Diversity Lecture Series

By Jo McCulty James A. Banks discusses multicultural education Oct. 13 as part of the President and Provost's Diversity Lecture Series, which this year highlights many effective programs for recruitment of minority faculty, staff and students. The series continues Oct. 26 and 27 with three lectures on issues surrounding student recruitment, all delivered by William Sedlacek (see details in this issue's calendar). Two more lectures are scheduled in November. See the Nov. 9 onCampus for more information

NSF funds new science institute

Ohio State will host fourth program of its kind in the nation

Ohio State is gearing up to attack a big problem -- by thinking small.

Increasingly, scientists must study the tiny molecules of pollutants to find new ways to clean up the environment, and a new institute at Ohio State will do just that.

The National Science Foundation has announced that it will provide $5.8 million over five years to fund an Environmental Molecular Sciences Institute (EMSI) on the campus.

EMSI co-directors Patrick Hatcher, professor of chemistry, and Samuel Traina, professor of natural resources, will team with faculty across Ohio State and with collaborators at other academic, government and industrial institutions to form the institute, which will feature research and outreach activities for the state of Ohio.

"We look forward to addressing some long-standing environmental problems in new ways, by taking advantage of technologies that are just becoming available," Hatcher said.

"People have been studying pollutants in one form or another for the last 100 years, but not at the molecular level," Traina said. "With today's technology, we'll learn a lot about specific pollutants, but we'll also learn more about soil, water, air -- all the systems in which pollutants interact."

Other participating Ohio State researchers hail from such fields as public health, civil and environmental engineering, geological sciences and chemical engineering.

Hatcher said that faculty from all these areas frequently collaborate on environmental research, making Ohio State an ideal place for an EMSI.

"The wide variety of participants adds a level of diversity to the EMSI that wouldn't necessarily be present at a smaller institution," Traina added.

The state of Ohio also provides a good testing ground for environmental research, he said.

"Much of the land in Ohio is either industrial, urban or agricultural," Traina said. "Those are all activities that -- no matter how well you do them -- you still end up with some form of land degradation."

Hatcher and Traina said they plan to mark the first major research symposium for the Ohio State EMSI on Earth Day, March 21, 2001, with educational events that will be open to the public in Columbus.

Part of the NSF funding will pay for outreach programs to kids and teens in central Ohio. Hatcher, Traina and the other EMSI faculty will join with teachers throughout the area to give talks and demonstrations about environmental issues.

The researchers will create a Web site for sharing information with the public. They also hope to host a workshop for Ohio State's next Take A Daughter to Work Day. The goal, Hatcher said, is not just to educate the public about the environment, but also to encourage young people to pursue careers in environmental science.

In 1998, NSF created the first three EMSIs -- at Columbia, Northwestern and Princeton universities. This year, NSF selected Ohio State to join in this program as the fourth EMSI.

EMSIs foster collaboration between partner universities, the national labs and commercial industry. Ohio State will work with ExxonMobil Corp. of Annandale, N.J.; Aerodyne Research Inc. of Billerica, Mass.; Ciba Specialty Chemicals of North America in Toms River, N.J.; Argonne National Lab in Argonne, Ill.; the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; Princeton University; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Mass.; and Boston College. Hatcher said he hopes the EMSI will stimulate collaborations with Ohio industry, as well.

With its partner institutions, Ohio State will study sites contaminated with many common pollutants, including dies, solvents, creosote and refinery waste.

Researchers have studied these same pollutants in the past, but the instruments they used weren't sensitive enough to examine the tiny amounts often present in real-world pollution, Traina said.

"In the past, we had to mix up samples of pollutants with concentrations so high, that you would never see them anywhere -- except maybe in the worst Superfund site you could find," he said. "That doesn't tell you a lot about how a pollutant could affect the environment in more realistic concentrations."

Added Hatcher, "No one has been able to delve into these issues on a molecular level, because the tools just haven't been available. Before, we had to stop at the test tube. Now we can look deeper."

Fisher appointed secretary of University Senate

Susan Fisher had it all figured out. She would conclude two years of heavy-duty faculty governance work at Ohio State and become more available to her academic department. She would, at the request of her chair, teach general biology. She would continue training graduate students. And, perhaps best of all, she would return to the lab to reinvigorate her research activity with recent grants she had received.

And then a governance opportunity knocked on her door. Again. With a big assignment: secretary of University Senate.

A glutton for governance and University service in general, Fisher accepted the appointment. Now she's back at it for at least three years. The appointment, approved by the Board of Trustees, became effective Oct. 1.

Susan Fisher has been appointed secretary of University Senate

"Nobody is more surprised than I was," says Fisher, professor of entomology and veterinary biosciences and a participant in Ohio State governance at one level or another since 1987. A faculty member since 1981, she became a University Senator once she earned tenure.

When her term as chair of Senate's Steering Committee ended last year, she was asked to help find a successor to Gerald Reagan, who served as Senate secretary for eight years before announcing his decision to step down last spring. After a promising candidate unexpectedly withdrew, faculty friends suggested that Fisher consider becoming secretary.

"I said Ôno' enough times that they were encouraged," she jokes.

But the job is no joke to Fisher, who accepted the offer because, among other reasons, she likes the way the current president and provost work with Ohio State constituencies.

"I like the level of openness and consultation," she says. "There seems to be a new letter from (Provost) Ed (Ray) every day asking Senate to evaluate something. Just about every issue that comes before the University goes through Senate.

"They're also both direct and decisive. That's incredibly important when it comes to running a place as big and complex as this."

This big and complex place also is structured to be run by the University Senate, primarily concerning the establishment of educational and academic policies and the creation of or alterations to educational units and programs of study. The Senate's 136 members are dominated by the faculty, which holds 70 seats. Senior administrators hold 25 seats and undergraduate, graduate and professional students hold 41 Senate memberships.

Fisher says she is fully committed to governance, and she would like to see more faculty join in the effort. "The faculty are supposed to have a big hand in the way this University is run. If that's true, we need people to step up to the plate and do their part," she says. "Those of us who have the time, interest and willingness to put other things temporarily on hold should do it.

"I also find it liberating. Within our colleges, we can have a tendency to get mired in the business of the department. Governance broadens that perspective. It's easier to see that we're not just insignificant cogs in the wheel. We're part of the bigger scheme of things."

Fisher also seeks to increase Senate's relevance to people's everyday lives. "I want students, faculty and staff to think Senate is vital to what they do here," she says.

Fisher, meanwhile, has been deemed vital to Ohio State for her scholarship, teaching and service. A researcher widely known for her work on zebra mussels that demonstrates the influence of benthic invertebrates on contaminant transfer from sediment into aquatic food chains, she also is known at OSU for her participation on more than 50 Universitywide committees and subcommittees. Fisher's leadership was vital to the creation of the secretary of the faculty position now held by Kay Halasek, and to amendments to rules governing promotion and tenure that made them more responsive and humane.

"Susan's service to the University community has been extraordinary and was recognized this year with a Faculty Award for Distinguished University Service. In the Senate, she has served on numerous committees and as chair of Senate Steering, the Executive Committee on Steering, and both Faculty Council and Faculty Cabinet," said Edward J. Ray, executive vice president and provost. "In all she does, she is prepared and engaged, and the Senate is extremely fortunate to have brought forward, yet again, such an intelligent and thoughtful leader. I am genuinely looking forward to continuing to work with Susan in her new capacity as secretary of the University Senate."

In her new capacity, Fisher assumes the Senate leadership at a special time in the University's history. Among the items on Senate's -- and all of Ohio State's -- agenda this year are the Academic Plan, the Diversity Action Plan, an examination of a shift to semesters and a careful look at the General Education Curriculum. The Presidential Commission on Faculty Governance also is expected this autumn to release its review of the structure of University Senate and its effectiveness as part of an overall look at University governance. The commission's creation followed recommendations made in 1992 in the "Managing for the Future" Task Force report and in 1998 as part of the Rhodes Report, a review of the administrative structure initiated by President William E. Kirwan. Faculty Council's Executive Committee formally asked for the review when Fisher was council chair.

Anticipating a need for enhanced communication in this environment, Fisher is working with Ed Adelson, chair-elect of Faculty Council, and the Office of Information Technology to increase electronic interaction between faculty and their representatives in Senate. Each of the 70 faculty senators will host e-mail listservs of the faculty they represent, and will use those lists to communicate messages to their constituents and synthesize feedback they receive.

"With these major issues coming up, we are going to need input from all across campus," Fisher says. "These things are happening. We want to make sure people know what is going on."

As for Fisher, it's clear that for the next three years, a lot will be going on in her professional life. Though the 50-percent appointment as secretary caused her to reduce some of her faculty workload, she still is teaching graduate-level environmental toxicology courses. And, after briefly entertaining a fleeting, completely irrational thought about returning her most recent grant award, she instead is finding time to conduct her funded research.

"I'm trying to keep that ball in the air, too, and I have found I do have some breathing room," she says. "I guess you could say I'm experiencing an embarrassment of riches."

Bloomfield earns medical research honor

Clara Derber Bloomfield, director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center and deputy director of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, has been elected to the membership of the Institute of Medicine (IOM), one of the highest honors awarded to medical researchers.

Bloomfield was among the more than 50 medical professionals named Oct. 16 in Washington, D.C., as new IOM members. Each year, more than 50 new members are elected to the organization by a vote of the current membership. Admission into the IOM, as well as the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, is considered one of the top achievements a researcher can attain.

"Dr. Bloomfield's election to the national Institute of Medicine is a tremendous honor both for her and for Ohio State," said President William E. Kirwan. "Her selection to join the country's most prestigious group of medical professionals is a direct result of her outstanding career as a leader in cancer research.

Clara Bloomfield has been elected to the membership of the Institute of Medicine.

"In her role as director of our Comprehensive Cancer Center, she leads a team of several hundred of the country's finest young researchers working to overcome this disease. As both physician and researcher, she is the role model for everything a research leader of the highest caliber should be. We are exceedingly proud of her for attaining this very high honor."

IOM candidates are nominated based on their major contributions to health and medicine, although researchers in the fields of social and behavioral sciences, law, administration and economics may be proposed, as well. Members are told their election is both an honor and an obligation because they often are asked to serve on national committees investigating major issues of health research or policy.

"This is a well-deserved honor which recognizes Dr. Bloomfield's contributions to her field from both a scientific and leadership perspective," said Fred Sanfilippo, senior vice president for health sciences and dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health.

"Having a renowned scientist and leader elected to the IOM as a member of the OSU faculty also brings honor and recognition to the University and Medical Center. I believe this has even more value and impact than simply recruiting scientists who have already won such honors at other institutions.

"Dr. Bloomfield's recognition is an excellent indication of the progress we are making in transforming Ohio State into one of the leading public research universities in the country."

Over the past few years, Bloomfield has co-chaired an international group of nearly 100 scientists that radically changed the World Health Organization's classification of cancers of the blood. Because of the new system, patients with these diseases will be diagnosed earlier and receive better treatment, increasing their chances of survival.

Bloomfield joined the University in 1997 to fill the William Greenville Pace III Endowed Chair in Cancer Research and assume the directorship of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. A professor of internal medicine and director of the Division of Hematology and Oncology, she is an internationally recognized expert in adult leukemia and lymphoma.

"While this honor certainly pleases me personally, I think it is more important that we see it as a recognition of the work of all of my research colleagues," Bloomfield said. "I hope it will serve as an example to young researchers of what can be achieved with the right investment of energy, drive and creativity.

"I hope this honor will also increase the recognition of the exciting opportunities for cutting-edge research that are available at Ohio State," she said. Bloomfield currently is principal investigator for four major National Institutes of Health studies totaling more than $3 million in annual funding.

One other current Ohio State faculty member, Charles Capen, professor and chair of veterinary biosciences, is on the IOM rolls.