Five Receive Affirmative Action Awards

FIVE RECEIVE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AWARDS

     COLUMBUS -- Three professors, one staff member and a student
organization at The Ohio State University received 1994
Distinguished Affirmative Action Awards, recognizing their
commitment and leadership to provide equal opportunity and
treatment for all people of the university.

     Each recipient received a plaque and $500 honorarium at the
12th annual awards ceremony May 24.

     The Committee on Women and Minorities in cooperation with
the Office of Human Resources sponsors the awards program.
                                
                                
                          Daniel J. Christie

     Daniel J. Christie, professor of psychology at the Marion
campus, has served on the Minority Advisory Committee for more
than 10 years.  He seeks to increase opportunities for minority
students to attend Ohio State at Marion through recruitment and
by providing scholarships.

     As a result of his work, Christie and his collaborators have
received five University Affirmative Action Grants totaling more
than $50,000.

     As faculty adviser of the Multicultural Student
Organization, Christie helps raise awareness of cultural
diversity. He also leads an annual field trip to Wilberforce
University, where Marion students can experience life at the
predominantly African-American campus.

     Christie's efforts continue into the classroom, where he
includes the issues of prejudice, discrimination and racial
tension in his basic psychology courses. He has a global
perspective on the issues of affirmative action, having spent two
years as a visiting professor in Malaysia, taking part in an
affirmative action program designed to help bring together the
Malays and the Chinese Malaysians.

     Christie's commitment to affirmative action extends to his
own family.  He and his wife are raising two adopted Afro-Euro-
American children and two Vietnamese children in addition to his
two biological offspring.

                         David A. Culver

     For the last eight years, David A. Culver, associate
professor of zoology, has been instrumental in the recruitment of
women and minorities into science.

     He has achieved this in a number of ways. Active in the
Young Scholars Program since 1987, Culver has co-directed the YSP
seventh grade summer institute seminar in biology with Ann
Ackermann-Brown, assistant professor of microbiology. Each year,
between 200 and 400 African-Americans, Hispanic and Appalachian
students take part.

     Culver coordinates an annual three-day trip for his
limnology class to the F.T. Stone Laboratory on Lake Erie's
Gibraltar Island with that of a class of 15-20 gifted fifth
graders. Interaction with University students encourages the
youngsters to study science.

     Culver also is active in the training of middle and high
school teachers in life sciences. With grants from the ESSA
Training Program and the Howard Hughes Memorial Medical Institute
teachers training program, he has helped improve the confidence
and skills of teachers, particularly women and members of
minorities, who in turn pass on their enthusiasm for science to
students.

     Another Howard Hughes grant enabled Culver and other
professors to provide research experience for 40 minority high
school students, who worked for six weeks in campus laboratories.

                        Michael R. Foster

     Michael R. Foster, professor of aeronautical and
astronautical engineering, has dedicated himself to the retention
of minority students in the department, one of the most demanding
in the field of engineering disciplines.

     Prior to Foster's efforts, aeronautical and astronautical
engineering had but one minority graduate. Seven years ago,
Foster began holding Study Night every Tuesday.  From 6-9 p.m.,
he and other volunteer faculty gathered in a classroom to answer
questions from minority students about class work or homework.
Upperclassmen were also encouraged to attend and help the
undergrads.

     The effort has made a big difference in the department's
minority retention rate.  The networking and extra help has
reduced the drop-out rate for minority students to near zero.

     In honor of Foster's achievement, the College of Engineering
this year awarded the AAE department the Minority Engineering
Program trophy.

     Foster has gone even further to bridge the gap between the
minority students and the educational system. Twice each quarter,
he invites all of the minority AAE students to his home for
dinner with his family.

                          Yolanda Allen

     Yolanda Allen, technical typist and program coordinator at
the Mansfield campus, has dedicated herself to recruiting and
retaining minority students.

     With the encouragement of John O. Riedl, dean and director
of the Mansfield campus, Allen was one of the first staff members
to volunteer to serve as a campus mentor.  She helped form the
minority student organization.  Twice, Allen organized field
trips to the Columbus campus to participate in Black History
Month activities.

     She also is active in public service in the African-American
community.  She is a strong leader of her church.  She has been
on the board of directors of the Emergency Pregnancy Assistance
Council and is a 15-year member of Black Women United.  Allen was
also instrumental in helping to raise $15,000 for the John Jordan
Scholarship Fund.

     Perhaps her most visible accomplishment is the gospel
festival, Joyous Noise, held annually in downtown Mansfield.  The
event not only showcases the many talented gospel singers in the
area, it also raises funds for minority scholarships.

Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences

     Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related
Sciences (MANRRS) has been credited with tripling the minority
enrollment in the College of Agriculture.

     MANRRS is a national grass-roots, student-run organization.
The Ohio State chapter was founded in the spring of 1990 by a
Ph.D. candidate.

     The MANRRS goals are simple: to recruit and retain students,
and to expand professional opportunities for minorities.

     Its community out-reach program organizes and directs a
student visitation schedule that brought about 160 minority
students to campus last year. MANRRS students also act as mentors
to middle and high school students.

     To retain students, MANRRS fosters close ties among students
and helps to encourage academic and professional growth through
leadership programs and tutoring sessions.

     To expand professional opportunities, MANRRS developed a
resume service, works with industry to establish internships, and
acts as a clearing house for agricultural firms and government
agencies that seek University graduates.

     Because of its success, MANRRS received the College of
Agriculture and Agriculture Alumni Society's New Activity Award
for student organizations in 1993.
                                
                                  #


[Submitted by: REIDV  (reidv@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Fri, 27 May 1994 16:49:18 -0500 (EST)]
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