Ohio State News Tips 12/13/13

More Than 3,200 to receive degrees at Ohio State University autumn commencement – Dec. 15. Award-winning author R. L. Stine, author of the “Goosebumps” series of scary books for kids, will address Ohio State University graduates – some of his biggest fans – during Ohio State’s autumn commencement. Ohio State will award 3,226 diplomas during the ceremony, which begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 15, at the Jerome Schottenstein Center, 555 Borror Drive.
The class includes two graduates who returned to finish their degrees after 18 and 43 years, six from the Young Scholars Program and one who has championed efforts to get women involved in engineering. Other graduates have studied pharmacy while assisting researchers studying pulmonary disorders, led and participated in efforts to get women involved in leadership and science, and are student athletes who have led the Buckeyes to victory.
During the ceremony, Ohio State will award the Joseph Sullivant Medal to Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished University Professor of Earth Sciences, and Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Distinguished University Professor of Geography.
In addition, the university will award the honorary doctor of science degree to Leonard Berkowitz, Vilas Research Professor in Psychology Emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Ohio State will also present Distinguished Service Awards to Rudine Sims Bishop, an influential scholar on multicultural children’s literature who served 17 years as a professor in the College of Education and Human Ecology; and Dan Wampler, whose relationship with Ohio State spans more than 30 years, dating back to his days as an undergraduate food technology student. SEE:
http://www.osu.edu/commence/. CONTACT: Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385.

The Ohio State University named 2013 Diversion Rate Champion. For the second year in a row, The Ohio State University is the Diversion Rate Champion from the Gameday Recycling Challenge. The national recycling campaign ran from September through November. A total of 88 schools participated, resulting in 1.46 million pounds of waste from football games being diverted from landfills. Ohio State fans diverted 90.5 percent of waste from Ohio Stadium over the season, with a game-high total of 98.5 percent from the Wisconsin game, which was the highest landfill diversion of any school that participated in the challenge. Ohio State’s zero waste program at Ohio Stadium is an example of how the Buckeyes are working to shrink our environmental footprint and incorporate sustainability in everything we do. SEE:footprint.osu.edu/zero-waste-ohio-stadium, discovery.osu.edu
CONTACT: Alison Hinkle, Administration and Planning Marketing and Communications, 614-247-5825, hinkle.135@osu.edu.

The person listed as the CONTACT will have the most current information about the story. Call on our media relations staff for help with any Ohio State story: Jane Carroll, 614-292-5220 or carroll.296@osu.edu; Liz Cook, 614-292-7276 or cook.17@osu.edu; Gary Lewis, 614-292-2048 or lewis.330@osu.edu; or Amy Murray, 614-292-8385 or murray-goedde.1@osu.edu.