Construction projects digging in around campus

Fisher College of Business to open three new buildings

Just like the constant construction that casts a shadow over the Columbus skyline, building projects are playing a major role on the Ohio State campus this year.

"We have more under construction right now than we've had for a long time," said University Architect Jill Morelli.

One of the largest projects is at the Fisher College of Business, which will be dedicating three new buildings on Oct. 21: Schoenbaum Hall, Raymond E. Mason Hall and Pfahl Hall.

That will bring to five the number of buildings completed at the Fisher College of Business. The sixth, an Executive Residence for those enrolled in the college's Executive Education Program, is currently in the design phase.

Schoenbaum Hall is an undergraduate building housing an auditorium, classrooms, career counseling, student services and faculty offices. Raymond E. Mason Hall includes computer labs, a business library and a computer-interactive conferencing lab on the fourth floor for executives.

Pfahl Hall is an executive education building with classrooms, offices, a dining room and a kitchen that will be built in conjunction with the Executive Residence project.

Across Woody Hayes Drive from the business complex is the new Tuttle Park Place Garage. The garage has 1,000 parking spaces and includes a new satellite office for Transportation and Parking and University Police.

Adjacent to the garage are the new Shops at Tuttle Park Place, which houses the Buck-I-Mart convenience store, UNICOMP-The Technology Store, Cop-EZ, and Oxley's By The Numbers cafe. The shops will hold their grand opening celebration Oct. 4-8.

Other buildings at OSU in various stages of construction include:

• The Longaberger Alumni House, located on Olentangy River Road at the south end of the Fawcett Center parking lot, which will be completed in late fall, Morelli said. The $9.5 million structure will house the Alumni Association, allowing the Office of Development to move into the association's old offices in Fawcett Center. The Alumni House also will provide a large meeting space for Board of Trustees meetings and alumni functions.

• The $23 million Heart and Lung Institute, 473 W. 12th Ave., is on target for an April completion date. The remaining section of Upham Hall was torn down to make way for the six-story structure. It is a teaching and research facility for diseases of the heart and lungs.

• The $8.6 million Younkin Success Center, 1640 Neil Ave., is expected to be occupied by spring quarter. Located at the site of the former Neil Hall, which was demolished to make way for the 60,000-square-foot facility, the center will house student athlete support services, study spaces, counseling and consultation services, and an academic learning lab.

• A new building is under construction at 2015 Fyffe Court for the Department of Food Science and Technology. It will include classrooms, offices, research laboratories and computing facilities for the department. The $12.1 million project, which also includes renovating the third floor of Howlett Hall, is expected to be completed by next fall.

• The McPherson Laboratory, 140 W. 18th Ave., has been renovated to meet the needs of the Department of Chemistry and provide additional space for high-priority instructional needs for the Department of Astronomy and the College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

• A new Life and Physical Sciences building has been completed on the Lima campus. The $15 million facility houses labs, classrooms and office space for the science department.

Among projects under design with groundbreaking set for this year:

• A $50 million Physical Sciences Building, to be located at 190 W. 19th Ave., currently is in design. Construction, expected to cost $41 million, will begin next August.

• The University currently is selecting architects for a $17 million renovation to Page Hall, located at 1810 College Road. The facility will house the School of Public Policy and Management, classrooms, the John Glenn Institute and an area shop for Physical Facilities.

Among road projects:

• Roads will be a little smoother this year now that the paving is complete on Woody Hayes Drive. The project involved paving from College Road to Herrick Drive, as well as Ninth Avenue from Neil Avenue to Belmont Avenue, according to University Engineer Phil Soule.

• Work on the King Avenue Bridge over the Olentangy River is expected to be completed by November. The bridge has been closed to through traffic since April 21, 1998. This is a Franklin County project.

USAC hopes to air key staff issues at 'listen sessions'

The University Staff Advisory Committee hopes to connect with staff in "listen sessions" set to take place in late September and throughout October.

"We really want to hear from staff regarding what is important to them," said Jamie Mathews-Mead, chair of USAC and director of MBA career programming for the Fisher College of Business.

USAC is gathering staff opinion in preparation for the Staff Compensation and Benefits Report that will be presented in February to the University administration.

Compensation and benefit issues are important, said Math-ews-Mead, but she hopes that staff also will open up in the sessions about all aspects of their work experience at Ohio State.

"We're looking at making our focus more broad and trying to be very open and able to listen to any issue," she said. "We'll want to know about what has been going well and what has not and what could be improved. They can come in and talk about training and morale if they want."

Two issues that may come up are domestic partnership benefits and dependent fee authorizations.

"These are two issues that have been surfacing lately with staff. If these issues don't really surface, we may address them to get feedback and to see if it's important to staff to have," Mathews-Mead said.

Currently, the University has a 50 percent fee waiver for dependents of faculty and staff and offers no benefits to domestic partners.

The listen sessions will last an hour and will be led by USAC members. Attendees will be given a summary of the 1998-1999 Staff Compensation and Benefits Committee Report and be asked to fill out a survey about their Ohio State experience. The sessions will be held in colleges and departments throughout campus, and in many cases, in collaboration with department- or college-level staff committees.

Sessions scheduled so far include: The College of Optometry, 11:45 a.m. Sept. 28, S13 Starling Loving Hall; University Libraries, 10 a.m. Oct. 6, Room 122 Main Library; the College of Nursing, 9 a.m. Oct. 7, Room 168 Newton Hall; Newark Campus, Oct. 14, time and location to be announced; and College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, 10 a.m. Oct. 20, location to be announced.

Staff who cannot attend a session are encouraged to call the USAC hotline at 688-USAC or check out USAC's Web site at www.osu.edu/org/usac/.

Staff should check USAC's Web site for additions to the list of sessions.

Baeslack leaving Ohio State to become engineering dean at RPI

William A. "Bud" Baeslack III, interim vice president for research at Ohio State, has been named dean of the School of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. He begins his new position Nov. 1.

Baeslack has been interim vice president at OSU since May 1998; he previously had been associate dean for research and college development in the College of Engineering since 1994, a department chair, and a professor of industrial, welding and systems engineering.

He received his Ph.D in materials engineering from Rensselaer, which is ranked 17th among 221 accredited graduate engineering programs by U.S. News & World Report. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in engineering from Ohio State.

Baeslack, who joined the Ohio State faculty as an assistant professor in 1982, has won numerous University and national awards for excellence in teaching and research.

"After being here for 17 years and coming up through the professional ranks, you develop many professional and personal relationships that will be difficult to leave," he said. "I look at my next position as an opportunity to utilize the leadership and administrative skills that I have developed at Ohio State."

Baeslack said he will move into new areas of research at RPI, such as the joining of microelectronic components, one of the strengths of RPI's engineering program.

Baeslack will leave a favorable impression at Ohio State.

"Bud Baeslack stepped into a high-profile interim position at a time when the University needed strong leadership and continuity in the Office of Research, and he met every challenge he faced," said Edward J. Ray, executive vice president and provost. "He has advanced Ohio State's commitment to provide meaningful research opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students, and maintained the progress of the Research Commission's analysis and recommendations relating to the many facets of research at Ohio State.

"Bud also oversaw reorganization of the University's technology-related offices, which will enhance Ohio State's technology commercialization services and improve relationships with the business community."

Ray said that though a search for a permanent vice president for research is taking place, it is likely that Ohio State will appoint another interim vice president in November.