Commencement on the Oval

J.C. Watts is speaker

U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts Jr., R-Oklahoma, will deliver the commencement address during Ohio State's spring ceremony June 9. Approximately 4,700 graduates will receive degrees during the ceremony, to be held on the Oval beginning at 9:30 a.m.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity to come to speak at the commencement of The Ohio State University," Watts said."It will be my pleasure to join in celebration with graduates and their families."

As a Congressman, Watts is known as a proponent for balancing the budget, providing tax relief, protecting Social Security, sending education dollars and decisions back to local schools, and strengthening the nation's defense.

He introduced the Community Renewal Project, which represents the culmination of more than eight years of vision for poorer communities. The project attempts to bring cultural and economic renewal to communities by encouraging investment and savings, offering school choice and allowing citizens the option to use faith-based programs.

Rep. Deborah Pryce of Ohio was instrumental in helping University officials make contact with Watts, said David Williams II, vice president for student and urban/community affairs."We owe her our thanks."

Watts received a B.A. in journalism in 1981 from the University of Oklahoma. While in college, Watts was quarterback for the Sooners, leading them to consecutive Big Eight Championships and Orange Bowl victories.

A Congressman since 1994, Watts has been elected to the fourth-highest-ranking Republican position: House Republican Conference chairman. He also serves on the Armed Services Committee, and is a member of the Morale, Welfare and Recreational Panel.

Five to receive honors at commencement

Five individuals will be honored at the spring commencement for their contributions to society and to the University.

Robert C. Richardson, the F.R. Newman Professor of Physics and vice provost for research at Cornell University, is internationally known for his research in low-temperature physics.

Born in Washington, D.C., Richardson received his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and his doctorate in physics from Duke University. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1967, and collaborated on cooling techniques and NMR instrumentation for studying low-temperature helium liquids and solids. In 1971, his research group made the accidental discovery that liquid helium-3 undergoes a pairing transition similar to that of superconductors -- a discovery that led to a shared Nobel Prize in physics in 1996.

Richard J. Solove is a partner with Columbus Realty Investments Ltd., a real estate development firm formed in 1999 from the merger of his company, R.J. Solove & Associates, and the Don M. Casto Organization.

A native of Columbus, Solove received his B.S. degree in pharmacy from Ohio State. He owned three Columbus drugstores before he sold them in 1963 to devote himself full time to real-estate development. Solove was a founding member of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute Foundation, and is currently a member of the hospital's governing board of directors. His dedication to and support of cancer research were recognized in 1999 with the naming of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.

William Julius Wilson, one of America's leading scholars of urban poverty, is the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University.

Wilson received his bachelor's degree and master's degree from Wilberforce University and Bowling Green State University, respectively, and his doctorate in sociology and anthropology from Washington State University. He joined the University of Chicago faculty in 1972 and the Harvard University faculty in 1996.

Named as one of Time magazine's"America's 25 Most Influential People" in 1996, Wilson is the author of several controversial works. His latest book, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor, was selected as one of the most notable books of 1996 by the editors of the New York Times Book Review.

Retired investor Ben M. Jones III has been an invaluable friend to the Ohio State Libraries and the College of Humanities.

Jones spent most of his career in the Columbus area, where he began as an insurance executive. He formed many ties with Ohio State over the years. His lifetime passion for collecting books is reflected in his support of the University Libraries, especially in the areas of special purchases and preservation.

He is a strong advocate for undergraduate studies and has established an award for excellence in undergraduate teaching in the College of Humanities -- the largest prize at Ohio State for outstanding service to undergraduates.

Nancy Wilson Patterson has been involved with Ohio State since she joined 4-H as a young girl. That early experience has led to a lifetime of dedication and support of the University, especially through OSU Extension activities.

A graduate of Ohio State with a bachelor's degree in education, Patterson has served at every level within the OSU Extension system as a 4-H volunteer, county advisory board member, state advisory board member, state development committee member and president of the Ohio 4-H Foundation. As president, she increased funds raised from $250,000 to more than $1 million and encouraged Ohio counties to establish 4-H endowment funds.

By Jim Brown

Gifford Weary delivers the Distinguished Lecture May 24.

Weary studies how pessimists view others

Everyone has heard that optimists see life through rose-colored glasses. Gifford Weary has spent years studying the glasses pessimists use when they view the people around them.

In her University Distinguished Lecture May 24, Weary, a professor of psychology, discussed what she and her colleagues have found about how pessimists perceive and evaluate others.

And the picture is not pretty.

Results of many studies show that pessimists tend to view people they interact with as less intelligent and their efforts as less successful. In general, they show a negative bias in their evaluations of other people. This can greatly impact how well people do in a variety of settings, from schools to businesses to courtrooms, Weary said in her lecture in the Wexner Center Film/Video Theater.

"Pessimists in general have negative expectancies. This automatically biases their evaluations, and leads them to perceive other people's behaviors in a more unfavorable light," she said.

"I think what our research suggests is that, all else being equal, the pessimistic teacher, employer or manager will be less effective."

But the story is often complicated by a variety of factors, Weary said. Pessimists in some cases can spontaneously correct for their biases, depending on how distracted or busy they are.

In several studies, Weary and her colleagues have asked people to watch videotapes of children performing various tasks from a spatial ability test. After watching the tape, the participants are asked to evaluate the child's intellectual level and likely performance on similar tasks.

But in order to see how participants would react when they're distracted or busy, half were told to mentally rehearse a series of numbers while they watched the tape.

As expected, pessimists were more likely than others to give the children negative evaluations, especially when they had to rehearse the numbers during the videotape viewing. But pessimists gave less negative evaluations when they didn't have to remember the numbers -- when their minds were clear.

"Pessimists can correct for their biases if they have the time and the cognitive resources available," Weary said."But there are going to be many instances in everyday life when they are cognitively busy and unable to engage in a thoughtful analysis."

For example, she said, a teacher may be evaluating a student in class at the same time he or she is"thinking about completing a manuscript, getting all the class papers graded, and still getting dinner on the table. These instances are probably more the norm than the exception."

Weary also found that other contextual factors -- such as task difficulty -- can negatively influence how pessimists evaluate others. Studies showed that when pessimists are cognitively busy -- when they are given numbers to rehearse while watching the videotapes -- they actually rate difficult tasks as easier to complete than do other people."It's a double whammy. They view the tasks as easier and the child's performance as poorer," Weary said.

But there are ways to help minimize the negative bias of pessimists, Weary said. Weary and her colleagues have found that if pessimists are given a reason to focus on their own negative expectancies before they make an evaluation -- if they realize their own pessimistic tendencies -- they tend to give more positive evaluations of others.

Unfortunately, though, removing biased thinking may not be enough, Weary explained. One of Weary's doctoral students, Darcy Reich, found in her dissertation research that pessimists may correct their negative biases and judgments, but still elicit negative behaviors from those around them. In other words, pessimists may be sending negative nonverbal and behavioral messages, even when they are trying to be nonbiased.

"It's a self-fulfilling prophecy," Weary said."Even if they have all the time and attentional resources to make better and more accurate judgments of the people around them, the interpersonal behaviors of pessimistic people are still more likely to elicit less effective performances, performances that fit with their own negative expectations."

For example, she said, researchers have found that when a teacher has negative expectancies about a student, the teacher will give the student less information to learn, offer him or her less positive support, and give fewer opportunities to the student in class.

"Our next project is to see if there is a way to de-bias the behaviors of pessimists," she said.

Weary, who has been at Ohio State since 1978, received the Distinguished Scholar Award from the University in 1984.

The University Distinguished Lectureship recognizes outstanding faculty at Ohio State, giving recipients the chance to discuss their work with the community and a $5,000 award to support an academic program or project of the lecturer's choice. Weary is using her award to support Ohio State's graduate training program in social psychology.

Five to receive honors at commencement

Five individuals will be honored at the spring commencement for their contributions to society and to the University.

Robert C. Richardson, the F.R. Newman Professor of Physics and vice provost for research at Cornell University, is internationally known for his research in low-temperature physics.

Born in Washington, D.C., Richardson received his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and his doctorate in physics from Duke University. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1967, and collaborated on cooling techniques and NMR instrumentation for studying low-temperature helium liquids and solids. In 1971, his research group made the accidental discovery that liquid helium-3 undergoes a pairing transition similar to that of superconductors -- a discovery that led to a shared Nobel Prize in physics in 1996.

Richard J. Solove is a partner with Columbus Realty Investments Ltd., a real estate development firm formed in 1999 from the merger of his company, R.J. Solove & Associates, and the Don M. Casto Organization.

A native of Columbus, Solove received his B.S. degree in pharmacy from Ohio State. He owned three Columbus drugstores before he sold them in 1963 to devote himself full time to real-estate development. Solove was a founding member of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute Foundation, and is currently a member of the hospital's governing board of directors. His dedication to and support of cancer research were recognized in 1999 with the naming of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute.

William Julius Wilson, one of America's leading scholars of urban poverty, is the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at Harvard University.

Wilson received his bachelor's degree and master's degree from Wilberforce University and Bowling Green State University, respectively, and his doctorate in sociology and anthropology from Washington State University. He joined the University of Chicago faculty in 1972 and the Harvard University faculty in 1996.

Named as one of Time magazine's"America's 25 Most Influential People" in 1996, Wilson is the author of several controversial works. His latest book, When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor, was selected as one of the most notable books of 1996 by the editors of the New York Times Book Review.

Retired investor Ben M. Jones III has been an invaluable friend to the Ohio State Libraries and the College of Humanities.

Jones spent most of his career in the Columbus area, where he began as an insurance executive. He formed many ties with Ohio State over the years. His lifetime passion for collecting books is reflected in his support of the University Libraries, especially in the areas of special purchases and preservation.

He is a strong advocate for undergraduate studies and has established an award for excellence in undergraduate teaching in the College of Humanities -- the largest prize at Ohio State for outstanding service to undergraduates.

Nancy Wilson Patterson has been involved with Ohio State since she joined 4-H as a young girl. That early experience has led to a lifetime of dedication and support of the University, especially through OSU Extension activities.

A graduate of Ohio State with a bachelor's degree in education, Patterson has served at every level within the OSU Extension system as a 4-H volunteer, county advisory board member, state advisory board member, state development committee member and president of the Ohio 4-H Foundation. As president, she increased funds raised from $250,000 to more than $1 million and encouraged Ohio counties to establish 4-H endowment funds.

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