Discussing higher education

By Jo McCulty President Karen Holbrook hosted Rep. John A. Boehner, right, a Republican from Ohio's Eighth District who chairs the House Education and the Workforce Committee, and Rep. Patrick J. Tiberi, left, an Ohio Republican from the 12th District, Dec. 19 for an official university site visit to discuss issues surrounding the federal higher education act. The congressmen met with Holbrook and other university administrators and discussed college costs with student financial aid directors.

Center supports better writing and its teaching

By RANDY GAMMAGE, onCAMPUS staff

Central Ohio P-12 teachers are discovering that spending a Saturday morning at Ohio State is an excellent way to refine their skills in the teaching of writing.

Professional development workshops and seminars for Ohio's P-12 teachers are a major part of outreach efforts conducted by the university's Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing, an interdisciplinary support and research unit in the College of Humanities committed to fostering excellence among writers and teachers of writing.

Last year, approximately 120 teachers participated in a series of six, four-hour weekend seminars on the teaching of writing. The workshops were facilitated by faculty associated with CSTW with expertise in writing theory, writing pedagogy, and collaborations with P-12 educators, said Beverly Moss, CSTW director.

"The teachers attending the seminars are the ‘master teachers' of the system," Moss said. "They're curious; they're interested in what other educators are doing, and they're always striving to become better instructors."

Teachers receive a stipend of $100 to attend, made possible through a grant from the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. In return, they feed research conducted by CSTW.

"They are the ones that turn theory into practice," Moss said. "They also are the ones that can help us learn theory from practice."

Housed in 485 Mendenhall Lab, the CSTW was formally created in 1999. In addition to its many outreach activities, services to the university include:

• The Writing Center, which provides free writing help for any member of the university community;

• Writing Across the Curriculum, which offers free help to faculty, instructors and teaching assistants who are integrating writing into their Ohio State courses; and

• A new minor in professional writing, including an internship class with on-site writing experience.

This school year, the P-12 writing seminars are adding to the momentum generated last school year. P-12 teachers were surveyed earlier this year to determine the subjects they are interested in studying before the following list of sessions was devised:

• Assessment, Evaluation, and the State of Ohio and District Standards for Writing, facilitated by Kay Halasek, associate professor of English;

• Teaching Writing to Students with Special Needs, led by Linda Kelley, a doctoral student in education;

• Writing Across the Curriculum for Math and Science Teachers, led by Joan Mullin, University of Toledo;

• Using Technology to Support Writing Instruction, facilitated by Scott DeWitt, associate professor of English; and

• Designing Writing Assignments, expedited by area high school teachers.

"Writing Across the Curriculum was one of our most successful seminars last year," Moss said. "We ended up offering the seminar twice because we had 87 teachers on the waiting list and could only accept 20 per session."

The seminar was attended by language, math and science teachers, and supports a statewide effort to incorporate more writing in all content areas of P-12 education, Moss said.

Demand also has been high for the technology and writing seminar, which advises teachers in the use of computers in writing instruction.

This year, teachers also have expressed a keen interest in learning about designing writing assignments.

"Teachers are particularly interested in sharing interesting assignments that engage students and help them develop the skills they will need to pass proficiency and graduation tests, and also the skills they'll need at the next level," Moss said.

The seminars are a natural extension of the university's growing collaborations with the surrounding community and school systems, and a win-win situation for those involved.

"We become another source of professional development and a site of inquiry for the teachers, and they make us better researchers through their feedback," Moss said.

For additional details on the CSTW, visit the Web at www.cstw.ohio-state.edu/.

NEWS briefs

Recent news items in an abbreviated format.

Investigation results presented, accepted

A committee appointed by President Karen Holbrook to investigate allegations of academic improprieties in the university's athletics program has found no breaches of institutional integrity after five months of study.

The President's Special Investigation Committee, chaired by Matthew Platz, distinguished university professor in the Department of Chemistry, was formed following a New York Times article last July. In a 30-page report delivered to Holbrook in mid-December, the committee concluded that there was no evidence to support allegations that tutors or academic counselors in the university's Student Athlete Support Services Office (SASSO) offered inappropriate tutorial assistance.

Through its extensive interviews, site visits and evidence analysis, the committee found the university's system for finding and correcting incidents of academic misconduct is sound. The committee also investigated allegations in the article that some football players had received special treatment or committed academic misconduct in a course.

In accepting the committee's report, Holbrook said she believed the investigation was thorough and verifies that the university's core value of academic integrity remains intact. "I am happy with the diligence of the committee's work and pleased to learn we have no systemic problems in the way we work with our student-athletes," she said.

Holbrook said the committee made several recommendations in the report to improve SASSO, including reducing caseloads for counselors working with students having significant academic difficulties, increasing staff diversity, and examining SASSO's current joint oversight by the Department of Athletics and the Office of Academic Affairs. The report also suggested the university develop a means of uniformly educating faculty and staff about federal student privacy regulations and ensuring they are followed.

Royster receives YWCA women's award

Jacqueline Jones Royster, interim dean of the College of Humanities and professor of English, is one of six recipients of the 2004 YWCA Women of Achievement Award, which honors commitment to the YWCA's vision of the empowerment of women and the elimination of racism, community service and mentoring other women. Royster was among 45 women who were nominated for the 19th annual award.

The award winners were selected by a panel of community leaders and will join nearly 200 others who have been inducted into the Academy of Women of Achievement at a luncheon April 14 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

Fisher's accounting programs ranked in top 10

CPA Personnel Report recently ranked the Fisher College of Business' graduate and undergraduate accounting programs among the best in the nation.

The Master of Accounting (MAcc) program jumped into the top 10 for the first time. It was ranked 8th, up from 12th the previous year. The undergraduate accounting program stayed consistently strong, ranking 10th for the second consecutive year. The rankings were based on a national survey of accounting professors. 

Launched in the fall of 2000, the MAcc program has more than quadrupled in size and draws from national and international student populations. It began with 16 students in 2000 and now boasts more than 80 students. In addition, its rankings have moved from an impressive debut at 17th in 2001 to 8th in 2003. The undergraduate accounting program has been highly regarded for many years and graduates about 200 students annually.

DVDs trace influential art and career of Charles Csuri

The work and career of groundbreaking artist Charles Csuri -- widely known as a pioneer of computer art -- has been preserved on a set of digital video disks (DVDs) by Ohio State. Csuri's long relationship with the university is traced, starting back when he was a Buckeye football great in the early 1940s to his influence that continues today with computer artists and animators.

The monumental DVD project was undertaken by University Archives as part of its oral history program, which tapes interviews of people who have influenced the development and history of Ohio State. In Csuri's case, the visual DVD option seemed to be the best way to truly capture his life and work, according to Raimund Goerler, university archivist.

Charles Csuri   By Kevin Fitzsimons

Csuri's artwork is a perfect blend of art and technology, so it's fitting to preserve his history in a visual, high-tech medium. The project is at the forefront of research involving the creative use of DVD technology today, an issue that's garnering much attention. The New York Times recently published a special section exploring the breadth of experimentation with DVDs called The DVD Comes of Age (Aug. 17). The articles detailed how digital technology is being effectively used for everything from esoteric films, dance, popular music retrospectives, video art reproduction, plays and opera.

At Ohio State, the end result of the complex project is a five-DVD set that explores: Csuri's football career, with comments from current OSU Coach Jim Tressel; his traditional artwork; his landmark development of digital art; and his continuing influence on computer animation at the university's Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD). It is there that Csuri serves as professor emeritus and works with students who then leap into careers at major animation studios on the west coast.

"We at ACCAD are thrilled University Archives has chosen to document the life of Chuck Csuri with this DVD project," said Maria Palazzi, director of ACCAD. "He is the pivotal person in computer art and animation, and all that we do at ACCAD is based on his philosophy and vision."

The DVDs not only trace Csuri's art, but also include countless interviews with him and his wife, artist Lee Csuri. The casual interviews blend in comments, philosophies, anecdotes and remembrances.

Csuri acknowledges how valuable that is. "It's interesting. I doubt any artist has ever had this significant amount of their work put on DVDs," he said. "It traces my whole history, including dialogues about the work and why I did it, and comments about my art and the influence of my work."

The DVD project was a collaborative effort by University Archives, the College of the Arts and ACCAD and many individuals. They include Robert Butche, whose production company Image Stream Productions handled all of the videography, digital production and editing; Richard (Kip) Patterson and Bill Moore, videographers; interviewer and OSU football historian Jack Park; art historian Janice Glowski; and Wayne Carlson, chair of the Department of Design.