Grand old flag

By Kevin Fitzsimons Members of the University Relations staff look on during an Ohio State ROTC flag-raising ceremony conducted recently in front of University Relations' offices at 1125 Kinnear Road. The flag pole was returned to service after being restored by Rhoads Construction of Laurelville, Ohio.

Enarson Hall is new home to Undergraduate Admissions, First Year Experience

Ohio State's Enarson Hall is returning to its student roots in a substantial way.

The building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the country's first public university student union, is now home to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions -- a change that makes logistic and symbolic sense, said Mabel Freeman, assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions and the First Year Experience.

All undergraduate admissions staff members -- in addition to their Orientation and First Year Experience colleagues -- are now located under one roof. The Student Visitor Center moved to Enarson about six years ago, and approximately 70 full-time and 50 seasonal/student part-time employees vacated floors 3, 8, 11 and 13 of Lincoln Tower en route to Enarson on Feb. 8.

"This makes Enarson a prime prospective and new student-focused building," Freeman said. "And with the staff all so close together, I'm sure we'll see people communicating in much better ways on behalf of our students."

Additionally, placing undergraduate admissions in the heart of the central campus -- and specifically in the location from which all campus tours begin -- makes visiting prospective students and their families "immediately aware of the fact that they are in the midst of an academic environment," Freeman said.

Within view are residence halls and the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center across the street along West 12th Avenue, the Ohio Union on the eastern edge of the South Oval and the Kuhn Honors & Scholars House, which sits just next door.

"It's really a wonderful location. You look out your window and see students, which is what we're all about," Freeman said. "It's why we're here."

Freeman also noted that with the move, First Year Experience staff are as close as possible to the freshmen they serve. Numerous FYE and admissions programs are held in the Ohio Union and in the first-year collegian residence halls across the street, for example.

The recent relocation included part of the enrollment services administrative leadership. James Mager, associate vice president for enrollment services, and three of his staff have moved from Mendenhall Laboratory to Enarson Hall, as well.

Though the undergraduate admissions relocation posed some logistical challenges with the transport of such items as computer databases and about 20,000 freshman applications, service to the public never stopped -- which was important with a Feb. 15 application deadline looming over the move. All staff phone numbers remain the same. Freeman credited Bill Karl, senior associate director of undergraduate admissions, for his coordination of the relocation.

The move was made possible with the University's transition to direct enrollment, which meant many academic advisers previously housed in University College in Enarson Hall relocated to the colleges in which their advisees are enrolled. Some Scholars program coordinators and Arts & Sciences Honors advisers are now located in Enarson, as well. And the offices of Graduate and International Admissions and Professional Schools Admissions remain in Lincoln Tower for the time being.

With program's help, units focus on student success

Helping Ohio State's faculty and teaching associates improve their teaching for a more diverse student population is the goal of the Commitment to Success Program (CSP). Housed in the Office of Faculty and TA Development, the program is an integral part of both the Diversity Action Plan and the Academic Plan.

Dwight L. Varnum, coordinator of the CSP, says the program complements ongoing efforts to bring more underrepresented students to Ohio State by assisting faculty and teaching associates in better understanding cultural sensitivities. That means gathering climate data in each academic area and then tailoring a program to meet the specific diversity and teaching needs of the unit.

"It is all about classroom equity and all about good teaching. We truly want to see that take place," Varnum said. "All students at OSU are here so that they can be successful. And the way they are successful is for them to get access to the knowledge, and then to understand the content -- the information that is disseminated in the class -- by making sure it is relevant to them.

"So as CSP works with these academic units, we want all students, including underrepresented students, to be successful, and we want units to truly be committed to students' success. So we will work closely with and support departments to assure the academic success of students as much as possible."

After a year-long pilot project in 1997, the CSP was officially implemented and funded in March 1998. Varnum, who earned his Ph.D. at Ohio State, returned to the University last spring to coordinate the program. By the end of this year, he hopes to have contacted all tenure-initiating units at the University and begin the six-phase process toward assessing and enhancing the climate within academic units and colleges.

"Under the Diversity Action Plan, each college must submit its own diversity action plan and then work toward improving the overall climate in the classroom, including dealing with recruitment and retention issues. This program is one of the initiatives that have been identified in the University's diversity plan. Units that are concerned about equity and teaching for inclusion can contact CSP, and we can assist in that process," Varnum said.

The six phases of the Commitment to Success Program are: solicitation; climate assessment; dialogue; action plan; implementation; and longitudinal evaluation. Depending on the existing climate and resources within a unit, Varnum estimated it could take up to one year for a unit to progress from solicitation to implementation.

The solicitation begins when a member of the CSP staff makes contact with a particular academic unit or department, either randomly or at the request of faculty or administrators. The contact may also occur because the unit is known to have critical need for such intervention. Initially, the CSP consultant must establish the link between classroom equity, good teaching, and how teaching for diversity is not just about empowering historically underrepresented students, but rather is about ensuring that all students are academically successful. Varnum said units are assured that the overriding goal is enhancement of the overall learning climate for all students.

The climate assessment process is a collaboration between both members of CSP and representatives of the unit or department. Data are collected through a variety of methods, and CSP shares findings with the unit. CSP then can facilitate discussion about putting those findings to use to gain a better understanding of the existing climate for diversity as well as actions that may address the themes and issues discovered in the assessment. Units then can move toward the development of an action plan to address the particular themes.

"For instance, students of color or other historically underrepresented groups may have addressed classroom-specific issues about how they perceive the climate for diversity and provide some suggestions for improvement. Engaging in such a dialogue with a unit may reveal information about the culture -- what has been done in the past -- in terms of attempting to recruit and retain faculty of color, students of color and other underrepresented students within that unit," Varnum said. "Once we begin to look at the specific themes and the unit establishes an action plan that it can take Ôownership' of, the sooner the unit as well as the college will be able to reach their particular goals."

Plans may include specific goals regarding the recruitment and retention of various student populations, new strategies for recruiting faculty from various backgrounds, methods to enhance the curricula, the development of mentoring programs, seminars on multicultural teaching and culturally responsive pedagogy, among other options.

The CSP has helped some units implement their action plans by awarding grants to complement climate assessment activities. Varnum said such multicultural teaching enhancement grants motivate and reward faculty for excellence in teaching, and, more importantly, support faculty who work to foster a deeper understanding of the multicultural teaching and learning climate.

CSP takes advantage of opportunities to showcase units that are clearly ahead of other units in creating a climate that affirms and promotes the principles of diversity and good teaching through workshops, strategies, seminars and one-on-one sessions.

"It's not a one-shot deal in terms of going in and doing a workshop so you're over and done with," Varnum said. "There is a progression where we consistently work with a unit after the workshop so that we can assist faculty and teaching associates in improving upon their teaching. Other positive approaches and outcomes are also possible."

To date, two colleges have reached the implementation phase; other units are preparing to conduct climate assessment with focus groups and/or survey questionnaires. Many other units are discussing ways to assess their overall climate.

For more information, call 292-3644 or visit www.osu.edu/education/ftad/CSP.

Huber Fellows selected

Three faculty in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences have been selected as Joan N. Huber Faculty Fellows in the fourth year of the program. They are Ruth D. Peterson, professor of sociology; Jeffrey C. Rogers, professor of geography; and James T. Todd, professor of psychology.

The program acknowledges and rewards the strongest scholars on the SBS faculty. It is named in honor of Joan Huber, who in her own scholarly career and as dean of SBS from 1984 to 1992 set the highest standards for faculty.

The Fellows will receive an annual cash award of $5,000 a year for three years to further their research programs. A brief summary of the major contributions of each of the awardees follows:

Peterson joined the sociology faculty at Ohio State in 1985. Her research has investigated whether capital punishment deters homicide, whether women and minorities receive harsher or more favorable treatment within the criminal justice system than white males, and the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and crime rates. She has been elected as vice president of the American Society of Criminology, and in 2001 was inducted as a Fellow of the society. She is director of the Ohio State's Criminal Justice Research Center, and directs the national research program on race/ethnicity and violence for the National Consortium on Violence Research, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. In addition, she has brought in close to $900,000 in external research funds to Ohio State.

Rogers joined the geography faculty at Ohio State in 1979. He is internationally recognized as a leading synoptic climatologist, being among the first to observe and report the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), a key component of the global atmospheric circulation regime that controls climate variability over most of the northern hemisphere. Rogers has published close to 50 articles in major refereed journals and edited collections. In a typical year he is the principal investigator for research grants of about $200,000 from the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Since 1986, Rogers also has served as the state of Ohio climatologist, and is a member of the Governor's State Drought Assessment Committee.

Todd joined the Department of Psychology in 1992 after rising to the rank of professor at Brandeis University. He has become a world leader in the study of human vision -- and three-dimensional vision in particular. He was among the first cognitive psychologists to study human vision from a computational perspective. At a theoretical level he has developed a variety of mathematical models of how important attributes of a visual scene can be computed from the measurable properties of visual images. In addition to his theoretical and empirical contributions, Todd has also provided many methodological innovations that have had a significant impact on the field. His research has been continuously funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Eye Institute, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the NATO International Scientific Exchange Program.

Women's Month observed in March

Women Student Services will once again continue the tradition of Women's Month at Ohio State with a number of programming events in March. Ohio State's observation of National Women's History Month includes art exhibits, cultural activities and social and informational gatherings. For more information, contact Dionne A. Blue, coordinator of Women Student Services, at 292-8473 or wss@osu.edu.

March 1-31

Gallery Exhibit: 75 Years Onstage: OSU African American Women in the Performing Arts, Bricker Hall Gallery. This exhibition recognizes four of Ohio State's performing arts professionals: Ruby Elzy, Adrienne Kennedy, Toni-Leslie James and Bebe Miller, currently a professor of dance. The performance activities of these women have spanned collectively the last 75 years.

March 1

Guest Speaker Dana Carpenter of the "I Am Beautiful Project," 3:30-5 p.m., Wexner Film/Video Theater. The project features Dana Carpenter, co-author of the critically acclaimed book I Am Beautiful: A Celebration of Women. This multimedia seminar is designed to educate and motivate by sharing concrete tools for uncovering the inner self and building a more confident, solid base from which to explore one's purpose and value.

March 6

International Women's Day, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center. IWD is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world, commemorated at the United Nations and designated in many countries as a national holiday. It is an opportunity to bring women of all colors and backgrounds together to celebrate accomplishments, acts of courage, and extraordinary determination by ordinary women. The day will include many cultural activities, including performances by women artists and discussions of current issues.

March 6

How the Health Are Ya?, Hale Center. Screenings for blood pressure and diabetes will be provided, as well as body fat analysis and HIV testing. Sponsored by OSU Wellness and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.

March 12

Gallery Exhibit Reception, 5:30 p.m., Bricker Hall, for 75 Years Onstage: OSU African American Women in the Performing Arts.

March 13

Soup & Substance, "Are You A Real Woman?" 5-7 p.m., Multicultural Center, 436 Ohio Union. This interactive discussion and activity will explore the definitions and perceptions of gender identity.

March 14

Black Women In Sport Foundation, 6-8 p.m., 113 Dreese Laboratories. "After the Whistle Blows: Black Women in Sports."

March 20

SHADES: Finals Week Stress Relief Study Break, 6-8 p.m., Multicultural Center Lounge. Snacks, free massage and other relaxation techniques and a screening of the HBO presentation of The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler.

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