Knowles named vice provost for minority affairs

Timothy S. Knowles, vice president for student and campus support at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., has been nominated by Edward J. Ray, executive vice president and provost, to the position of vice provost for minority affairs at Ohio State. The appointment, pending Board of Trustees approval, is to take effect Aug. 1.

Knowles has held teaching and administrative positions in higher education for more than 30 years at both historically black and other public universities and private liberal-arts colleges.

"Throughout his career, Dr. Knowles has demonstrated his commitment to increasing minority students' access to higher education and to developing programming with excellent recruitment and retention results," Ray said. "He understands that diversity promotes excellence.

"During the on-campus interview process, Tim also showed a clear grasp of the issues we at Ohio State face as we strive to enhance services provided to minority students and to build a more diverse community."

Knowles has served as vice president for student and campus support since 1996 at Meharry Medical College, the nation's largest private, historically black institution exclusively dedicated to educating health care professionals and biomedical scientists.

He began his career in 1968 at San Jose State University as director of the Educational Opportunity Program for Black Students. Since then, he has held numerous positions, including director of the Educational Opportunity Program at the University of California, Irvine, and assistant vice chancellor for academic support services and associate professor of education at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater for 11 years. He also has held vice presidential posts for academic and student affairs and for student development.

A frequent speaker on issues affecting minority students, Knowles' current memberships include the American Association of Medical Colleges' Student and Minority Affairs Group, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Nashville Chapter of the NAACP. He served as an American Council on Education Fellow in Academic Administration in 1984-85.

Knowles holds master's and doctoral degrees in higher education administration from the University of Massachusetts; his dissertation research focused on improving management of special minority student support programs. He also earned a master's degree in education with emphasis on student services and a bachelor's degree in physical education and mathematics, both from San Jose State University.

As vice provost, Knowles will oversee all functions of the Office of Minority Affairs, which include the Frank W. Hale Black Cultural Center, minority scholarship services, recruitment and development, the Upward Bound/Minority Research Initiative, and the Young Scholars program, Ohio State's initiative to encourage and prepare underrepresented minority youth from low-income families to attend four-year colleges and universities.

"I will urge the new vice provost to continue the Student Advisory Council and seek other ways to include consultation with student, staff, faculty, and community constituents in any future efforts to reorganize the administration of OMA and its programs," Ray said.

Barbara Rich, who has served as interim vice provost for two years, will complete her term on June 30. Mac Stewart, associate provost for undergraduate studies and dean of University College, will supervise OMA in July.

OSU, OU receives $500,000 Regents grant to teach foreign language via distance learning

In a move that will soon offer Web-based foreign language instruction to students both in Ohio and beyond, Ohio State and Ohio University have been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Ohio Board of Regents to create foreign language courses taught via distance learning.

"Ohio State is looking forward to developing this language curriculum with Ohio University," said Alayne Parson, senior vice provost. "We think that the Ohio Board of Regents is very wise to provide such creative incentives for Ohio's universities to constantly explore ways to collaborate on educational opportunities to better serve our citizens."

The grant is part of a program implemented by the Ohio General Assembly in 1997 to support efforts to identify and establish programs and methods to further improve education and services provided by two- and four-year colleges and universities.

The Higher Education Efficiency Challenge Award was presenteded jointly to Ohio State and Ohio University at the June 15 meeting of the Ohio Board of Regents.

The project, "Meeting Foreign Language Needs of the 21st Century," combines the instruction and technology of both universities to make foreign language courses more widely available to students via the Web through distance learning courses.

Foreign language courses in Japanese, Chinese, Russian and Arabic will soon be offered to both Ohio State and Ohio University students via Web-based classes.

Parson said the courses will supplement the strong programs already in place at both universities.

The project is part of an overall effort to continually attract and engage new students to Ohio State. Other efforts include a financial incentive offered by the Office of Academic Affairs to academic departments to create or enhance distance learning courses. Academic Affairs established a coursework development grant program in which departments could apply for the creation or enhancement of distance education courses.

"As a land grant University, our mission is to serve citizens of the state of Ohio," said Steve Acker, acting director, Technology Enhancement Learning & Research Services. "In order for the University to meet that mandate, we have to go to students as well as have students come to us. We have to make the learning environment more accessible to those who have lost the ability to come to campus for various reasons. For those students, we can provide the option to take courses on-line."

The grant will also help create the Ohio Foreign Language Coalition, part of a collaborative learning network of colleges and universities designed to avoid course duplication statewide.

Sizzling weather, new look greet 4,700 graduates

Blazing temperatures and a 72-year-old spring commencement tradition took a back seat as Ohio State bid a warm farewell to some 4,700 graduates June 11.

Before the sun rose over the tops of the trees in front of the William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, several hundred volunteers were making their way to the Oval -- the site of Ohio State's 348th commencement. The event was moved to the Oval due to renovations under way at Ohio Stadium, where spring commencement has been held since 1928.

Many commented that the change in location, along with the steamy weather, led to a less structured, but equally appealing graduation than the traditional Ohio Stadium event.