COPE studies environment's impact on learning

New council to nurture relationship between campus and academics

A complex sundial that decorates a fountain asks us to consider our place in the universe. A feature that identifies the 40th parallel, which passes through the Oval, reminds us to consider human efforts to measure and mark our planet. An upright boulder in front of Orton Hall suggests we ponder the glacier that shaped the land of central Ohio.

These are examples of the way the buildings and landscape of the Columbus campus can support learning at Ohio State by encouraging self-discovery and exploration.

In recognition of this relationship, a new council -- the Council on the Physical Environment (COPE) -- has taken up residence at Ohio State.

File photo

The new Council on the Physical Environment is working to ensure that the University continues to provide unique physical settings, such as the Oval, that support learning by encouraging self-discovery and exploration.

COPE was approved by University Senate last spring, and started meeting twice a month in October.

Paul E. Young, professor of architecture and chair of COPE, said the council's primary focus is to ensure that the University provides physical settings that support the learning process.

"We recognize that the campus and its buildings provide the physical setting for the academic community of the University and, as a result, the values and priorities of the University are reflected in the campus," Young said. "In a university that values academic excellence, the physical environment supports and celebrates the activity of learning. A walk across campus introduces new discoveries, new thoughts and new connections that might otherwise never have been considered."

The council will study and advise the Senate on issues related to campus planning, architecture, landscape architecture, transportation, parking and public safety. COPE is still defining its role, but some of the projects it may study include space allocation, budget restructuring, and the transportation and parking master plan.

COPE's first major statement on an issue relates to the Draft Academic Plan 2000-2005 the University released internally in November for feedback among the departments and colleges. The plan contains five components -- academic excellence, the student learning experience, diversity, outreach and engagement, and strategic resources. COPE recommends adding a sixth item: campus environment. Specifically, the council suggests that the University "develop a campus physical environment that clearly expresses the University's continuous quest for academic excellence."

Young said it was Alan Randall, chair of agricultural, environmental and development economics and a member of COPE, who proposed and followed through on the establishment of the council. Randall served as chair of Faculty Council two years ago. Randall said he used that platform to raise, first, issues related to the transportation and parking plan and, eventually, the need for a big-picture view relating transportation and parking issues to campus master planning.

"But that then led me to believe that it made sense for the Senate to have a major council to think about the big picture involving, among other things, the campus master plan, neighborhood redevelopment, transportation, parking and public safety," Randall said.

There was a transportation, parking and public safety committee at the time, but Randall said he asked Senate to fold that committee and form COPE.

COPE is comprised of four faculty members selected by Faculty Council; two faculty members appointed by President Kirwan; four students (one graduate, one professional and two undergraduates); two staff members appointed by the steering committee upon the recommendation of the University Staff Advisory Committee; and three administrators, who are ex-officio and nonvoting.

Members of the University community are invited to comment on particular directions they would like COPE to take. For more information, contact Young at 292-9062 or via e-mail at young.13@osu.edu.

Music festival showcases many levels of talent

Pied Piper Fantasy teams community flutists with OSU musicians, dancers

Thanks to a grant from the President's Council for Outreach and Engagement, 150 young flutists will get to share center stage with Ohio State musicians, dancers and world-renowned composer John Corigliano during next month's Contemporary Music Festival 2000.

The festival, to be held Feb. 10-12 on campus, offers four concerts, a convocation and a special children's program. While Corigliano's work is the focus of the concerts, some 150 flutists from the community will be added to the mix for two performances of the Pied Piper Fantasy, one of his most recognizable signature pieces.

The number is based on the time-honored children's folk tale, in which a piper, or flutist, successfully rids a town of rats. But fearing he will not be paid for his efforts, he uses the magic of his flute to subsequently lead the town's children astray until he is properly compensated.

By Al Zanyk

Professor Katherine Borst Jones, in her role as the Pied Piper, leads first row, Angela Jin; second row (left to right), Jennifer Crouch and Emily Maddox; third row, Chris Kanalas and Nathan Muehl; and drummer Steve Hauber.

The School of Music and Department of Dance have teamed up for the production, which features OSU dancers as the rats and elementary, middle and high school flutists portraying the children led astray by the Piper.

Soloist Katherine Borst Jones, professor of flute, will play the Pied Piper, accompanied by the OSU Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Marshall Haddock.

Jones said the young musicians from the community, along with 20 Ohio State flute majors, will join her in the "Children's March" movement of the fantasy.

"It closes with me leading the kids off the stage and out of the auditorium," Jones said.

Jones, with the help of flute majors, is in charge of teaching the youngsters the music and how to march. She was able to assemble the entire group of musicians for practice only twice: once in November and once in January.

"It was pretty wild with so many varying levels and ages," Jones said.

With young flutists representing as many as 40 area schools, practice has taken place primarily in small groups, with Jones and flute majors from the School of Music visiting the schools to instruct. Graduate assistant Emily Butterfield, who has conducted several sessions at area middle schools, said the young musicians are meeting the challenge.

"In this piece the students are presented with some elements of music that are normally not present in their band music. It is more complex in the areas of rhythm and key signatures," she said.

Basically, the production will be assembled in pieces, with the dancers, musicians and orchestra not performing together until dress rehearsals on Jan. 31, Feb. 1 and Feb. 10.

But Jones has plenty of experience in such productions. In the 1980s she prepared children to perform the Pied Piper Fantasy with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

"It went very well," she recalled. She also conducts flute workshops at Ohio State every summer for high school students.

Donald Harris, professor of music, was instrumental in finding the funding to make the Pied Piper Fantasy a reality by obtaining a $7,000 grant from the President's Council on Outreach and Engagement to cover production costs. If successful, he said he might pursue similar projects in the future.

"We think that the introduction of children to music at an early age is very important," he said. "It will enable them to understand it better at a later age."

Corigliano will be in residence throughout the festival. The Pied Piper Fantasy and other compositions will be performed for an invited audience of school children at 10 a.m. Feb. 11 in Mershon Auditorium, and for the general public at 8 p.m. Feb. 12, also in Mershon Auditorium. Concerts also will be held in Weigel Auditorium at 8 p.m. Feb. 10, 8 p.m. Feb. 11 and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 12. For ticket information, call Weigel Auditorium, 292-2300, or Mershon Auditorium, 292-3635.

Ohio State's College of Humanities is a national leader in NEH funding for 1999

Grants support World Media and Culture Center, faculty research

The College of Humanities has received a $500,000 Challenge Grant plus four fellowships totaling $120,000 from the National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH), which, when combined with two earlier grants to the college, represents nearly a four-fold increase in OSU's NEH funding from 1998 to 1999.

In this round of competition, Ohio State was the front-runner in the amount of dollars awarded. Earlier in the year, NEH, the largest funder of humanities programs in the United States, awarded the college $144,101 for a summer seminar and $4,000 for a summer stipend. Ohio State's total NEH funding in 1999 reached $768,101.

The Challenge Grant, for which the college must raise $2 million in matching funds, will help create an endowment for and support the programs of the World Media and Culture Center (WMCC), the college's developing state-of-the-art facility for teaching and learning languages, cultures and literatures.

Drawing on the college's national reputation in language research and instruction, the WMCC will be a resource for enhancing global communication and intercultural understanding in the 21st century. Set to open in 2002, the WMCC will be the first center of its kind to combine leading-edge technology and professional staff with world-class language and culture instructors and researchers.

"We expect the World Media and Culture Center to attract those interested in learning and teaching foreign languages and cultures. For example, in addition to serving OSU students, faculty and staff, we will help K-12 school- teachers develop curriculum materials and maintain their language and culture skills. We will also provide a variety of services for the business community and government agencies as well as the general public," said project director Diane Birckbichler. "The NEH funding enables us to create an endowment to support these and related activities.

"We will be able to meet a variety of needs in the area of foreign language and culture study in the WMCC's Ameritech Individualized and Language Learning Center, hypermedia development facilities, electronic learning spaces, videoconferencing center and the Crane CafŽ, where students and other patrons can watch live foreign television broadcasts while practicing their language skills," Birckbichler added.

"The WMCC will help make Ohio State a national leader in making the learning of foreign languages and cultures more effective and more accessible for American learners of all kinds everywhere."

The World Media and Culture Center will be housed in Hagerty Hall, which will be renovated by Wandel & Schnell, Architects Inc. of Columbus and Leers Weinzapfel Associates Architects Inc. of Boston.

In the NEH's current round of funding, four humanities faculty each received $30,000 fellowships. With that funding, Nicholas Breyfogle, assistant professor of history, will explore "Religious Dissent and Russian Empire-Building in Transcaucasia, 1830-1900"; Thomas Kasulis, professor of comparative studies and East Asian languages and literatures, will examine "A History of Japanese Philosophy: 1100-1960"; Daniel Reff, associate professor of comparative studies, will pursue research on "The Relevance of Early Christian Literature to Jesuit Missionaries in Colonial Latin America"; and Hugh Urban, assistant professor of comparative studies, will investigate "The Extreme Orient: Imagining 'Tantrism' in the History of Indian Religions."

Kasulis also received a $4,000 Summer Stipend in April for "A Historical Narrative of Japanese Philosophy, 650-1100 C.E." In July, the grant of $144,101 was awarded to Susan Hartmann, professor of history and women's studies, for "Women's Rights and Citizenship in American Thought, Culture, and Practice," a four-week national institute for 30 schoolteachers.

According to Michael Hogan, interim dean of the College of Humanities, "These NEH awards recognize the importance of our colleagues' research -- and put it into a national context. Together with the three prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships won by our faculty members last spring, they serve as proof positive that Ohio State's College of Humanities is at the forefront of liberal arts research in our country today."

To learn more about the World Media and Culture Center, call the college at 292-1882 or visit its Web site: wmcc.ohio-state.edu.

Lorbach is coordinator of alumni and public relations for the College of Humanities.

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