientific initiatives that improve the health of all people.

At OSU, Welker is executive director of the Primary Care Network and associate dean for primary care. She also serves as the chair for the Department of Family Medicine.

Applications now open for full-time summer research funding

The Undergraduate Research Office, in partnership with Honors and Scholars, Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Psychology and International Affairs, is announcing the 2012 Summer Research Funding Awards. These awards, $2,800 each, support full-time research over eight weeks in summer semester 2012. Students from all majors are eligible. Applications are due March 16 and are available at undergraduateresearch.osu.edu/awards/summerfellowships/index.htm.

Grotewold receives $4.2M plant research grant

Erich Grotewold, professor of Molecular Genetics and Horticulture and Crop Science and director of the Center for Applied Sciences, is the principal investigator on a $4,234,908 National Science Foundation project to address fundamentally important questions in plant research.

The four-year grant funds the study “Systems Approaches to Identify Gene Regulatory Networks in the Grasses” that features co-principal investigators Department of Molecular Genetics Associate Professor Andrea Doseff and University of Toledo Associate Professor John Gray.

Physicians honored for working with medical students

Several physicians associated with the OSU College of Medicine have received awards from Ohio State for sharing their time and expertise with medical students.

Distinguished Educator awards are given to faculty and preceptors who have shown extraordinary commitment to teaching and the promotion of outstanding patient care. OSU’s Mark DeBard in the Department of Emergency Medicine and Kenneth Jones in the Department of Anatomy were among six physicians to receive the Distinguished Educator award.

Lifetime Achievement awards are given to physicians who have dedicated their professional lives and services to educating medical students. OSU’s Paul Weber in the Department of Ophthalmology was one of four physicians to receive that distinction.

OSU’s foliage nabs national certification

Ohio State’s Columbus campus has been certified as a “Tree Campus USA” by the National Arbor Day Foundation.

Campus officials got the word Jan. 12, just about three months after coordinating “ArboBlitz 2011,” a four-day event featuring tree lectures, tree tours, tree-care demonstrations and tree inventory and mapping activities.

Though ArboBlitz was designed as a concentrated effort to help the campus reach its goal of becoming a Tree Campus USA, the undertaking has been years in the making.

Since then, a broad spectrum of campus entities has worked more closely together to protect campus trees and the landscape, including Chadwick Arboretum; Facilities Operations and Development; Ohio State University Extension; the Office of Student Affairs; the Humanities Institute; the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology; and the landscape architecture program of the Knowlton School of Architecture.

The Tree Campus USA designation is possible when a campus meets the Arbor Day Foundation’s five criteria of establishing:

• A campus tree advisory committee.

• A campus tree care plan.

• A campus tree program with dedicated annual expenditures.

• An annual Arbor Day observance.

• A service-learning project.

As a result of Arboblitz, a newly formed student/faculty club is continuing work on the tree inventory program, in which all campus trees will be identified, measured and mapped. The hope is the information can someday be integrated into the “Buckeye Stroll,” available on Ohio State’s mobile app.

Sarah-Grace Heller is a professor in the Department of French and Italian and the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

What are your five favorite books and why?

In chronological order:

The Sign on Rosie’s Door by Maurice Sendak. This was the first book I remember loving, checking out of the library over and over when I was about 3-4 years old. I loved the illustrations of the children putting on a play by a cellar door. I rediscovered it recently and checked it out for my own daughters, 2 and 5. It has no plot, and evidently the cellar door is not an entry into some magical world for them as it was for me.

A Room with a View by E. M. Foster. This was my favorite book in high school. I loved the tension in it between cynicism at normative romantic relationships and a lushly understated depiction of the transformation that can occur when one finds the people with whom one truly belongs — those occasional fiery declarations of belief in the importance of living authentically professed by Mr. Emerson. I memorized great sections of it, such as Lucy Honeychurch’s great question in Italy, “Have you ever noticed that there are people who do things which are most indelicate, and yet at the same time — beautiful?”  Oh, to find beauty in the world and choose it.

In college my favorite novels were the philosophical musings of The Unbearable Lightness of Being and The Book of Laughter and Forgetting by Milan Kundera. They pondered many ways in which people from different cultures apprehend the same things in different ways and so misunderstand one another entirely (for instance a cemetery — a morbid place of decay or a respite from communist loudspeakers). This resonated as I worked to process my years as an exchange student in France. Another revelation was Kundera’s proposition that misogynists were the only ones who could truly love an individual woman — men who worshipped womankind could only delight in feminine traits (and tended to be philanderers), not love the unique qualities that set a particular person apart.

Le Roman de la Rose (The Romance of the Rose) by Guillaume de Lorris c. 1225 and continued by Jean de Meun c. 1260-70. My work has centered on this encyclopedic medieval allegory of love. It is one of those inexhaustible works that contain everything — courtly artifice (the hero falls in love with a rose and wants to sniff her), scholastic disputes, treatises on fashion and meterology, the God of Love engaged in feudal politics and even raunchy allegorized sex scenes. Definitely a work that rewards multiple readings.

Flamenca. Medieval romances are fantastic and nearly always subversive. The best of the best is the parodic Flamenca, a 13^th-century text in Occitan, the language of the south of France. The sole manuscript copy is missing the beginning, the end and a few pages in the middle (not to mention being charred in a library fire). Hero Guilhem de Nevers manages to woo the jealously guarded heroine Flamenca by posing as a cleric and exchanging two syllables over the psalter every time she goes to mass. Ah, the strategy and wit required!

What is your “guilty pleasure” — a book you love but don’t often talk about because it’s not “serious” literature?

I love the novels of Jennifer Crusie. She started out doing a PhD at OSU examining women’s romances and ended up writing them, realizing that the genre was not as irrelevant as it might seem. Her characters’ verisimilitude lies in their very quirkiness. Her novels are hilarious, poking fun at the genre’s clichés while celebrating them. My favorite is Welcome to Temptation, set in a small town in Ohio whose water tower gets painted an unfortunate pink.

Who is your favorite character (villain or hero) in literature?

Severus Snape in the Harry Potter books, by J. K. Rowling. So oily, so bitter. So much the best and worst of what one wants in a teacher — an expert in his field, setting the highest expectations in the school, but scornful, condescending and prejudiced, increasing exponentially the effect of the revelation of his expertly hidden experiences and feelings. And Alan Rickman’s performances are one of those rare instances where a cinematic portrayal of a book character was not disappointing.

What is the last book you’ve bought?

Family Values by Wendy Cope. She mixes virtuosity of form with dry wit and self-deprecating reflection. Her latest collection of poems contains several pieces treating the ambivalent feelings so many people experience at the holidays, when according to the songs and cards everything is supposed to be perfect but so often instead resuscitates old family dramas and loneliness. Beautifully crafted, funny; also made me cry.

What book would you most want your kids to read?

I so look forward to sharing my favorites with them — Laura Ingalls Wilder, Louisa May Alcott, the Chronicles of Narnia, Where the Wild Things Are, From The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler… it is a joy to rediscover children’s literature with them.

What classic novel was a disappointment to you?

La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland).  A chanson de geste (epic) more than a novel, it is a long-form fictional narrative. It has long been hyped as the great medieval French epic. However, it is far from typical, notably for its almost total lack of female characters. In medieval French texts the women are generally smarter than the men.

El Bulli, part of the Wexner Center’s Field and Screen monthlong series focused on food, is a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the Spanish restaurant in Catalonia many have hailed as the world’s most influential eatery for its inventive rethinking of fine dining. (El Bulli closed in the summer of 2011.) Employing a direct, cinema verité style, the filmmakers follow chef Ferran Adrià and his staff through the six months it took to design and create the menu for the 2008-09 season. Showtime is 7 p.m. Feb. 14 at the Film/Video Theater. Visit wexarts.org or call 292-3535 for more information.

Dance

Feb. 2-4, MFA Concert: Dante Brown and Abigail Zbikowski, 8 p.m., Pomerene Hall Gym, 1760 Neil Ave., $5 admission, tickets available at the door, 292-7977.

Events

Feb. 2, Paging Columbus! with Hannah Stephenson, 6-8 p.m., OSU Urban Arts Space, 50 W. Town St., contact hannahjstephenson@gmail.com for more information.

Feb. 2, University Libraries Read Aloud Program, Kathy Northern of the OSU College of Law and a few Columbus Public School students in the Law and Leadership Program will present readings honoring Black History, 3-4 p.m., 202 Thompson Library, 1858 Neil Ave., 292-3955.

Feb. 9, University Libraries Read Aloud Program, A Valentine Day’s presentation featuring a variety of Ohioana romance authors reading from their own works, 3-4 p.m., 202 Thompson Library, 1858 Neil Ave., 292-3955.

Feb. 11, Museum of Biological Diversity, Annual Open House, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., 1315 Kinnear Road, various activities for children and adults, 292-7773.

Feb. 16, University Libraries Read Aloud Program, Robyn Warhol will read from her own works: Having a Good Cry: Effeminate Feelings and Popular Forms and Adventures in the Archive: Two Literary Critics in Search of a Victorian Subject, 3-4 p.m., 202 Thompson Library, 1858 Neil Ave., 292-3955.

Exhibits

Through Feb. 3, “Homesakes: Works by Amy Powell and Daniel Pritchard,” Kuhn Fine Arts Gallery, Morrill Hall, Ohio State Marion, 1465 Mt. Vernon Ave., (740) 389-6786.

Through Feb. 4, On View, “Good Design in Hard Times,” OSU Urban Arts Space, 50 W. Town St., 292-8861.

Through Feb. 10, On View, “Bright, Black and Veiled,” OSU Urban Arts Space, 50 W. Town St., 292-8861.

Through Feb. 18, “Global Textile Trades,” Wed.-Thurs. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Fri. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sat. noon-4 p.m., Gladys Keller Snowden Gallery, Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Ave., costume.osu.edu.

Through Feb. 23, “20th Annual Fergus Scholarship Awards,” Swing Space Gallery, 1556 N. High St., art.osu.edu.

Through Feb. 24, “Family Matters,” Barbara Vogel and Eileen Woods, Faculty Club, 181 S. Oval Drive, ohiostatefacultyclub.com or 292-2262.

Through March 2, “CONFLUX: Celebrating the Intersection of Art, Science, and Technology,” 11 a.m.- 4 p.m., Mon.-Fri., Pearl Conard Art Gallery, Ovalwood Hall, Ohio State Mansfield, 1760 University Drive, (419) 755-4127.

Through March 3, On View, “Object/Imprint,” OSU Urban Arts Space, 50 W. Town St., 292-8861.

Through March 24, On View, “Tracing Lines Project,” OSU Urban Arts Space, 50 W. Town St., 292-8861.

Through April 29, “Year of Shakespeare: The Exhibit,” Thompson Library 1st Floor Gallery, 1858 Neil Ave. Mall, asc.osu.edu/events.

Feb. 4-March 29, On View, “2012 Arts Scholars Juried Exhibition: How do You Feel About ‘Green,’” OSU Urban Arts Space, 50 W. Town St., 292-8861.

Films

Feb. 8, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Film Series: Winter 2012, Japanese Film: Portraits and Landscapes (English subtitles), “The Hidden Fortress (Kakushi-toride non san-akunin)” (Akira Kurosawa, 1958), 7:30 p.m., 147 University Hall, 230 N. Oval Mall, free pizza and pop, free and open to the public, 292-7495.

Feb. 14, Educational Policy and Leadership Diversity Film Series, “5girls,” 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 136 Ramseyer Hall, 29 W. Woodruff Ave., nleach@ehe.osu.edu.

Lectures

Unique lecture comes atop a tightrope
Feb. 2

The Institute for Korean Studies is hosting “Living on Air: The Art of Kim Dae-Kyun, Korean Tightrope Performer,” a lecture by the artist at 4 p.m. in 100 Stillman Hall. Dae-Kyun will discuss Jul-noreum, or “tightrope performance,” a traditional Korean art that dates back more than 1,300 years. From atop the rope hung high in the air, the performer demonstrates acrobatic skills while verbally entertaining the audience. A question-and-answer session will follow. For more information, contact Mitch Lerner at 292-1681 or visit oia.osu.edu/news-releases/2341.

Feb. 2, Melton Center for Jewish Studies, “An Israeli Photojournalist in the Hassidic Court: Inside the World of Today’s Hassidim,” Gil Cohen-Magen, 7 p.m., Columbus Jewish Community Center, 1125 College Ave., free, 292-0967.

Feb. 2, Department of English, “Performing Racial Flexibility in the ‘Post’ Media World,” Isabel Molina-Guzman, University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign, 3:30 p.m., Multicultural Center, Ohio Union, 1739 N. High St., 292-6065.

Feb. 2, Office of International Affairs, Education Abroad Discussion Series, “Undergraduate Student Exchanges,” Mari Noda, Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures; Paul Nini, Department of Design; Melissa Torres, Fisher College Business International Programs Office; noon-1 p.m., 156 University Hall, 230 N. Oval Mall, 292-6101.

Feb. 2, Department of Statistics, “Community Detection and Extraction in Networks,” Yunpeng Zhao, University of Michigan, 3:30 p.m., Room 170, 209 W. 18th Ave., stat.osu.edu.

Feb. 3, Humanities Institute, Literacy@OSU, “Literacy and (Dis)Ability,” Rachael Riggs Leyva, 11:30 a.m., Knight House, 104 E. 15th Ave., hanson.94@osu.edu.

Feb. 3, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies 2011-12 Lecture Series: Mapping Minds, Bodies, and Worlds, “Mapping Magic: The Sites of Witchcraft in 17th-Century Russia,” Valerie Kivelson, University of Michigan, 2:30 p.m., 090 Science and Engineering Library, 175 W. 18th Ave., cmrs.osu.edu or 292-7495.

Feb. 3, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, “Terrorist Threat and Democratic Public Opinion,” Jennifer Merolla, Claremont Graduate University and Elizabeth Zechmeister, Vanderbilt University, 3:30 p.m., Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave., RSVP to powers.108@osu.edu.

Feb. 6, Department of Physics, “The Bare Essentials of Topological Orders in Franctional Quantum Hall Liquids,” Alexander Seidel, Washington University-St. Louis, 11:30 a.m., 1080 Physics Research Building, 191 W. Woodruff Ave., 292-5713.

Feb. 6, Department of Physics, Andrey Katz, Harvard University, 3:30 p.m., 1080 Physics Research Building, 191 W. Woodruff Ave., 292-5713.

Feb. 7, Department of Statistics, Rui Song, Colorado State University, 3:30 p.m., Room 170, 209 W. 18th Ave., stat.osu.edu.

Feb. 7, Department of Physics, Tracy Slatyer, IAS, 12:30 p.m., 4138 Physics Research Building, 191 W. Woodruff Ave., 292-5713.

Feb. 7, Department of Physics, “Science: The Public, Congress, and You,” Michael Lubell, City College of the City University of New York, 4 p.m., 1080 Physics Research Building, 191 W. Woodruff Ave., 292-5713.

Feb. 7, Humanities Institute, Vets 4 Vets, 6 p.m., Knight House, 104 E. 15th Ave., hanson.94@osu.edu.

Feb. 7, Ohio State Marion Science Café, Marianna Klochko, 7 p.m., The Infinity Restaurant, Harding Hotel, 267 W. Center St., Marion, Ohio, marion.ohio-state.edu/sciencecafe.

Feb. 8, Knowlton School of Architecture KSA Lecture Series, “Winter + Spring 2012: Practice,” John Ronan of John Ronan Architects, 5:30 p.m., Knowlton Hall Auditorium, 275 W. Woodruff Ave., knowlton.osu.edu or 292-1012.

Feb. 8, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, “Kim Jong Un in North Korea: Implications for the Region and Beyond,” Han Park, University of Georgia, noon, Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave., RSVP to powers.108@osu.edu.

Feb. 9, Department of Statistics, Vincent Vu, Carnegie Mellon University, 3:30 p.m., Room 170, 209 W. 18th Ave., stat.osu.edu.

Feb. 9, Department of Physics, G. Larry Carr, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 11:30 a.m., 1080 Physics Research Building, 191 W. Woodruff Ave., 292-5713.

Feb. 9, Humanities Institute, Literacy@OSU, “Struggling Readers: Disabling the Deficiency Framework,” Curt Dudley-Marling, Boston College, 4 p.m., 311 Denney Hall, 164 W. 17th Ave., hanson.94@osu.edu.

Feb. 9, Center for the Study of Religion, At-Large Lecture Series, “Miraculous Matters: Making Catholic Christian Permanence in the Early Modern Spanish World,” Kenneth Mills, University of Toronto, 4:30 p.m., 165 Thompson Library, 1858 Neil Ave., 688-8010.

Feb. 9, School of Earth Sciences, “Tropic Status and the Path of Methane Production in Peatlands: Implications for Methanogenesis in a Changing World,” Mark Hines, University of Massachusetts, 4 p.m., 291 Mendenhall Lab, 125 South Oval Mall, 292-2721.

Feb. 10, Criminal Justice Research Center, “Child and Adolescent Anti-Social Behavior: The Consequences of Father’s Involvement,” André Christie-Mizell, Vanderbilt University, 9-10:20 a.m., 248 Townshend Hall, 1885 Neil Ave., 292-7468.

Feb. 10, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, “Justice in Transitional Contexts,” Colleen Murphy, University of Illinois, 3:30 p.m., 347 University Hall, 230 N. Oval Mall, RSVP to powers.108@osu.edu.

Feb. 13, Department of Physics, Jim Sauls, Northwestern University, 11:30 a.m., 1080 Physics Research Building, 191 W. Woodruff Ave., 292-5713.

Feb. 13, Mathematical Biosciences Institute, Colloquium Series, “Extinction Thresholds in Deterministic and Stochastic Models for Epidemics and Viral Dynamics,” Linda Allen, 2:30-3:30 p.m., 355 Jennings Hall, 1735 Neil Ave., mbi.osu.edu/seminars/current_colloquia.html.

Feb. 14, Department of Physics, Edward Witten, Institute for Advanced Study-Princeton, 4 p.m., 1080 Physics Research Building, 191 W. Woodruff Ave., 292-5713.

Feb. 14, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, “The Uses of Alarmism: American Politics and Foreign Policy After 1945,” Fredrik Logevall, Cornell University, noon, Mershon Center, 1501 Neil Ave., RSVP to powers.108@osu.edu.

Feb. 15, Knowlton School of Architecture KSA Lecture Series, “Winter + Spring 2012: Practice,” Georgeen Theodore of Interboro Partners, 5:30 p.m., Knowlton Hall Auditorium, 275 W. Woodruff Ave., knowlton.osu.edu or 292-1012.

Feb. 16, Department of Physics, Daniel Phillips, Ohio University, 11:30 a.m., 1080 Physics Research Building, 191 W. Woodruff Ave., 292-5713.

Feb. 16, Humanities Institute, Conversations in the Humanities with Fred Andrle, “What Does it Mean to be Spiritual But Not Religious,” Linda Mercadante, Methodist Theological School, 7 p.m., Grace Hall, First Community Church, 3777 Dublin Road, andrle.1@osu.edu.

Feb. 16, School of Earth Sciences, “Diatom Based Insights on Plio-Pleistocene Milankovich Variability,” Matt Konfirst, Byrd Polar Research Center, 4 p.m.,
291 Mendenhall Lab, 125 South Oval Mall, 292-2721.

Feb. 23, College of Social Work, Annual Robert J. O’Leary Memorial Lecture, “Seek Justice,” Justice Yvette McGee Brown, Ohio Supreme Court, 6 p.m., Fawcett Center Auditorium, 2400 Olentangy River Road, event is free and open to the public, csw.osu.edu/research/oleary, contact Lauren Haas-Gehres at 247-7385 or haas-gehres.1@osu.edu.

Meetings

Feb. 6, Center for Bariatric Surgery Program, bariatric surgery information session, 6-7:30 p.m., Morehouse Medical Plaza Pavilion Auditorium, 2050 Kenny Road, free parking, seating limited, registration requested, medicalcenter.osu.edu/go/bariatric or 293-5123.

Feb. 6, YP4H Educational Program Classes: Nutrition, “The Heart Healthy Pantry,” webinar, 11:30 a.m.-noon, registration required, osuhealthplan.com/educationalprogramming/YP4H or 292-1894.

Feb. 9, Ohio State Faculty and Staff Photographic Society, Sweetheart Buffet, photo contest winners and judge review, 5:15 p.m., Rooms A, B and C, Faculty Club, 181 S. Oval Drive, non-members welcome, reservation required, 292-2262.

Feb. 9, College of Social Work Alumni Society Book Club, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, 6-8 p.m., Clintonville Panera Bread, 4519 N. High St., free and open to OSU and Social Work alumni, faculty, friends and students, csw.osu.edu/alumni/events/bookclub.

Feb. 10, Board of Trustees, Longaberger Alumni House, 2200 Olentangy River Road, call for schedule, 292-6359.

Feb. 13, 20, 27, March 5, 12, YP4H Educational Program Classes: Fitness, “Low-Impact Cardio Stride,” 5:30-6:30 p.m., Agricultural Administration Building Auditorium, 2120 Fyffe Road, registration required, osuhealthplan.com/educationalprogramming/YP4H or 292-1894.

Feb. 14, YP4H Educational Program Classes: Stress, “Stress and Heart Health,” webinar, noon-1 p.m., registration required, osuhealthplan.com/educationalprogramming/YP4H or 292-1894.

Feb. 15, Retirement Choices Forum, noon-1 p.m., Office of Human Resources, Suite 430, 1590 N. High St., hr.osu.edu/benefits or 292-1050.

Feb. 16, University Senate, 3:30 p.m., 130 Drinko Hall, 55 W. 12th Ave., senate.osu.edu.

Feb. 16, Fellowship of Christian Faculty and Staff luncheon, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Junior Colleagues Room, Faculty Club, 181 S. Oval Drive, reservation required, fcfs-osu.org/luncheons.html.

Music

Feb. 2, Wind Symphony, 8 p.m., Weigel Auditorium, 1866 College Road, admission, 247-7036.

Feb. 5, Jefferson Academy of Music, “Jefferson’s Signature Series: Euclid String Quartet,” 2 p.m., Cardinal Health Auditorium, Columbus Museum of Art, 480 E. Broad St., admission, 292-2693 or jeffacad@osu.edu.

Feb. 10, Jazz Ensemble, 8 p.m., Weigel Auditorium, 1866 College Road, admission, 247-7036.

Feb. 12, Jazz Lab Ensemble with guest Kelly Delaveris, 3 p.m., Weigel Auditorium, 1866 College Road, admission, 247-7036.

Feb. 13, Flute Troupe, 8 p.m., Weigel Auditorium, 1866 College Road, admission, 247-7036.

Feb. 14, Jazz Workshop, 8 p.m., Weigel Auditorium, 1866 College Road, admission, 247-7036.

Schottenstein

Feb. 3-4, OSU Men’s Ice Hockey vs. Michigan State, 7 p.m. both days, Value City Arena, Schottenstein Center, 555 Borror Drive, admission, schottensteincenter.com or ticketmaster.com.

Feb. 6, OSU Women’s Basketball vs. Wisconsin, 7:30 p.m., Value City Arena, Schottenstein Center, 555 Borror Drive, admission, schottensteincenter.com or ticketmaster.com.

Feb. 7, OSU Men’s Basketball vs. Purdue, 9 p.m., Value City Arena, Schottenstein Center, 555 Borror Drive, admission, schottensteincenter.com or ticketmaster.com.

Feb. 11, OSU Men’s Basketball vs. Michigan State, 6 p.m., Value City Arena, Schottenstein Center, 555 Borror Drive, admission, schottensteincenter.com or ticketmaster.com.

Feb. 12, OSU Women’s Basketball vs. Purdue, 5 p.m., Value City Arena, Schottenstein Center, 555 Borror Drive, admission, schottensteincenter.com or ticketmaster.com.

Feb. 16, OSU Women’s Basketball vs. Indiana, 7 p.m., Value City Arena, Schottenstein Center, 555 Borror Drive, admission, schottensteincenter.com or ticketmaster.com.

Seminar

Feb. 9, Department of Physics, Biophysics Seminar, various speakers, 1:30-4:30 p.m., 1080 Physics Research Building, 191 W. Woodruff Ave., 292-5713.

Theater

Feb. 2-5, 9-11, Department of Theatre, “Matchmaker” and “Real Women Have Curves,” 7:30 p.m. Feb. 2-4 and 9-11, 3 p.m. Feb. 5, Thurber Theatre, Drake Performance Center, 1849 Cannon Drive, admission, 292-2295.

Feb. 16-19, 23-26, March 1-3, Department of Theatre, “MFA Acting Outreach Project,” 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16-18, 23-25 and March 1-3; 3 p.m. Feb. 19 and 26, Roy Bowen Theatre, Drake Performance Center, 1849 Cannon Drive, admission, 292-2295.

Training

Feb. 2-3, Financial Training and Documentation, “The Procurement and Payment Process,” 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. both days, 231 Mount Hall, 1050 Carmack Road, registration required, oit.ohio-state.edu/hrfin/trainingregistration.html.

Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23, University Center for the Advancement of Teaching, “Teaching Today’s Student Veterans: A Reading Group,” 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 300 Younkin Success Center, 1640 Neil Ave., registration required, ucat.osu.edu.

Feb. 3, College of Social Work Training, “Clinical Skill Building for Social Work with Latino Families,” 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m., 115 Stillman Hall, 1947 College Road, earn 3 CEU clock hours, open to the public, visit csw.osu.edu/trainingforprofessionals/trainingcalendar for description and registration.

Feb. 3, University Center for the Advancement of Teaching, “Suicide Prevention Training,” 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 300 Younkin Success Center, 1640 Neil Ave., registration required, ucat.osu.edu.

Feb. 6, University Center for the Advancement of Teaching, “Writing as a College Teaching Tool Series: Writing in Semesters,” 3:30-5 p.m., 300 Younkin Success Center, 1640 Neil Ave., registration required, ucat.osu.edu.

Feb. 7, Management Advancement for the Public Service, “Stock Your Toolbox: Pre-Supervisory Skills and Practices,” 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road, admission for non-members, registration required, glennschool.osu.edu or 292-3242.

Feb. 7, University Child Care Program: Healthy Child, Healthy Parent Series, “The Brain and Behavior,” 4-5:30 p.m., OSU University Child Care Program, 725 Ackerman Road, registration required, hr.osu.edu/training/additional training or 292-2800.

Feb. 8, University Center for the Advancement of Teaching, “Course Design Institute,” noon-3 p.m., 300 Younkin Success Center, 1640 Neil Ave., registration required, ucat.osu.edu.

Feb. 8, Office of Research, “NCURA TV - International Collaborations: Negotiations and Compliance,” 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Room 113, 1960 Kenny Road, registration required, go.osu.edu/ORtraining.

Feb. 8-9, Financial Training and Documentation, “Accounting at OSU,” 12:30-4:30 p.m. both days, 231 Mount Hall, 1050 Carmack Road, registration required, oit.ohio-state.edu/hrfin/trainingregistration.html.

Feb. 9, Management Advancement for the Public Service, “Writing Techniques for Improved Communication,” 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road, admission for non-members, registration required, glennschool.osu.edu or 292-3242.

Feb. 9, Human Resources, “Managing Workplace Violence at Ohio State: Recognize, Respond, Report and Refer,” 1:30-4 p.m., Office of Human Resources, Suite 430, 1590 N. High St., registration required, hr.osu.edu/training.

Feb. 10, College of Social Work Training, “Managing Time and Multiple Priorities,” 9 a.m.-4 p.m., 115 Stillman Hall, 1947 College Road, earn 6 CEU clock hours, open to the public, visit csw.osu.edu/trainingforprofessionals/trainingcalendar for description and registration.

Feb. 14, Human Resources Training, “Manage Additional Pay,” 1-4:30 p.m., 112A Mount Hall, 1050 Carmack Road, registration required, oit.osu.edu/hrfin/hrschedule/html.

Feb. 14, Management Advancement for the Public Service, “Effective Delegation,” 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road, admission for non-members, registration required, glennschool.osu.edu or 292-3242.

Feb. 15, Office of Research, “Exempt Forms Help,” 3-4 p.m., Room 117, 1960 Kenny Road, registration required, go.osu.edu/ORtraining.

Feb. 15, Management Advancement for the Public Service, “Teamwork: Moving from Dysfunction to Performance,” 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road, admission for non-members, registration required, glennschool.osu.edu or 292-3242.

Feb. 15, Human Resources, “Paper and Bytes: Policies, Best Practices, and Resources for Managing OSU Records,” 9-11 a.m., Office of Human Resources, Suite 430, 1590 N. High St., registration required, go.osu.edu/hrtraining.

Feb. 16, Management Advancement for the Public Service, “Working with Difficult People and Difficult Situations,” 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m., Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road, admission for non-members, registration required, glennschool.osu.edu or 292-3242.

Feb. 16-17, Organization and HR Consulting, “Culture Shaping and Life Effectiveness,” 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. both days, Office of Human Resources, Suite 430, 1590 N. High St., registration required (2-day commitment), hr.osu.edu/training.

Feb. 21, College of Social Work Training, “A Deeper Look into the Grieving Process,” 9 a.m.-4 p.m., 115 Stillman Hall, 1947 College Road, earn 6 CEU clock hours, open to the public, visit csw.osu.edu/trainingforprofessionals/trainingcalendar for description and registration.

Feb. 22, College of Social Work Training, “Empowering Male Survivors to Thrive in the Aftermath of Recent Sexual Abuse Scandals,” 1-4 p.m., Ohio Union Grand Ballroom, 1739 N. High St., earn 3 CEU clock hours, open to the public, visit csw.osu.edu/trainingforprofessionals/trainingcalendar for description and registration.

Wexner

Through Feb. 29, The Box, “Solar Breath (Northern Caryatids)” (Michael Snow, 2002), Mon.-Wed. 9 a.m.-6 p.m., Thu.-Fri. 9 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-6 p.m., The Box is located across from the Wexner Center Store, 1871 N. High St., free, 292-3535.

Through April 15, Exhibitions on View, “Cubes and Anarchy” (David Smith), Wexner Center Galleries, 1871 N. High St., admission (free to visitors the first Sunday of the month and every Thursday after 4 p.m.), 292-3535.

Through April 15, Exhibitions on View, “Points on a Line” (Sarah Morris), Wexner Center Galleries, 1871 N. High St., admission (free to visitors the first Sunday of the month and every Thursday after 4 p.m.), 292-3535.

Through July 1, Exhibitions on View, Ernst Caramelle, Wexner Center Lower Lobby, 1871 N. High St., admission (free to visitors the first Sunday of the month and every Thursday after 4 p.m.), 292-3535.

Feb. 2, Contemporary Screen, “House of Pleasures” (Bertrand Bonello, 2011), 7 p.m., Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High St., admission, 292-3535.

Feb. 3, onScreen, UCLA Festival of Preservation, “Film” (Alan Schneider, 1965) and “Play of the Week: ‘Waiting for Godot’” (Alan Schneider, 1961), 7 p.m., Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High St., admission, 292-3535.

Feb. 4, onScreen, UCLA Festival of Preservation, “Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” (Robert Altman, 1982), 7 p.m., Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High St., admission, 292-3535.

Feb. 8, Gallery Talk, Double Take: David Smith with David Stebenne and John Lippold, 12:30 p.m., meet at Gallery entrance, 1871 N. High St., free with Gallery admission, 292-3535.

Feb. 9, onScreen, UCLA Festival of Preservation, “Wanda” (Barbara Loden, 1970) and Mexico in the Hearst Metrotone News Collection (1930s-40s): “The Forgotten Village” (Herbert Kline, 1941), 7 p.m., Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High St., admission, 292-3535.

Feb. 10, onScreen, Field & Screen, “Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie” (Sturla Gunarsson, 2010), 7 p.m., Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High St., admission, 292-3535.

Feb. 11, onScreen, Field & Screen, “Milk and the Land” (Ariana Gerstein and Monteith McCollum, 2009), introduced by Warren Taylor, 2 p.m., Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High St., admission, 292-3535.

Feb. 11, onScreen, Field & Screen, “Kudzu Vine” (Josh Gibson, 2011) and “Earthwork” (Chris Ordal, 2011), 7 p.m., Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High St., admission, 292-3535.

Feb. 12, onScreen, UCLA Festival of Preservation, “This is Your Life: The Holocaust,” introduced by Julie Kohner, 2 p.m., Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High St., admission, 292-3535.

Feb. 14, onScreen, Field & Screen: Valentine’s Day Special, “El Bulli: Cooking in Progress” (Gereon Wetzel, 2011), 7 p.m., Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High St., admission, 292-3535.

Feb. 14, Next@Wex, Sharon Van Etten with Shearwater, 9 p.m., Performance Space, 1871 N. High St., $16 admission, standing-only style show, 292-3535.

Feb. 16, onScreen, UCLA Festival of Preservation, “The Crusades” (Cecil B. DeMille, 1935), 7 p.m., Film/Video Theater, 1871 N. High St., admission, 292-3535.

Workshop

Feb. 22, College of Social Work, “Response to Recent Sexual Abuse Scandals,” 1-4 p.m., Ohio Union, Archie Griffin Grand Ballroom, contact Hallie Fargnolli at 292-0398 or fargnolli.1@osu.edu or visit csw.osu.edu/trainingforprofessionals/trainingcalendar/120222 for more information.

Why did you choose to work at Ohio State?

What do you like about your job? Although Student Conduct can, at times, be a place students find intimidating, I find student conduct work extremely rewarding. The work allows me to apply the skills I gained in law school to the higher education environment. Student Conduct allows me to assist students in learning from their experiences while they are at a critical time in their growth as collegians.

If you weren’t working at Ohio State, what would you rather be doing? My long-term goal is to become a university attorney, so if I’m not at OSU, I plan to be at another great institution. However, I have this crazy dream job that entails playing or coaching softball for a living.

Of what honor or recognition are you most proud?
Last year, I was chosen to be a consultant for my international sorority, to assist 40 young women in creating a new chapter of the organization at Capital University here in Columbus. I was humbled by the opportunity and thrilled to be part of a growing organization that I care about so deeply.

Who is your hero? My grandmother, Betty Anne, and my aunt, Fran. As educators, mothers and mentors, they have instilled in me the critical importance of education and family. I look up to their moral character, humble nature and commitment to everyone else but themselves.

How do you apply the ‘One University’ concept? In Student Conduct, we daily apply the concept to ensure we are serving students, assessing risk properly and addressing campus and community issues. We partner with an array of offices to consult on student behavior and refer students to the proper OSU department for care and other services. Not a day goes by where I haven’t met with or talked to a wonderful staff member outside of my office! I also recently partnered with faculty and law students from the Moritz College of Law to create a student mediation program for OSU students as a free avenue to resolve conflicts and disagreements.

What is your favorite activity outside of work? Any family gathering is bound to be a ton of fun with my rather large family. I also enjoy playing almost any outdoor sport or watching any Georgia-based sports team.

What are you going to do when you retire? Travel, travel, travel! Greece is next on the running list, but I’m hoping to get there before retirement!

Ohio State’s enrollment ticked up 0.7 percent for the 2012 winter quarter to 62,386 students, an increase of 428 students from winter quarter 2011. While the Columbus campus and Ohio State Newark both gained students, the other campuses all saw enrollment drop.

The Columbus campus enrollment climbed 1.8 percent, adding 954 students to a total of 55,305. Ohio State Newark officially added 40 students, increasing its enrollment 1.6 percent to 2,536.

Ann Donahue, Newark’s director of enrollment, said the latest numbers indicate OSU Newark will be closer to 2,560 students. Those 64 students are down from the 115 students Newark added in fall quarter 2011.

OSU Marion saw the sharpest decline, a 20.9 percent decrease, or 366 students, due to its closure of the Delaware Center. Ohio State created a relationship with Columbus State Community College’s Delaware campus, where Ohio State students can attend classes there and still earn OSU credits. About 540 OSU students are doing so this quarter, said Matt Moreau, admission and financial aid director at OSU Marion. That is significantly down, however, from the more than 900 students who attended the Delaware Center in winter quarter 2011.

The Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster dropped 59 students, or 9 percent, to 596. OSU Lima had 100 fewer students enroll, falling to 1,233, a 7.5 percent drop. OSU Mansfield had enrollment of 1,329 students, losing 3 percent (41 students).

Overall, non-white student enrollment increased, especially among students who are Hispanic, native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and those whose ethnicity is from two or more races. Non-Ohio undergraduates climbed 15.3 percent to 6,912 students.

The entire 2012 winter quarter enrollment report can be found at registrar.osu.edu/serrs/WI12/WI12Report.pdf.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, seated, signs Senate Bill 155, proclaiming Feb. 20 to be John Glenn Friendship 7 Day as, from left, Annie and John Glenn, Ohio Sen. Tom Sawyer of Akron and Ohio State President Gordon Gee enjoy the Jan. 20 Statehouse ceremony. Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth on Feb. 20, 1962.