News briefs

OIT tightens security

Beginning fall quarter, faculty, staff and students wishing to log on to the Internet from computers in any of the more than 340 classroom pool rooms, will be required to authenticate their identification by entering their OSU username (last name.#) and password.

During this summer, the Office of Information Technology's Classroom Services, Applied Technology Services and Enterprise Networking staffs have been installing new network hardware known as TOADs (Totally Open-Source Authentication Daemon) in the entire classroom pool. This new hardware, developed by Enterprise Networking, is expected to reduce unauthorized use of both classroom and OSUNet bandwidth. Michael Groeniger, classroom technology coordinator of Classroom Services, said the use of PowerPoint and other software applications will not be affected by the installation of TOADs.

For additional information, visit the Classroom Services Web site at http://classroom.osu.edu or e-mail clasrmhlp@osu.edu. For help with your OSU username and password, contact the OIT Help Desk at 688-HELP or e-mail 8help@osu.edu.

The Classroom Web site is one of the online resources made available by OIT's Classroom Services and the Classroom Readiness Committee. This resource enables faculty to match their classroom equipment needs with an appropriately equipped classroom. Visit the Web site and click on the Classroom Details link to view information on classroom pool rooms.

Review of honors, scholars programs is under way

President Karen Holbrook's requested review of the university's honors and scholars programs is under way with a phase one self-study now complete.

The second phase of the process, an internal review, will begin immediately. Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Barbara Snyder has appointed Professors Deborah Ballam, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Allison Snow, Alexander Stephan, Professor Emeritus Bob Warmbrod, and Associate Dean Robert Gustafson to the internal review committee. Warmbrod will serve as committee chair and provide Snyder with an assessment of the programs and the committee's recommendations by Nov. 15. The third and final phase of the review will be done by a small group of administrators, faculty members, and former students from prominent honors programs at other universities.

The external review committee will provide its report and recommendations by March 15. For more information, visit www.honors-scholars.ohio-state.edu/.

Reeves named to OSU College of Medicine post

Jeffrey Reeves has been named associate vice president for health sciences and chief organizational effectiveness and human resources officer for Ohio State's Medical Center. His appointment, by Fred Sanfilippo, senior vice president for health sciences and dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health, was approved by the OSU Board of Trustees at its Sept. 5 meeting.

In the newly created position, Reeves will be responsible for enhancing organizational effectiveness and personnel performance to advance the mission of the growing academic medical center, and to coordinate the medical center's human resources functions.

Sanfilippo says Reeves has substantial experience in the corporate sector and his achievements in fostering culture change and leadership development are widely recognized. "I have no doubt that Jeff will be a tremendous addition to our leadership team in the Medical Center and the university," Sanfilippo said.

Reeves, a native of Columbus, comes to Ohio State from Sam's Club, where he was senior vice president and chief human resource officer. At Sam's Club, the second largest warehouse club in the nation and a division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., he was responsible for more than 90,000 associates. He also held top human resources positions at Federated Systems Group (Federated Department Stores), US West Communications, Pepsi-Cola and Scott Paper. He graduated from Linden-McKinley High School and holds both bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Michigan.

Information technology receives OBR grants

The Office of Information Technology's operations unit received a $216,654 grant from the Ohio Board of Regents for shared back office services for mainframe computing alliance. This project continues a strategic mainframe computing alliance between Ohio State and the University of Cincinnati. In the event of a disaster, the two institutions will be able to continue mainframe computer operations with only a minor interruption to faculty, staff, students and research activities.

Also, OIT's Enterprise Networking group, along with its collaborators, received a $1.03 million OBR grant to build application and monitoring test beds for the Third Frontier Network, which will link the state's colleges and universities, community colleges, branch campuses, K-12 regional service agencies and district locations to the Internet.

Merritt reappointed to lead John Glenn Institute

Deborah Jones Merritt has been reappointed director of the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy through June 30, 2007. Merritt holds a concurrent appointment as professor and holder of the John Deaver Drinko - Baker and Hostetler Chair in Law in the Moritz College of Law. Merritt was lauded for leading the institute's significant contributions to the university and establishing it among its peers. The Washington semester was cited as an especially positive program that attracts good students and gives the university visibility in Washington, D.C. For more information, visit www.glenninstitute.org.

STRS-OH revises 2004 health care benefits

Changes involve sponsored dependent coverage and prescription drug plans

By SUSAN WITTSTOCK, onCAMPUS staff

The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio Board voted on Aug. 14 to revise previously announced retiree health care benefits for 2004. The changes restore sponsored dependent coverage for 2004 to the same coverage as 2003 and restore a flat co-payment model with three tiers for the prescription drug plans.

"These changes are being introduced as a result of STRS' findings during its implementation planning process in June and July. They discovered after additional research that several of their announced changes would not be feasible to administer," said Susan Marsico, director of benefits for the Office of Human Resources at Ohio State.

The revised benefits will go into effect on Jan. 1, along with the other changes previously announced. For details regarding these revisions and all previously announced health care plan changes for 2004, visit www.strsoh.org.

Sponsored dependents

In May, STRS-OH announced that access to health care coverage in 2004 would be eliminated for sponsored dependents. (Sponsored dependents are individuals other than a spouse or child who live with the benefit recipient and/or who are financially dependent upon the benefit recipient.)

"STRS has reversed its decision to eliminate access to health care for sponsored dependents because it has learned that it will not be able to offer all members an equal conversion policy," Marsico said. "It had planned to give sponsored dependents the option to convert to an individual policy through their respective health plan, but Aetna will not offer group conversion coverage and Medical Mutual would only do so if STRS paid a $2,000 conversion fee per member. Of the three providers, only Paramount was able to provide a conversion option."

To provide more time for STRS-OH staff to investigate other options, sponsored dependent coverage for 2004 will have no change in eligibility criteria. Sponsored dependents will continue to pay 100 percent of the premium costs, as in the current plan design.

Prescription drugs

In May, STRS-OH announced that for 2004, the co-payment/co-insurance rates per retail prescription would be $15 for generic drugs and 50 percent of cost up to $100 maximum out-of-pocket per 30-day prescription for brand-name drugs in both the Plus Plan and the Catastrophic Plan. The co-payment/co-insurance rates per mail prescription would be $30 for generic drugs and 50 percent of cost up to $200 maximum out-of-pocket per 90-day prescription for brand-name drugs in both the Plus Plan and the Catastrophic Plan.

The revised policy for 2004 eliminates the 50 percent payment of cost and returns to the 2003 model of a flat co-payment with tiers. However, the co-payment amounts have increased. Retail pharmacy co-payments for a 30-day supply will be $15 for Tier 1 generic drugs: $35 for Tier 2 select brand-name drugs; and $75 for Tier 3 other brand-name drugs. Mail service co-payments for a 90-day supply would be $30 for Tier 1 generic drugs; $70 for Tier 2 select brand-name drugs; and $150 for Tier 3 other brand-name drugs. If the cost of the drug is less than the co-payment, the enrollee would pay only the cost of the prescription drug.

"After further investigation, STRS learned that its pharmaceutical administrator, AdvancePCS, is not adequately prepared to handle co-insurance for mail service. Since 63 percent of STRS' members fill their prescriptions through mail service, STRS decided the change in plan design should be postponed," Marsico said.

Knowledge Bank partners Libraries, CIO

Several pilot projects to test DSpace software at Ohio State

By LAURA TULL and SALLY ROGERS, University Libraries

Development of an institutional repository as part of the OSU Knowledge Bank project is entering the pilot phase as the University Libraries and the Offices of the CIO collaborate to support several campus pilot projects using DSpace software created by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Hewlett-Packard.

The Knowledge Bank concept was first described in 2001 by the university's Distance Learning/Continuing Education Committee to advance distance education by creating an "interdisciplinary, multi-media storehouse of knowledge capital."

In the fall of 2001, the Knowledge Bank Planning Committee, chaired by Joseph Branin, director of OSU Libraries, started exploring the idea of developing an institutional repository to store, preserve and share valuable digital content created by the university's academic faculty. The Knowledge Bank repository is expected to include a variety of materials such as working papers, e-portfolios, course materials, data sets, photographic images and streaming videos.

"Our goal with the Knowledge Bank project is to provide the same kind of stewardship for important digital resources that we now provide for print materials in the Libraries," Branin said. "Preserving digital assets so that future generations can use them is really at the heart of this project."

At the same time that the Knowledge Bank concept was being explored at OSU, MIT and Hewlett-Packard were developing an open source software called DSpaceô to store, index, share and manage the digital assets of MIT's faculty. Released in November 2002, the software is available to the public. Recognizing that the new software might serve as a platform for the Knowledge Bank, Ohio State accepted the invitation to participate in a year-long DSpace Federation Project with several other academic research institutions, including Columbia, University of Rochester, University of Washington, University of Toronto, Cornell, and University of Cambridge to work with MIT to test and develop the software.

The Office of Information Technology has installed the DSpace software on a server, and OSU Libraries has identified several pilot projects on campus, including a collection of papers about learning objects, some of the digital content used in the PharmD distance education program, a Libraries newsletter, and a multimedia collection of World War II memorabilia (text, photographic images and videos). Implementation of the pilots will occur during the next several months.

The system has an easy-to-use Web interface that allows authorized users to submit digital material to a collection in the repository and provide metadata such as author, title, keywords, abstract, etc., so that it can be made immediately searchable to the world or to only a select group of users. Currently, DSpace supports only the Dublin Core metadata schema; but it is being developed to support other schemas, particularly for learning objects, said MacKenzie Smith, associate director for technology at MIT Libraries.

One of the unique features of DSpace is that it supports long-term preservation of digital materials following an ISO standard. Libraries have considerable experience preserving printed materials, but preservation of digital information presents many new challenges. For example, a book that has been preserved can still be read 200 years later; but a document written in WordStar and saved on a 5.25-inch floppy disk in the 1980s probably cannot be read on the PC you are currently using. To help address this problem, DSpace attaches technical metadata such as the number of bytes and the format of file to an item that is entered into the system to help with the process of moving those files forward onto new storage media and operating systems over time.

DSpace also assigns to each item in the repository a unique persistent handle -- a URL that can be used in a citation or as a link without concern that it will change over time. For more information about DSpace and to view MIT's implementation of it, visit the Web at http://dspace.org.

OSU also is working with OhioLINK staff who are planning to extend existing OhioLINK services, such as the Digital Media Center at http://dmc.ohiolink.edu, to develop a statewide respository system, said Tom Sanville, executive director of OhioLINK. With appropriate additional funding, it should be possible for OhioLINK to move ahead with this development in the fall.

Additional sources

Additional information relating to this article can be found at the following sources, listed with the related Web site:

• "A Proposal for Development of an OSU Knowledge Bank," OSU Knowledge Bank Planning Committee (June 21, 2002). Available at www.lib.ohio-state.edu/Lib_Info/scholarcom/Kbproposal.html

• "DSpace poised to transform research information storage," by Deborah Halber, TechTalk (Nov. 6, 2002). Available at http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/tt/2002/nov06/dspace.html

• "Six Institutions Will Help Fine-Tune a Popular New Archiving Program," by Dan Carnevale, The Chronicle of Higher Education (Jan. 30, 2003). Available at http://chronicle.com/free/2003/01/200301300lt.htm

Soy biodiesel to be piloted in select OSU vehicles

By CANDACE POLLOCK, FAES Communications

Ohio State has become more Earth-friendly with the help of soybeans.

Transportation and Parking Services at Ohio State unveiled the first soy biodiesel (B20) fueled Campus Area Bus Service (CABS) transit coach Sept. 16 during the annual Farm Science Review at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London.

President Karen Holbrook announced a yearlong pilot program to incorporate soy biodiesel into university transportation services beginning in late September. B20 -- a blend of 80 percent diesel fuel and 20 percent soybean oil -- will be used in 20 percent of the CABS fleet.

Two other university service departments -- Purchasing, Receiving, Stores and Mail Services, and Physical Facilities Roads and Grounds -- have also agreed to pilot the B20 fuel in their trucks and equipment.

The use of the fuel on campus will facilitate learning and research opportunities in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and the Center for Automotive Research.

The initiative also supports Ohio farmers by using Ohio-grown soybeans, said Bobby Moser, dean of FAES.

"Soybeans are an important crop in Ohio and to have OSU involved in a project that adds value to soybeans is very exciting," Moser said. "It's an environmentally friendly product that's going to help Ohio farmers and processors."

Susie Turner, executive director of the Ohio Soybean Council, said the soybean project benefits Ohio's soybean farmers by finding new markets for their crops, such as building demand for soy biodiesel.

"By working with OSU to pilot soy biodiesel in their fleet, more soybeans will be used in the production of soy biodiesel. The more soy biodiesel is used with high profile organizations like OSU, the more valuable the crop becomes for the farmer."

Soy biodiesel is a cleaner-burning alternative to traditional petroleum diesel, Turner said. It is made from a renewable resource, such as soybean oil, thus reducing the dependence on the limited oil resource. The B20 blend doesn't require modifications to conventional diesel engines nor does it require special high-pressure equipment for fueling.Ý

For additional information on the B20 pilot program, contact Robert Summerfield at 292-7420.

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