Newark celebrates new learning, conference center

Courtesy of the Newark campus The Reese Center at Ohio State Newark features smart classrooms, integrated wireless technology and global teleconferencing capabilities.

High-tech facility benefits university, community

By RANDY GAMMAGE, onCAMPUS staff

Ohio State Newark will be showcasing its new high-tech learning and conferencing facility -- the John Gilbert Reese Center -- when it hosts Technology Days Oct. 14-15. The event will offer workshops, seminars and panel discussions, and keynote addresses from Gordon L. Stitt, president and chief executive officer of Extreme Networks, from 11 a.m.-noon Oct. 14, and from John Mullen, sales vice president of Dell's Higher Education Sector, from 9-9:45 a.m. Oct. 15.

It is expected to attract a diverse audience, ranging from technology managers and educators to community and business leaders, said Debra Smith, coordinator of academic instructional design.

"Anyone who is interested in technology and its function will find something of value at Technology Days," Smith said.

Considered one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in the country, the center is named after Reese, a civic leader in Newark and Licking County and one of the original members of the community group that helped establish the Newark campus.

The Reese Center features "smart" classrooms, integrated wireless technology and global teleconferencing capabilities. It also includes a conference center with breakout and seminar rooms, a 600-seat performing arts center, an executive conference room, and a digital lounge with high speed Internet access, and laptop and printer ports.

It is equipped with the technology available to support communication flow between classrooms or continents -- now and in the future. Tim Link, chief information officer with OSU Newark and Central Ohio Technical College, said the data and video processing capabilities of the new campus network -- a 10 gigabyte switched Ethernet environment -- are very rare.

"We're one of four companies or institutions in the entire country that are using this network -- this is that far advanced," Link said.

He compares the Newark campus' network to a 12-lane highway, at a time when the majority of higher education institutions are running on one- to four-lane highways, meaning the campus is well positioned for the future and the Third Frontier network that will link the state's colleges and universities, community colleges, branch campuses, K-12 regional service agencies and district locations to the Internet.

The John Gilbert Reese Center is considered one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in the country.

The Reese Center's technology infrastructure, auditorium and conference facility, and a center for academic excellence represent the future of conferencing and training in the region for both the college and business communities, Smith said. It is loaded with educational services on the second floor, and revenue generating components on the first floor.

The conference center and auditorium -- equipped with a theater, music and performance hall, and multimedia lecture classrooms -- are capable of supporting a wide array of revenue generating events, Smith said, such as corporate training, sales meetings, weddings, concerts and plays.

"This building is really a community center -- its functionality is so broad it can be used in hundreds of ways," Smith said.

Already planned for the conference center is a Nov. 22 OSU-Michigan party with the football game to be televised on three large screens.

The center will offer a variety of rental spaces for day conferences, weekend events and teleconferences, as well as offering entertainment in the auditorium and amphitheater.

Flik International has been hired to manage the auditorium and conference center, which includes a complete gourmet kitchen and a world-class chef skilled in contemporary cuisine and professional presentation.

For further details, visit the Web at www.thereesecenter.com/reese/techdays.

Vice president for development named

Schroeder begins post Nov. 3

By SHANNON WINGARD, Media Relations

James Schroeder, chair of the Department of Development for the Mayo Foundation in Rochester, Minn., has been named vice president for development at Ohio State and president of the Ohio State University Foundation, President Karen Holbrook announced Oct. 1. The appointment of Schroeder, effective Nov. 3, was approved by the university's Board of Trustees at its Oct. 3 meeting.

"James Schroeder brings both breadth and depth of fund-raising experience to The Ohio State University," Holbrook said. "He has played key roles in major capital campaigns and has led a major organization. All of the institutions for which he has worked are world-class.

James Schroeder

"We look forward to welcoming Jim and Kathy to the Ohio State family," she said.

A graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Schroeder earned his master's degree in political science and his Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of Toledo. He began his career in 1972 as assistant dean for administration in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and later became the college's associate dean for planning and budget.

In 1982, he was named associate dean for the college's development office, where total private gifts were $15 million in the 1996 fiscal year. From 1982-1998, he led the college's $90 million campaign within the University of Illinois' $1 billion capital campaign, initiated college-wide and department-based annual giving programs that grew to more than $1.5 million annually, and planned and implemented the college's first capital campaign of $1.25 million in 1987 to support an endowment for the Named Professorship Program.

In 1998, Schroeder became executive director of external relations for Harvard University's Business School, where he managed and directed all fund-raising activities, alumni programs and publications. Harvard Business School's external relations program generates more than $40 million annually and, with 75 staff members, operates on an annual budget of more than $10 million. In addition, Schroeder worked closely with the business school's committees, the Board of the Alumni Association, the University Development Office, and several Harvard University graduate schools. In 2001, he left Harvard to serve as chair of the Department of Development for the Mayo Foundation.

Schroeder said he is excited to join Ohio State and to lead its Office of Development.

"I am thrilled to be joining President Holbrook's leadership team and The Ohio State University," Schroeder said. "Ohio State is one of the world's great public universities and President Holbrook has a compelling vision for its future.

"This university has enjoyed a history of incredibly strong philanthropic support. This support has provided the margin of excellence to make a great university even better. I am grateful for the opportunity to help shape the philanthropic initiatives that will contribute to Ohio State's bright future," he said.

Admissions process adjusted to ensure diversity

Court decisions say race still a factor in university admissions

By MELINDA SADAR, Media Relations

Ohio State is well positioned to continue to attract a diverse student body in the wake of Supreme Court decisions earlier this summer indicating race still can be a factor in college admissions, university trustees were told Oct. 3 in a presentation to the Academic Affairs Committee.

"The Michigan rulings showed that a student's race can no longer be the decisive factor in college admissions, but it can continue to be one of the factors considered," said Virginia Trethewey, Ohio State general counsel, in a briefing that included a discussion of the university's modified admissions policies designed to create a diverse student body. "Our land-grant roots have always emphasized access, and diversity is one of the basic tenets of our Academic Plan."

Martha Garland, vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies, said some adjustments have been made in the admissions process to bring it into compliance with new rulings. "The courts made it very clear that large size was no excuse to depersonalize the process. But Ohio State still has every right to seek educational diversity, be it from ethnic or racial minorities, students from different geographic areas, first generation college students or any number of identifying factors," she said.

The new undergraduate admissions application includes four short essay questions that will allow the students to convey their special attributes and experiences in an effort to individualize the process.

"These questions have been carefully devised to enable our admissions staff to identify potential students who can make contributions to Ohio State. With the number of potential first-year students who apply to Ohio State, it's not possible to give all of them personal interviews. The essays give the students a chance to shine," Garland pointed out.

"We encourage students to write about anything that sets them apart or has affected their lives to this point as they apply to Ohio State."

Stephanie Sanders, assistant director of undergraduate admissions and First Year Experience, outlined to trustees the processes by which an incoming first-year class is formed.

The university expects about 20,000 applicants for the first-year class, she said. Of these, some 11,000 are "presumptive admits," having the academic credentials and other qualities to succeed at Ohio State. At the other end of the spectrum are the 2,000 or so who lack the academic credentials to be admitted. Decisions in these cases all receive an administrative review.

"That leaves some 7,000 applications that require further review. These are students who are not admitted immediately, but who have other contributing factors that can affect their admission. These students will receive a full review of their folder, still with an emphasis on academic qualifications, but factoring in such things as class standing, leadership roles, race, geography, community involvement or special circumstances," Sanders said.

Additional reviewers will be hired on a part-time basis and will be trained to assist the regular admissions staff as the process continues from October through May. "We expect to admit 13,000 to 14,000 students to arrive at an entering class of 5,800," said Sanders.

Garland added that adjustments will continue to be made to Ohio State's admissions and affirmative action programs to bring them into compliance with the law. "We are striving to make all our scholarships and student-support systems inclusive.

"We hope and believe that our subjective but highly organized admissions process will bring to Ohio State a diverse group of students who are prepared to stay, succeed and graduate," she said.