OSU, Godman Guild partner

OSU Extension Program Coordinator Cathryne Callaway, right, assists Linda Cartharn at the community technology center at the Godman Guild.   By Jodi Miller

Project provides access to technology, resources

By Shannon Wingard, Media Relations

Marian Battise, an unemployed University District resident, knows that finding and keeping a job is a challenge if you don't have the right skills in this era of advanced technology.

That's why she jumped at the chance to take computer, workforce development and other life-skills classes offered through a partnership between Ohio State Extension, the College of Education's Center on Education and Training for Employment (CETE) and the Godman Guild Association, at 303 W. 6th Ave.

The Technology Access for Better Learning and Employment (TABLE) project, which was funded by a $241,000 grant from the national Department of Education, began in October 2002.

Susan Colbert, University District agent for OSU Extension, said the grant specifically funds the community technology center, which provides disadvantaged residents with access to information technology and related training. The goal of the TABLE project is to provide education and employment training for at least 400 residents who live in empowerment zones, which are federally designated areas that have residents with lower education and higher unemployment rates than other areas in Columbus. The center helps residents earn their general equivalency diploma (GED), or with job training, pursuing post-secondary education or becoming more computer literate.

Colbert said the TABLE project gives residents the tools to meet the changing needs and expectations in the job market.

"The project builds on the students' assets and reduces their barriers for employment," Colbert said. "As a result of the grant, the Learning Center, which is located in the Godman Guild facility, can now integrate workforce development, life skills, literacy and technology."

Of the 970 community technology centers representing 24 states that applied for the grant, Colbert said the TABLE project is one of 56 centers awarded to receive the funding in FY 2002 and the only center in Ohio.

Cathryne Callaway, program coordinator for OSU Extension, said between 150 and 200 residents already have taken courses offered through the TABLE project. The courses are taught by undergraduate students who serve as instructors and tutors for the residents. The Godman Guild staff and OSU Extension employees also teach workforce development classes at the Learning Center. In addition, as a part of the University's outreach and engagement initiatives, students, faculty and staff have volunteered to help with the project. Callaway said many residents are referred to the project from the city's Job and Family Services department or temporary employment agencies.

Deborah Bingham Catri, senior research specialist for Ohio State's Center on Education and Training for Employment, said the center is evaluating the effectiveness of the TABLE project. As one of the nation's leading centers in developing employment-related education and training, Catri said the center has the resources to examine how well the residents are learning as well as the instructors' methods for using technology to teach.

"CETE has a long history of working as teacher educators and in helping adults gain education and employment," Catri said. "We bring the evaluation and the research component to the table as well as the technological delivery of instruction."

Karen Bruns, who leads the Extension's OSU CARES program, said the community benefits from the TABLE project as much as the University does.

"Our original mission as a land-grant University is to connect the people of the state with Ohio State's resources," Bruns said. "We are using the technology to help the residents learn other things, including financial management and writing a résumé. The project also allows Ohio State students to apply what they are learning out in the community.

"When we do outreach and engagement, it is a mutually beneficial relationship -- the University gains as much from it as the community."

NEWS briefs

Recent news items in an abbreviated format

Holbrook elected to ACE board

President Karen Holbrook has been elected to the board of directors for the American Council on Education (ACE), the major coordinating body for higher education in the United States. The council announced her election at its 85th annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Feb. 17. Holbrook will serve until 2005.

The council, a comprehensive association of more than 1,800 member institutions, is dedicated to providing leadership on key higher education issues and to influencing public policy through advocacy, research and program initiatives. It coordinates the interests of all sectors of higher education into a single voice on national policy issues.

The council's board of directors is responsible for overseeing the management of ACE and setting the general policy direction for the organization, which represents higher education before Congress, federal agencies, the Supreme Court and the federal courts.

New Web site provides urgent information

A new University Web site will provide the latest information in the event that the administration has an immediate need to update the University community. Anticipated uses could include weather emergencies and homeland security events. Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to bookmark the site and check it for updates in the event of a crisis. For instance, the site would be among the first updated if a snow storm forced the closure of the Columbus campus. The Office of University Relations created this site to work with OSUToday and Buckeye Net News, an e-mail newsletter for students, as another important method to disseminate urgent information. It also will allow the University to post online information at a level beneath the University's home page for times when the administration wishes to communicate with faculty, staff and students but may not wish to publicize issues to prospective students and other visitors to the University's front door on the Web. Visit and bookmark www.osu.edu/urgent.

Rudmann serving as faculty secretary

Sally Rudmann, professor and director of the Medical Technology Division of the School of Allied Medical Professions, is now serving in the newly created position of Secretary of the Faculty, an advocate for the collective University faculty. In this advocacy role, Rudmann will help identify emerging issues that have potential impact on faculty and ensure that these issues are carefully vetted. She also will provide a conduit for communication between the faculty and the administration. In addition, Rudmann works in an advisory position for members of the faculty seeking information and clarification of University-wide policies that affect faculty -- such as promotion and tenure, academic freedom, sexual harassment, paid external consulting, conflict of interest, workplace violence and scholarly misconduct. Among her many responsibilities, she will refer faculty to University Senate committees, University services or dispute resolution mechanisms, when appropriate, and is charged with maintaining records of meetings of the University faculty and reporting to the Board of Trustees and president on all matters passed by the University faculty and Faculty Council requiring approval or action.

OSU complies with international student regulations

New federal regulations require that all colleges and universities in the United States report electronically to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) information about international students and visiting scholars. At Ohio State, the Office of International Education has implemented a new program -- the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) -- an elaborate computerized database with information on each student that it will report to the INS. An important implication of the new regulations is that each international student must maintain, with a few exceptions, full-time student status to remain in the United States. The Office of International Education has been working with international students to advise them about the program, but faculty and staff who work with students also should be aware of the program and the potential grave consequences for a student should he or she not be in compliance with the INS requirements. For more information, visit www.oie.ohio-state.edu/int_students/SEVIS.asp.

Cancer expert elected to national post

An internationally known epidemiologist at the James Cancer Hospital has been selected as a director at large of the American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO). Electra Paskett, an expert in cancer control and detection, will formally assume the post at the annual meeting of the ASPO in March, and will hold the post for four years. She also is chair of ASPO's 2003 program committee. The ASPO is a multi-disciplinary organization that promotes education and research in cancer prevention worldwide. Paskett is associate director of population sciences at the Comprehensive Cancer Center and co-leader of its cancer control and population sciences program. She also is professor of public health, holder of the Marion N. Rowley Designated Chair in Cancer Research and director of the diversity enhancement program at the James Cancer Hospital.

Marketing professor receives teaching award

Neeli Bendapudi, associate professor of marketing in the Fisher College of Business, has been selected to receive the Academy of Marketing Science's Outstanding Marketing Teachers' Award. The award recognizes and rewards excellence in teaching and provides a forum for outstanding teachers to share their philosophy and pedagogy with colleagues. Bendapudi will receive her award at the academy's annual conference this spring, at which she also will make a brief presentation on her teaching philosophy or pedagogy.

SBS names three new Huber Faculty Fellows

Ham, Jenkins and Malecki selected for honor

The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences has announced the selection of three Joan N. Huber Faculty Fellows in the fifth year of the program. The program acknowledges and rewards the strongest scholars on the SBS faculty and is named in honor of Joan Huber, who in her own scholarly career and as dean of SBS from 1984-1992, set the highest standards for faculty of the college.

The Fellows will receive an annual cash award of $5,000 for three years to further their research. The Fellows are:

John C. Ham

Ham joined the Department of Economics in 2000 after being on the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh as a full professor for eight years. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1980. Ham is one of the most influential applied econometricians working in the field of labor economics in his cohort. His work on the causes of unemployment, the determinants of unemployment duration, and the evaluation of government training programs on employment histories is widely cited and taken as defining the state of the art in these important subject areas.

J. Craig Jenkins

Jenkins joined the Department of Sociology in 1986 from a faculty position at the University of Missouri. He has been a prolific scholar in the areas of social movements and political sociology. In addition to two books, he is the author of nearly 60 journal articles, many in the top three journals in the discipline, and numerous book chapters. Jenkins has focused on the study of political mobilization and its impact on political change. He conceptualizes the state and public policy as products of group struggle and the interaction between mobilized groups and the political institutions they hope to influence.

Edward J. Malecki

Malecki joined the Department of Geography in 2001 and became the first director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis at the same time. His scholarly accomplishments, for which he is internationally recognized, center on the role of technology in economic and regional development. He has been a pioneer in this important area, and is particularly well known for his highly cited major book, Technology and Economic Development: The Dynamics of Local, Regional, and National Competitiveness. Malecki's record of publication includes five books and more than 85 articles in refereed journals and edited collections.

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