OSU stories illustrate 'Do Something Great'

Program goal is to communicate excellence

Time magazine has named Ohio State's Lonnie Thompson one of the top 50 scientists in the nation. Retention rates at the University have reached an all-time high. The incoming freshman class is the best-prepared and most diverse group of students ever to enter the University.

Those accomplishments -- and many others -- prove some great things are happening at Ohio State.

"It's something we've known for some time," said Lee Tashjian, vice president for University Relations. "Now, we're making sure the world knows."

That's why, over the past 18 months, Ohio State has engaged with faculty, staff, students, alumni and parents in an effort to develop a strategic communications campaign that seeks to convey more broadly that the nation's second-largest university is synonymous with excellence in many areas. The message is being communicated by challenging those who are considering coming to Ohio State to "Do Something Great."

"Our goal is to bring perceptions of the University more in line with reality," Tashjian said. "That is, if prospective students can be made to appreciate that Ohio State is an academically excellent university, they will be more likely to think of us as a first choice. Likewise with prospective faculty and staff. And if legislators better understand our distinction as a land-grant research university of extraordinary quality, they might be more inclined to support us better financially.

"Simply, the core message is that the University has an enormous positive impact on our state and nation, and if you aspire to make a difference, this university has the faculty, learning and research capabilities, and the resources to make it happen."

Tashjian said the current tight budget situation means that the communication effort will be more widely disseminated in stages. In addition, the University will rely primarily on low- or no-cost vehicles to disseminate the program's core message to the University community, parents, prospective students and the public at large.

Public Service Announcements with the "Do Something Great" theme already air at no additional cost on football and basketball games as part of the media sponsorship of Ohio State Athletics. And this month, the University began airing PSAs during the Ohio High School Football playoffs on Ohio News Network, primarily because of the strong audience of high school students and parents.

Additionally, the program will seek opportunities to promote faculty research through several communications vehicles such as the first-ever Faculty Recognition event during a football game earlier this year; a newly designed campus tour; prospective student Web site videos; scoreboard videos for football games; feature stories for placement in Ohio newspapers; and special features for OSUToday and onCampus.

The program, which received allocations of $500,000 each in fiscal years 2000-01 and 2001-02, is funded totally by unrestricted gifts to the University and an additional gift from the Ohio State Alumni Association.

Tashjian said he and others in University Relations have met with more than 1,000 people on campus and off to explain the program's rationale, receive input and improve the final outcome. "From the beginning, we sought input from all interested parties on campus. We established a group of distinguished faculty and deans to provide oversight, and they have given us important guidance at critical points," he said.

Tashjian said the University views the effort to change external perceptions to more accurately reflect the quality of the educational and partnership opportunities at Ohio State as an eight- to 10-year process.

"It's likely that we will begin seeing measurable change in our general public reputation toward a more accurate reflection of who we are and what we are about within the next two to three years, assuming the economy improves and we are able to expand our current effort," he said.

Tashjian said the program was developed in stages. Stage I involved a research and testing phase to determine which characteristics of the University would better communicate academic excellence. Stage II involved identifying a communications firm to assist in the design of an implementation plan. Through an RFP (request for proposals) process, HMS Partners in Columbus was awarded the job and the firm began work last spring. Stage III has focused on developing the specific communications vehicles that would best convey the campaign's messages.

Tashjian emphasized that the strategic communications program -- a concept in which a focused and substantive message is repeated in various forms -- is necessary to communicate the excellence already at the University. "Right now, we're inappropriately perceived as an institution that creates great athletes; has good, but not great, academics; and is big," he said. "Our communication effort will focus on academic excellence but, at the same time, recognize our athletic accomplishments."

He emphasized that the tagline, which has received far more media attention than the program itself, is important but cannot be separated from the entire campaign. "The tagline is important to the extent that it reinforces the relationship between Ohio State research and its impact on and relevance to the larger society. We also believe it provides an excellent contextual framework for talking about the University's greatness," he said. "But all components of this effort are equally important and, to be effective, must be equally executed."

Research is on a roll

Faculty encouraged to pursue funding opportunities aggressively

To add a little perspective to his annual report to the University Senate, Ohio State Vice President for Research Brad Moore put a dollar figure in terms everyone can understand these days.

"The increase in extramural expenditure growth last year was larger than the decrease in state funding," he said. "Research is an area that presents a real opportunity for growth."

Specifically, Ohio State recorded almost $350 million in research expenditures in Fiscal Year 2001, up from under $300 million the year before. External research awards totaled $377 million in FY 2001, compared to $328.9 million in FY 2000.

On top of that good news, the Ohio State University Research Foundation (OSURF) reported a total of almost $39 million in awards in October, the biggest month ever in Ohio State's history. The next closest one-month total was $28.7 million in June 2000.

"This is definitely a good sign for our future," Moore said.

At a time when budgeting difficulties are forcing the University to scale back on plans to pursue more hires of nationally known faculty, Moore noted that Ohio State is doing a fine job of growing its own stars. He cited a number of recent major faculty awards, including elections of two longtime Ohio State faculty into national academies, as evidence of such progress, and said that colleagues are encouraged to increase visibility of home-grown stars and their potential as nominees for upcoming national academy elections.

"This is a tight year. Next year will be even tighter. Our top priority must be to keep the faculty we have," Moore said.

He did cite a few successful faculty recruitments resulting from the nine searches authorized last year based on Universitywide nominations of truly exceptional candidates, and noted what they are expected to bring to Ohio State. They include: Joel Saltz, heading up Ohio State's medical informatics program, and Wolfgang Sadee in pharmacology, due to arrive soon to pioneer development of new drug therapies using genomic information. In addition, Ann Hamilton in art and Alistair Minnis in English have accepted offers. Three other recruitments are in progress, and two were unsuccessful. Moore also noted a recent successful recruitment resulting from a Selective Investment award: Avner Friedman, a leading mathematician in the National Academy of Sciences, who is establishing an Institute for Mathematical Biosciences.

While assisting faculty researchers in their scholarly pursuits, the Office of Research also has set goals to build multidisciplinary opportunities, double federal research support from FY 1999 by FY 2004, and implement a research facilities plan. All of the goals are intertwined, and priorities have been set for the most immediate needs.

Moore said biomedical research and the Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in the Americas, both identified as top Academic Plan priorities, also lead the list of eight areas of multidisciplinary program focus. The remaining areas are human learning, information technology, nanotechnology, the environment, transportation and nutrition. These eight trial initiatives resulted from 110 multidisciplinary program proposals submitted.

"I think most of you will find these multidisciplinary opportunities truly irresistible," Moore told the Senate. "We can do better at this at Ohio State than at most universities. The breadth and strength of our programs gives us a tremendous edge."

Moore and Keith Alley, senior associate vice president for research, are working with leaders of the eight trial initiatives to set project directions and develop proposals for external funding.

"We don't plan to issue another call for proposals, but we remain interested in ideas for new directions and ideas within the framework of these eight initiatives," Moore said.

Moore also suggested that Ohio State's clear expertise in a number of disciplines that relate to the U.S. war on terrorism -- ranging from microbiology and electrical engineering to political science and sociology -- presents an opportunity for national renown as a central repository of terrorism-related scholarship.

"Our neighbors at Battelle could help in this area. Some university has got to take the lead for this in the United States. It might as well be us," he said.

Ohio State's range of scholarly activities ideally will result in increased research support from Ohio and the federal government, Moore said. While Ohio State ranks fifth in the nation in industry-sponsored research expenditures, it could use a boost in funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation -- especially in comparison to benchmark institutions.

"We need to be more aggressive in seeking large grants for major collaborative projects," Moore said. "This is an area where we have a lot of room to grow, and where, in fact, we're growing pretty quickly. If we double our awards by FY 2004, that would take us to the top 20 nationally in federally funded research expenditures."

Moore acknowledged that a key piece to the success of major research projects is having adequate facilities in which to conduct studies. He said a research space survey is beginning that will be used in negotiating an appropriate overhead rate with the federal government -- a strategy intended to allow Ohio State to secure funding needed to keep facilities in good shape and add more research space.

Finally, Moore cited another arena with growth potential at the University -- the pursuit of technology partnerships and licensing agreements that will move the products of research into the marketplace. "We have developed a really exceptional pipeline for moving faculty intellectual property into commercial use," he said.

The full text of Moore's remarks to the Senate are available on the Web at http://research.rf.ohio-state.edu/.

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