Regional campus commission: OSU is one university, many locations

A commission analyzing Ohio State's regional campuses has recommended that the University pursue a more clearly defined "system" approach to the admissions policies, curriculum offerings, student services and governance practices across the campuses.

"We are describing the approach as'one university with many locations,'" said Bobby Moser, vice president for agricultural administration and University outreach, who chaired the Presidential Commission on the Regional Campuses. Moser presented the commission's recommendations to the Board of Trustees on June 7.

Under proposed new practices, Ohio State's Columbus campus and the four regional campuses -- in Lima, Mansfield, Marion and Newark -- will function better as a system and more effectively convey the multiple learning opportunities offered at Ohio State, Moser said. In fact, one commission recommendation calls for a revision of the University vision statement to elaborate on the regional campuses' role in expanding Ohio State's reach and service as a resource across the state.

Other proposals include creating a seamless admissions process to the entire University, offering different academic programs at campuses based in part on local demand, and enhancing student services on each campus -- including building Ohio State-owned and -managed housing.

"In addition to charting the course for the University system's future, this process gave us the opportunity to reinforce how important it is that we have these regional campuses in the first place," Moser said. "They expand access to the University in a dramatic way, and provide a more intimate learning environment for those who need it. They also extend Ohio State's geographical presence, broadening its political base, enhancing economic development across the state, and strengthening learning opportunities in local communities through outreach and engagement."

Prospective students applying to Ohio State for autumn quarter 2003 will see one of the first recommendations likely to be put into practice: Applicants will be asked to indicate both a first choice and alternate choice campus, easing the admissions process for applicants guided to attend a regional campus for at least their first one or two years of college. In enrolling approximately 6,000 freshmen each autumn on the Columbus campus from an applicant pool of almost 22,000, Ohio State admits students to Columbus through a competitive process that takes into account the academic credentials of the applicant pool. Students who are not accepted for autumn admission to the Columbus campus are offered access to any Ohio State regional campus, all of which maintain open admissions policies for Ohio applicants and competitive admissions policies for nonresidents. Under the revised application process, options will be stated more clearly.

"We're not closing anybody out of this land-grant institution, and we need to effectively communicate with our applicants that there are many ways to access the University," Moser said. "The most important thing is to get a degree from Ohio State, and helping our students find their place in the system will be key to making sure they're successful."

The commission also recommends revising the policy outlining how students move from regional campuses to the Columbus campus to require that regional campus students earn 45 credit hours -- as opposed to the current 30 required -- before being permitted to move to Columbus. "Research shows that students who earn 45 hours or more before they change campuses are more likely to graduate than those who change earlier," W. Randy Smith, a commission member and vice provost for curriculum and institutional relations, told trustees.

Related recommendations encourage marketing and recruitment efforts that evolve along with academic, residential and co-curricular opportunities at regional campuses. And because enrollment at regional campuses stands to increase for a variety of reasons, the commission advises that a sophisticated regional campus enrollment projection process be put in place.

Ohio State officials acknowledge that the revised admissions program will translate into higher demand for student housing on the regional campuses, and the commission recommends that the University own and operate housing on each campus -- a project already in motion at most campuses. Trustees in November granted approval to Ohio State Marion and Ohio State Newark to hire architects for the design of such facilities, and Ohio State Lima was granted permission in August to proceed with a residence hall. Ohio State Mansfield has had privately owned apartments for student housing since 1998, and the University is negotiating to purchase a privately owned apartment complex just north of the Newark campus.

Student activities that contribute to life outside the classroom are also to be enhanced under the commission's recommendations.

In the classroom, students currently can complete five undergraduate major programs on the regional campuses. Several deans have been working with the Columbus campus to expand curriculum offerings, and the commission suggests that in the future, academic program changes will be influenced by the demand evident in the communities in which campuses are located and by increasing distance education opportunities. Another factor is the planned development of a model under which faculty hiring and promotion/tenure policies across all campuses are addressed. The commission recommends studying faculty employment models at other institutions with multicampus systems.

Moser said the commission recognizes that certain elements of the relationship between Columbus and the regional campuses already resemble a systemic approach. Faculty hiring and tenure/promotion activities, for example, are now all based at Columbus, and academic advising on the regional campuses is designed to facilitate changing to Columbus for those who seek the move rather than impose any such decisions upon students. But administratively, the commission suggests improvement is needed and proposes that the executive vice president and provost review the current pattern of interactions between vice provosts and regional campuses and determine how, administratively, coordination will be improved. Smith and Moser emphasized such an assignment would not interfere with campus dean/directors' direct access to the provost.

The commission also recommends that the regional campus boards of trustees be standardized in terms of bylaws and membership nomination and selection, and advises the University's senior leadership to consult with the Ohio Board of Regents to shape the next steps regarding co-location -- the practice under which each regional campus shares land and facilities with a state-assisted technical college. Because the regional campuses are integral to Ohio State's Academic Plan, any complications in their working relationships with co-located colleges must be resolved to allow for full development of the Ohio State system, Smith said.

The 17-member commission includes trustees, administrators, faculty, staff and students, eight of whom are based at regional campuses. The group was convened a year ago and began meeting in June 2001. Its activities included visits to each regional campus, meetings with Ohio Board of Regents representatives and co-located college presidents, and interviews of regional campus administrators at Pennsylvania State University and the University of South Carolina. The commission's final report is expected to be completed by mid-June.

Study: Methamphetamine drastically increases virus's ability to replicate in brain tissue

A controversial research study here has found that exposing cells infected with feline immunodeficiency virus -- a surrogate for HIV -- to methamphetamine increases those cells' ability to replicate the deadly virus as much as 15-fold.

The finding, if confirmed by ongoing animal studies, could answer important questions about how lentiviruses such as FIV and HIV can gain a foothold in the brain. That knowledge is vital in slowing or lessening the dementia that often accompanies AIDS and similar diseases.

Ohio State researchers reported this finding in a paper to be published in the next issue of the Journal of NeuroVirology.

The paper also reports that before a nerve cell can become infected with the virus, it must be associated with a specific type of lymphocyte, or immune cell. Lastly, the researchers discovered that once the virus infects the cells, it mutates into a form that no longer needs this immune-cell association to reproduce.

"We found that after about two weeks of chronic methamphetamine exposure, the ability of these infected cell lines to mass-produce virus increases dramatically," explained Michael Podell, a professor of veterinary clinical sciences and neurosciences.

The concentration of the drug the cells were exposed to was equal to an average level of methamphetamine in an adult abuser's bloodstream, Podell said.

Like HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, FIV belongs to a family of pathogens called lentiviruses. Lentivirus infections are particularly problematic because these viruses can escape detection by a healthy immune system, mutate quickly and lead to life-long infections in the host, Podell said.

FIV is one of the principal stand-ins for studies of HIV because the viruses are closely related. Studies of this kind using HIV cannot be done safely or ethically in humans.

Viruses spread within the body by first breaching the cell wall and taking up residence within the cellular environment. Once there, the virus begins replicating, or reproducing, until its numbers are so great the cell literally bursts, spreading the virus to nearby cells and throughout the bloodstream.

The Ohio State researchers focused on astrocytes, nerve cells that may make up as much as half of the brain but which for a long time were thought to play a minimal role. Recent research has shown that astrocytes are among the most important cells in the brain and may play a key role in immunity. While scientists had known that FIV and HIV could infect astrocytes, they believed the infection was merely a latent one with the virus remaining almost in dormancy.

Podell, along with colleagues Lawrence Mathes, professor of veterinary biosciences and director of OSU's Center for Retroviral Research, and Mikhail A. Gavrilin, a research scientist in the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, found that FIV is able to infect astrocytes only when they are associated with a peripheral blood mononuclear cell, or PBMC.

A receptor molecule on the astrocyte's cell membrane allows the virus to enter the astrocyte, the researchers found. Both FIV and HIV are able to use the same receptor -- CXCR4 -- on astrocytes and on immune system cells. They believe CXCR4 may be the principal receptor for all lentiviruses on astrocytes.

The researchers noticed that once it had infected the astrocytes, the virus began to rapidly reproduce -- an observation that was contrary to scientists' belief that FIV resulted only in a latent infection. "We found that the reason the virus multiplies so rapidly is that it mutates into a different strain," one that isn't dependent on the presence of the other PBMC cells, Podell said.

This virus strain -- MD-A -- appears to be completely independent of any immune system interaction. "That means that any drugs intended to interfere with or influence the immune system may have absolutely no effect on the astrocyte infection in the brain," Podell said.

The experiments with methamphetamine exposure to the cells were surprising to the researchers.

"We found that if you treat these astrocyte cell lines with methamphetamine at the time that they are infected with FIV, and if you continuously expose them to the drug, you can see as much as a 15-fold increase in viral replication," Podell said. "You can basically take this cell that normally has a limited ability to consistently replicate virus and just dramatically turn it on, simply by adding methamphetamine."

The research team is now analyzing data obtained from a series of experiments that used cats as an animal model. If the findings are corroborated in the animals, Podell and his colleagues will try to unravel the precise mechanisms that are controlling FIV infection in these cells.

"The most difficult issue lies ahead, and that is understanding what mechanism is occurring and potentially discovering how to stop or block viral infection and replication in this environment," he said.

The project was supported by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institutes of Health.

Operation feed shatters record

Hungry central Ohioans will again benefit from Ohio State generosity this year, thanks to a record-breaking collection of money and food during the Operation Feed drive, held April 15 through May 3.

"The figures this year are fabulous," said Ned Cullom, program manager for human resources. "The University community donated 11,920 pounds of food and $22,013."

More than 55,000 meals will be distributed to 212 food pantries, soup kitchens and emergency shelters in six central Ohio counties as a result of Ohio State's donation. Last year, the University raised the equivalent of 52,000 meals.

United Way of Central Ohio and the Mid-Ohio FoodBank co-sponsor the community-wide food drive, which is coordinated at Ohio State by the Office of Human Resources.

One hundred percent of all food and money donated to Operation Feed goes to purchase and provide meals. "This is definitely a cause that faculty, staff and students can feel good about supporting. We know that every penny given is going to directly help someone," Cullom said.

Forty-two percent of the individuals assisted by the Mid-Ohio FoodBank are children, and 9 percent are 65 or older. The average monthly income of client households is $840.

Financial donations are encouraged, because every dollar donated can provide two meals, and can be used throughout the year.

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