WOSU stations to report to University Relations

Beginning Jan. 1, 2001, the reporting line for WOSU stations will change from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences to the Office of University Relations at Ohio State, Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray has announced.

The change reflects a decision that a central reporting position for WOSU will better serve the University's efforts to connect with the communities it serves both through programming that educates, informs and entertains, and through the greater access that WOSU and its supporters will have to the University.

Further changes in operations are anticipated based upon decisions that must be made in the near future regarding the need for significant investments in equipment and, eventually, programming in relation to the federal mandate to convert from analog to digital broadcast technology.

The conversion to digital transmission would be expected to broaden WOSU's television broadcast potential to four channels. One possibility being considered is the development of one channel, called the Buckeye channel, that could be devoted to news and information about Ohio State.

"This would allow us to dynamically engage academic units in programming to the benefit of Ohio State and the communities WOSU serves," said Lee C. Tashjian Jr., vice president for University Relations. Additional broadcasting capabilities also could benefit both the University and WOSU audiences by providing more programming related to Ohio State's academic mission. "We envision being able to offer programs that draw on faculty research and extending other educational opportunities to the community," he said.

In a letter to the Friends of WOSU, the major financial supporter of the stations, Ray noted that WOSU plays an important role in communicating Ohio State's vision and informing Ohio citizens about the University's outstanding faculty, staff and students, as well as the impact of their work on the state's future.

"Bringing the stations into the Office of University Relations will ensure that they can be more fully engaged in the rich life of the University," Ray said.

Tashjian will work with the WOSU staff to ensure a smooth transition. No immediate change in the structure of WOSU is anticipated.

WOSU is supported financially by the Friends of WOSU, the University, the state of Ohio and the federal government. It provides programming on the following stations: WOSU-TV and WPBO-TV (24 hours: varied schedule of programs for preschool children, K-12 and adults); WOSU-AM (19 hours weekdays, 18 hours weekends: news and information); WOSU-FM (24 hours: classical music); and WOSV-FM, WOSP-FM, WOSE-FM and WOSB-FM (24 hours: news and information four hours each weekday and classical music the remainder of the time).

Its offices are based at the Fawcett Center.

New graduate research program planned in OSU medical school

Keeping medical research students at the forefront of the comprehensive and constantly changing field of biomedical science is the goal of a new five-year, broad-based training program at Ohio State's College of Medicine and Public Health.

The new Integrated Biomedical Science Graduate Program (IBGP) will replace research programs that formerly were taught in six separate disciplines.

Allan J. Yates, director of the program, said it's no longer practical to teach students solely within a specific field of study because the immense inter-relationships between medical disciplines make an integrated approach to research training essential.

"Research being conducted today is taking place in a much more complex environment," Yates said. "To limit students to information and data from a single discipline no longer gives full advantage to students who need to be at the cutting edge of biomedical research when they leave Ohio State for careers in academia or industry."

With gene-related research becoming more of a focus and a basis for other discoveries, genetic engineering is having a universal impact on nearly all fields of medicine, according to Yates. "Students need a more comprehensive understanding of how disease mechanisms interact with the genetic blueprint and how the whole picture relates among the disciplines," he added.

Fred Sanfilippo, senior vice president for health sciences and dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health, said the development of the new curriculum is a major shift from what has been done in the past.

"Scientific investigation and research in medicine has changed greatly over the years, and the comprehensive approach afforded by our newest program will benefit students and the work they will do in the future," he said.

Similar programs are on the drawing boards at many other medical colleges; however, "OSU is in the forefront with this concept," Sanfilippo said.

The new course will have a comprehensive overview of human disease, bioinformatics, animal models of human disease and biostatistics. More than 130 Ohio State faculty members will be involved in teaching students in the new five-year-program, which will open to students in the summer of 2001.

Fisher College research productivity ranked among the best in the nation

The Fisher College of Business at Ohio State has been ranked in the top 20 of more than 700 accredited MBA programs in the nation in terms of faculty research productivity, and fifth among the Big Ten business colleges.

In addition, research productivity by faculty in finance and production/operations management was ranked sixth, and management science was 14th.

The ranking appears in the December issue of the Academy of Management Journal, and was summarized in the Dec. 6 online issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education (Chronicle subscribers may view the story online at http://chronicle.com/daily/2000/12/2000120603n.htm).

The new study, according to the Chronicle report, ranked business schools based on the number of pages that their faculty members published in top-tier scholarly journals from 1986 to 1998.

"I believe this study points to a valuable piece of the total academic picture -- the research that generates new ideas and knowledge which in turn keeps our academic programs current and relevant," said Joseph A. Alutto, Fisher College dean. "This study reflects the strong history of significant, high-impact research activity that has helped to build Fisher College's reputation as a top-tier business college."

Results of the ranking are available at the University of Georgia's Web site (www.terry.uga.edu/~adennis/rankings), where James S. Trieschmann, a primary author, is associate dean for faculty and research at the Terry College of Business.

The study presents a broad, business-school-wide assessment of research performance comparable to the popular press evaluations of MBA programs.

The researchers examined the number of pages published in 20 "top tier" business research journals for the 13-year time period, beginning immediately after the last published cross-discipline ranking study. They ranked the research in eight discipline groups based on publication in the top journals of each discipline.