Back to School part 2

part 2

SAFER ENVIRONMENT

     University Police have announced four new initiatives to
improve campus safety: (1) a new communications center that
consolidates the 16 different radio systems previously in use by
police, Traffic and Parking, Physical Facilities and other
safety-related departments; (2) renovation of the 36 "blue-light"
campus emergency phones and installation of 40 additional such
phones along High Street, at parking garages and bus stops and
along 11th and 12th avenues; (3) a new 911 system that will
direct all 911 calls from campus pay phones to University Police
rather than Columbus Police; (4) expansion of community policing
programs.
     The community policing programs include working with
Columbus Police, the Office of Residence and Dining Halls and
area bar owners on alternatives to alcohol consumption.
University Police headquarters will be the new home of the
Crimewatch Escort Service operated by the Undergraduate Student
Government.  Police will be helping to make the popular service
more efficient and effective.  The Crimewatch Escort Service
provides free van rides or walking escorts to campus and near
off-campus locations during the evenings.  Ron Michalec, police
chief, 292-3590.

     High on Pride is a cooperative project among the university,
the city of Columbus, the campus area neighborhood associations
and the local property owners to clean up the neighborhood east
of the Columbus campus.  On Oct. 1, volunteers will clean
streets, sidewalks, alleys and other public spaces in the area
bounded by High Street on the west, Norwich Avenue on the north,
Fourth Street on the east, and Ninth Avenue on the south.
     Volunteers are being sought from among the Ohio State
students, faculty and staff and from the neighborhood residents
and property owners.  They will pick up litter, remove bulk
trash, sweep streets, collect recyclables and remove dead brush
in two-hour shifts from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
     Volunteers are invited to enjoy food, music and prizes at a
celebration  to be held on the plaza in front of the Wexner
Center for the Arts beginning at 2 p.m.
     High on Pride, University Community Clean Up is part of Ohio
State's ongoing effort to improve the safety and liveability of
the neighborhoods surrounding the campus.  This effort gives
everyone a chance to participate in the partnership and to gain a
better sense of community.
     To volunteer, call the High on Pride line at 688-DIRT (688-
3478).

SERVICES FOR STUDENTS, FACULTY AND STAFF

     The Office of Admissions and Financial Aid has created a new
tour for its Campus Visit Program for prospective students.
Offered at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, the two-hour
tour is led by student guides known as "University Ambassadors."
=46rom the meeting point in the Drake Union, the first tour stop is
a model residence hall suite in Morrill Tower, followed by a
drive through the Medical Center.  Visitors then walk through
Mirror Lake Hollow, the Main Library, Orton Hall library and
museum, University Hall, a classroom, and across the Oval to
Enarson Hall (home of University College) and back to the bus via
the Kuhn Honors House and Browning Amphitheater.  They ride to
Larkins Hall, around the stadium and back to Drake Union.  A
reservation system has been established, and those wishing to
take the tour are asked to call (614) 292-3980 before they arrive
on campus.  Carol Hothersall, Admissions and Financial Aid, 292-
1783.

     In addition, there are numerous Campus Visit opportunities
and career days scheduled throughout the year.  These provide
more specific information about particular colleges and academic
programs.  Most include open houses to view facilities and
opportunities to talk with currently enrolled students as well as
faculty in the college or area.  Prospective students are advised
to call the admissions office at 292-3980 for information about
these days.
     In October, a new overview presentation for prospective
students and their families will be unveiled.  The hour-long
program, offered at 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. daily at the Drake Union,
will incorporate slides and put more emphasis on university
history.  About two-thirds will be delivered by admissions staff
and one-third by financial aid staff.
     A new book describes the more than 200 undergraduate majors
available at Ohio State, listing each field and its career
opportunities and salary trends, along with recommended high
school preparation and university prerequisites.  The degree
requirements are spelled out along with sample curricula.  Each
entry includes the name, address and phone number of a contact
person in the academic department.  Paula Compton, Admissions and
Financial Aid, 292-6633.

     Students will no longer have to stand in line to pick up
student loan checks.  The Office of Fees, Deposits and
Disbursements and the Office of Student Loan Services are
implementing new procedures to apply university loans directly to
students' accounts.  Information and instructions were mailed to
students at their home addresses.  Students may call 292-1056 if
they have not received this information or 292-EASE (3273) to
insure that loan funds have been applied to their account.  The
Office of Fees, Deposits and Disbursements has extended its
customer service hours to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays.  James Nichols,
university treasurer, 292-6261.

     A new tool for student evaluation of courses is available.
Called Student Evaluation of Instruction (SEI), it is the product
of over a decade of research and development by more than three
dozen faculty members, students and staff members.  Unlike the
previous student evaluation tools, SEI is to be used for
monitoring teaching performance primarily for personnel decisions
related to merit pay increases, promotion and tenure.  Beth
Venter, Office of the University Registrar, 292-1556.

     Introduced on the Columbus campus this fall, the new
Buck=F9I=F9D card will allow students to make electronic cash
transfers for such things as meals, laundry and bookstore
purchases.  All students with university meal plans automatically
get the cards; others can sign up by depositing $10 to open an
account.  As students use their Buck=F9I=F9D cards in university
dining halls, they receive up to a 35 percent discount from the
cash prices.  In addition, a number of vendors in the student
unions, campus vending machines and residence hall laundry
machines will accept the card.  More money can be deposited in
the accounts at any time, and money left over at the end of the
quarter or end of the year will be refunded.  There is no fee to
establish an account and no interest charges.  Other features of
the new cards are two magnetic strips which can be programmed for
a variety of purposes and a bar code strip on the front.  The
cards also carry ISO numbers, an international identification
number not related to the Social Security number.  Valerie
Shafer, Residence and Dining Halls, 292-2431.

     There's a new telephone exchange on the Columbus campus.
Numbers for undergraduate students living in residence halls have
been switched to a new exchange, 688, from the 293 exchange which
they had shared with the University Medical Center.  The medical
center now has about 4,000 additional numbers available for use.
Graduate students living in Jones Tower and non-traditional
students living in Buckeye Village are being asked to make the
change voluntarily.  Some may choose to keep their 293 numbers
because they have resumes out with those numbers.  University
offices will remain on the 292 exchange.  For all three
university telephone exchanges, callers from campus phones need
dial only the last five digits of any number for on-campus calls.
Thus, to call a student in an undergraduate residence hall from a
campus phone, one needs only to dial 8 followed by the four-digit
number.  Karen Patterson, UNITS, the university telephone system,
292-9155.

     A new two-tiered parking decal system has been implemented
on the Columbus campus.  Those who park on the central campus
will pay more than those who park on the west campus.  For
instance, faculty who want to park on central campus must pay
$204 versus $156 for a west campus decal.  The annual rates for
staff are $108 and $84, and for students $74 and $37.  Purchasers
of all decals get bus passes, which will allow them to ride
shuttle buses between the west campus parking lots and the
central campus at no charge.  Three new parking lots with
approximately 2,000 spaces have been constructed on West Campus
this summer at a cost of $2.8 million.  Caleb Brunson, director
of Traffic and Parking, 292-9341.

     The Office of University Ombudservices is offering a new way
to resolve student-to-student conflicts involving issues of
diversity.  The Intra-University Mediation Program uses trained
volunteer mediators who are graduate students in business, law,
social work, social sciences and humanities.  In addition to
working with individuals, the program will make presentations to
interested student groups.  Pat Williams, Ombuds Office, 292-
0307.

     New Employee Orientation is now offered quarterly for Ohio
State staff.  It consists of four three-hour sessions: (1) a
welcome to Ohio State, (2) a benefits overview, (3) diversity at
Ohio State, and (4) campus tour and support services.  The
orientation is targeted to staff who have held a regular
appointment for less than six months.  Nancy Campbell, Training
and Career Development, 292-4500.

     OSCAR is the new name on campus.  It stands for Ohio State
Catalog for Automated Retrieval and is the new computer
catalog/circulation system for University Libraries.  It replaces
LCS, which has been the libraries' online catalog and circulation
system for nearly 25 years.  OSCAR is menu driven, which means
that users do not have to memorize commands as they did with LCS.
It also has the ability to search hundreds of thousands of
records by subject, secondary authors and alternate titles that
were previously accessible only by primary author and title.
Free workshops are offered each quarter for students, faculty and
staff who wish to learn more about OSCAR, including tips for
advanced searching.  OSCAR is the first phase of Ohio State's
integration into OhioLINK, the statewide system that will provide
access to the collections of all member libraries.  Susan Logan,
coordinator of automated library services, 292-6151.

     The main Bookstore on Millikin Road will have special
extended hours during the first week of classes and will be open
one hour longer throughout the quarter in order to better serve
evening students.  The new daily hours are Monday-Thursday from 8
a.m. to 6 p.m. and Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
     Internet users can access the ASK-A-BOOKSTORE program to
make inquiries and order merchandise at this address:
bookstores@osu.edu.  Robert Carlson, director, 292-2991.
    =20
     The Purchasing Department has opened a new Bid Room on the
8th Floor of Lincoln Tower, 1800 Cannon Dr.  It is open during
regular business hours Monday through Friday for all vendors who
would like to do business with Ohio State.  Purchasing
Department, 292-2551.

     Opening this month is the new Visiting Faculty Lodge at 1478
Pennsylvania Ave., just north of King Avenue and west of Neil
Avenue.  It has 15 furnished suites with private baths and mini
kitchens.  Residents have access to a great room for meetings and
a full-size kitchen with appliances, dishes and cookware.  There
are self-service vending and laundry areas.  Designed and built
to meet the needs of professional guests (visiting faculty,
artists, physicians and administrators), the suites rent for $550
a month on three- to 12-month leases.  Several suites and all
common areas are completely accessible under ADA guidelines.
     Because of high demand for the three existing Visiting
Faculty Quarters apartments on Lane Avenue, three more have been
created nearby.  These one-bedroom apartments rent for $800 per
month.  Barbara King, Property Management, 292-0770.


[Submitted by: REIDV  (reidv@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Wed, 14 Sep 1994 11:35:26 -0500 (EST)]
All documents are the responsibility of their originator.