Sensitivity training

By Kevin Fitzsimons Columbus police officer Ken Ramos, standing, discusses issues concerning the Hispanic community during a March 9 sensitivity training session for Ohio State police. Other recent and upcoming training sessions focus on defibrillator use, racial profiling and defensive driving.

First World Food Prize winner discusses India's agriculture on OSU visit

In the 1950s and 1960s, agriculture in India experienced what has become known as the"Green Revolution."Through expanded irrigation, improved crop varieties and increased use of fertilizers and chemicals, food grain production in India quadrupled from 50 million tons in 1947 to 200 million tons in 1998 and transformed India from a country with a food deficit to a country with a food surplus.

If M.S. Swaminathan has his way, the next phase in Indian agriculture will be known as the"Evergreen Revolution."

Swaminathan, widely recognized as the architect of India's Green Revolution during his time as director general of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in the 1970s, believes India's new challenge is to continue improvements in food production, but through a sustainable agricultural system that is more in tune with environmental needs and concerns.

Swaminathan shared his goals for an Evergreen Revolution in India during a lecture titled"A Century of Hope"March 8 as the keynote speaker for a daylong workshop discussing food security and environmental quality in India.

Despite the unprecedented gains in India's agricultural production, the country faces even larger challenges. The expected future demand for cereal grains is projected at 300 million tons by 2020, and there are severe soil and environmental degradation problems such as water pollution, soil erosion, soil fertility decline and greenhouse gas emissions.

"If you want to look at food security in India, we must look at sustainable production, we must look at economic opportunities for income, and thirdly, we must also look at environmental hygiene and clean drinking water,"Swaminathan said.

For India's agricultural research, education and development to achieve additional agriculture production with less environmental impact, he said the country needs to shift from the commodity-centered mentality of the Green Revolution to an integrated natural resource management-centered mentality that promotes an Evergreen Revolution. The basic steps to achieve this are to defend the gains already made, extend them to additional areas and farming systems, and achieve new gains in intensification, diversification and value addition.

"The Green Revolution gave the people of India confidence that India's farmers could produce enough food to meet the country's demand,"he said."The key to an Evergreen Revolution is food production that is socially sustainable, economically viable and environmentally friendly."

Bobby Moser, dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (FAES), was happy to hear those words from Swaminathan. For the past year, Moser has been advocating a similar approach -- focusing on the integration of production efficiency, economic viability, social responsibility and environmental compatibility in a pyramid model -- to guide the efforts of the college.

"Swaminathan's evergreen term and ideas fit well with our college's pyramid approach,"Moser said."It was a real treat to have M.S. Swaminathan here to set the stage for the workshop. He has tremendous vision for where India needs to go."

Moser led an Ohio State delegation to a workshop at the M.S. Swaminathan Research Institute in India in June 2000 and invited Swaminathan to come to Ohio and give a lecture at that time. It was later decided to use Swaminathan's visit and lecture in conjunction with a workshop.

The workshop, titled"Reconciling Food Security and Environment Quality in Industrializing India,"came about as a result of Ohio State's attempts to reestablish linkages with Indian universities with whom it had strong relationships in the 1950s and '60s, said David Hansen, associate dean of FAES.

In the 1950s, Ohio State collaborated with two agricultural universities in the northwest region of India. One of them, the Punjab Agricultural University, was instrumental in the Green Revolution. But ties were broken when the United States sided with Pakistan in its war with India in the early 1970s. A visit to India in 1999 by President Brit Kirwan and several visits by Moser have helped rebuild cooperation, Hansen said.

Already, one collaborative effort is under way between Ohio State and India that will help promote the Evergreen Revolution.

"We have a project in India in collaboration with the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation and funded by the Tata Trust Fund for the next five years that will look at sustainability of soil and water resources in India,"said Rattan Lal, professor of natural resources and director of the joint initiative."Soil resources in India are degrading very quickly. The project is designed to learn how to minimize soil degradation, reduce the risks of pollution of water quality, yet enhance productivity."

The effort also will look at improving soil quality by promoting methods to absorb carbon from the atmosphere and into soil -- increasing soil carbon levels. Each year, several faculty members from Ohio State will be funded to go to India for two weeks, and Indian scientists will come to Ohio State, Lal said.

As a result of the workshop, a consortium of U.S. universities may be formed to work with India on food production and environmental quality problems, he said.

The workshop was co-sponsored by Ohio State and Cornell University. Participants included representatives from the Indian Embassy, the International Fertilizer Development Center, the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Tata Energy Research Institute, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, World Bank, and universities from the United States, India and Norway.

While in Ohio, Swaminathan also presented a lecture at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster on March 7.

Swaminathan is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Cousteau chair in ecotechnology and is chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation in Chenai, India. A former director of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, he also is a former director general of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines.

His work in crop genetics and sustainable agricultural development in India and the Third World earned him the first World Food Prize in 1987 and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement in 1991, among many other awards and honors.

Kyle Sharp is associate editor, communications and technology, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.

Six honored at commencement

Six individuals were honored at commencement for achievements in their chosen fields and their commitment to public service, higher education and community service.

Henry Brognard Betts, Doctor of Public Service

Henry B. Betts is chairman of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) Foundation and Paul B. Magnuson Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Northwestern University Medical School.

A pioneer in the medical field now known as physiatry (physical medicine and rehabilitation), Betts served as president and CEO of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago until 1997. He received his bachelor's degree from Princeton University in 1950 and his M.D. from the University of Virginia in 1954.

Betts' efforts on behalf of people with disabilities have helped remove both attitudinal and physical barriers to their success. He served as a strong advocate for seat belt and drunken driving laws and for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Betty Frank Schoenbaum, Doctor of Business

Betty Frank Schoenbaum, president and trustee of the Schoenbaum Family Foundation Inc., and her late husband, Alex, founder and past chair of Shoney's family restaurant chain, established the Schoenbaum Family Foundation in 1988, which funds numerous charitable and civic organizations, primarily in West Virginia.

Since her husband's death in 1996, Schoenbaum has established six charitable trusts that will benefit 22 different charities, including Ohio State's Critical Difference for Women Program. An alumna of Ohio State's College of Commerce (now the Fisher College of Business), Schoenbaum has helped fund Schoenbaum Hall, the new undergraduate building on the Fisher College campus.

Ratan N. Tata, Doctor of Business Administration

Ratan N. Tata is chairman of Tata Sons Limited, the lead holding company of the 130-year-old Tata Group, India's largest industrial and technological conglomerate.

Tata received a bachelor of science degree in architecture and structural engineering from Cornell University in 1962, and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University's Graduate School of Business Administration in 1974-75.

Tata has played a leading role in India's entry into the field of informational technology and communications. Tata Consultancy Services is India's largest information technology company, India's top software and services exporter and the sixth-fastest-growing consulting company in the world.

Hiroyuki Yoshino, Doctor of Engineering

Hiroyuki Yoshino became the fifth president of Honda Motor Co. Ltd. in 1998. During a 37-year career with Honda, Yoshino has served as president of Honda R&D Co. Ltd., Honda's independent research and development subsidiary; president of Honda of America Mfg. Inc. in Marysville; and chief operating officer of Automobile Operations, including sales, in Japan.

In 1969, Yoshino was among a team of engineers that developed the Compound Vortex Combustion Controlled engine that helped the Civic become the first automobile to meet Clean Air Act standards without a catalytic converter. In June 1988, he was named president of Honda of America Mfg. in Ohio. During his four-year tenure in Ohio, Yoshino guided Honda's continued growth of Ohio manufacturing operations with the $450 million expansion of the Anna Engine Plant and the start-up of the $380 million East Liberty Auto Plant.

Daniel G. Amstutz, Distinguished Service Award

Daniel G. Amstutz is president of Amstutz & Co., a Washington, D.C.-based consulting practice, and is also chairman of a start-up e-commerce company, Pradium Inc., that is developing an online global cash grain and oilseed market.

Amstutz received his bachelor's degree in business administration in 1954 from Ohio State. In 1983, he accepted an appointment by President Reagan as under secretary of agriculture for international affairs and commodity programs and, in 1987, as ambassador and special envoy for agricultural trade and development with the Agency for International Development. There, he became the leading negotiator for the agricultural aspects of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) talks.

Amstutz is a lifetime member of the Presidents Club and the Alumni Association, and co-chaired the $8.7 million campaign for the Alumni House.

Ben Espy, Distinguished Service Award

Ben E. Espy, senator for Ohio's 15th District, was Senate minority leader from 1996 to 2000. He is currently the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a member of the Energy, Natural Resources and Environment Committee.

Espy earned his bachelor of arts degree in political science at Ohio State in 1965 and a juris doctorate at Howard University School of Law in 1968.

Espy joined the state of Ohio's Office of the Attorney General in 1972, first as deputy chief in the Civil Rights Division, then as chief of the Division of Criminal Activities. From 1982 to 1992, he served on the Columbus City Council, and he founded the Columbus Youth Corps, named a"point of light"by President George Bush.

Project helps students find independence

Thanks to several"co-workers,"four students with developmental disabilities are one step further down the road to independence.

In the fall, OSU Medical Center, in conjunction with Nisonger Center and Franklin County Education Services, received a $750,000, four-year federal grant for Project Plus. The program helps challenged young adults between the ages of 18 and 22 get a sense of the working world as they transition from high school.

The participants work from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., including a one-hour opening session to review what needs to be done each day. Spending nine weeks in each department, they are rotating between Central Sterilization Supply, Receiving and Shipping, Distribution Supply, Radiology and Dietary.

"I am so pleased with the interaction of the OSU staff with our students,"said Nancy Longman, transitions work coordinator with the Franklin County school system."They have been so positive and helpful. The Medical Center can be a very big place, but everyone has made our students feel welcome and a part of the team."

The students observe work environments and perform mutually agreeable tasks monitored by departmental supervisors.

"It's a good match because everyone benefits. I think this program will be a great stepping stone for these students,"said Thom Milem, training coordinator in the Facilities Services Department, who acts as liaison for the Medical Center.

Longman would like to broaden the experience to include other departments. Anyone interested in augmenting his or her staff should contact her at 292-8974.

Creative Activities Program closes doors

Since 1973, Ohio State's Creative Activities Program (CAP) has taught thousands how to explore caves, balance a checkbook, enjoy yoga or learn ballroom dancing. Housed in the Ohio Union, the program offered short, noncredit courses at night and on weekends, taught by a dedicated group of instructors.

CAP has closed its doors to the community.

"It is with a heavy heart that we discontinue the program,"said CAP coordinator Beth Ullum."Over the last few years, we have seen fewer and fewer students enroll, and we have struggled financially."

With many Columbus-area classes offered at local community centers, Ullum said, many potential students are taking classes closer to home because they offer convenience, free parking, a nice facility and a chance to meet neighbors.

Ullum remains hopeful that someday CAP will again be a vital part of the Ohio State community.