Ohio State to unveil new majors, programs and facilities this fall - 09/15/08

COLUMBUS – A host of new programs, trends, events and facilities will accompany the start of Ohio State University's 2008 academic year which begins next Wednesday (9/24). Ohio State, recently ranked as one of the top public universities in the country, will welcome its best and brightest freshman class for the 14th consecutive year.

A complete listing follows of the trends, new programs, initiatives and facilities.

Trends

89 percent more international freshman expected on campus. More international students have selected Ohio State as their university of choice this autumn quarter than in the recent past. There is an 89 percent increase in the number of paid acceptance fees by international freshman since last year, and a 75 percent increase in the number of international transfer students who have paid an acceptance fee. Ohio State expects to enroll approximately 240 international freshmen compared with 133 last year. The Office of International Affairs is responsible for welcoming students to Ohio State and providing them with an orientation to the university. CONTACT: Maureen Miller, 614) 247-2462.

Buckeyes Blog. Fourteen Ohio State Buckeyes (included one recent graduate) have opened up their lives to prospective students on Ohio State's Undergraduate Admission web site, http://undergrad.osu.edu/buckeyesblog. By sharing stories of the highs and lows of college life, Buckeyes Bloggers provide genuine insight for prospective students (and their families) that only students living Buckeye experience can provide. The diversity of interests, backgrounds, and plans represented on the Buckeyes Blog team allows prospective students to find and learn from current students with whom they can identify. Recent Buckeyes Blog students have shared stories about internships, changing majors, local restaurants, college friendships, going home, and class work.
Bloggers select weekly topics from their personal experience at Ohio State and write with little editorial oversight. Students select a screen name to write under and contribute to their blog design, giving a unique web presence to accompany the unique voice on each blog. One of our newest bloggers, Robert Kapaku (aka MessyMechE) who begins his first quarter at Ohio State this month, describes the power of student blogs for colleges; "If prospective students feel like they're really connecting to Ohio State life, they're much more likely to choose Ohio State."
For more information on Buckeyes Blog, visit http://undergrad.osu.edu/buckeyesblog. Expanded profile information for each of our bloggers is available in the top right link on each student's blog.

Ohio State launches new web site. Ohio State's main website, osu.edu, is changing and expanding. The new site uses the entire screen and is filled with fun new things and many more opportunities for people to interact with Ohio State via the web. Highlights include Buckeye Loop events podcasting, a spirit page, Image of the Day, O-H-I-O photos on the "front door," and more space devoted to social media (including a blog roll for faculty and students). The new site debuts today (9/15).

New academic majors, courses and research

Ohio State offers nation's first master's degree in lean business management. As organizations face mounting operating costs, Ohio State's Fisher College of Business has developed a new master's degree program in lean enterprise and continuous improvement to help managers in today's turbulent economic climate.
The Master of Business Operational Excellence is an intense one-year program offered through Fisher's Executive Education that provides managers with the skills and tools to reduce waste and improve value stream management, strengthen employee engagement and develop organizational capabilities.
In addition to classroom exercises, the program offers a Capstone Project, where students use what they learn to develop and implement a process improvement plan for their individual organizations. CONTACT: Patricia Allen, Fisher College of Business, (614) 292-8937.

Veterinary Medicine students will participate in student orientation – Sept. 19. The entering first-year class in the College of Veterinary Medicine will participate in a unique team-building experience to kick off their four-year professional education program. Having spent their undergraduate years competing for admission into the college, they will learn to work cohesively at this new student orientation. Staff from Camp Mary Orton will teach the class of 2012 to work in groups, trust each other and communicate. The activities and values learned at orientation help students during their studies and in their profession. Orientation activities take place from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday (9/19) at the Veterinary Medicine Academic Building, 1900 Coffey Rd. CONTACT: Melissa Weber, (614) 292-3752.

OSU part of multi-campus virtual computation science minor. Ohio State is participating with eight other Ohio universities and colleges to offer a multi-campus, virtual computation science minor through the Ralph Regula School of Computational Science - a statewide, virtual school focused on computational science. It is a collaborative effort of the Ohio Board of Regents, Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), Ohio Learning Network and Ohio's colleges and universities. The school acts as a coordinating entity for a variety of computational science education activities aimed at making education in computational science available to students across Ohio, as well as to workers seeking continuing education about this technology.
As part of the Ralph Regula School, OSU, OSC and University of Akron received $1 million from the National Science Foundation to prepare a workforce education program focusing on engineering design and computer modeling. CONTACT: Kathryn Kelley, Ohio Supercomputer Center, (614) 292-6067.

New courses:

Economics offers "Sex, Drugs, and the Underground Economy." The class, (which will be offered spring quarter) will take students to the underground to find an economy that is vast and growing. It includes the drug trade and the 'war on drugs,' the arms trade with its illicit networks and money flows, and the sex trade's profitable transnational sex trafficking networks. Emerge from the underground with an understanding of the issues surrounding this market and their implications. CONTACT: Liz Alcalde, (614) 247-4462.

Pharmacy collaborates with Ohio University to offer course in Athens. The College of Pharmacy has established collaboration with Ohio University to offer a teleconferenced "Introduction to Pharmacy" course in Athens. The course also has a website which is designed to be used for students, and as a resource for the general public. http://www.pharmacy.ohio-state.edu/academics/introduction-to-pharmacy/

Facilities

Campus construction and deconstruction. Ohio State is constantly improving and repairing facilities. Here's an update on what's going up and coming down:
Student Services Academic Building/Lane Ave. Parking Garage -- This new facility being built at the corner of Lane Ave. and Tuttle Park Place will be completed by late 2009. It will offer a 1,400-space parking garage and offices for student academic services including financial aid and the university registrar.
William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library – Renovation of the library will be completed by autumn 2009; exterior work on the renovation is complete.
The new Ohio Union -- The new Ohio Union will open in 2010. It replaces the old union, which was 56 years old when demolished in 2007. The first student union at a public university was built at Ohio State in 1909 (Enarson Hall).
The Ohio Union Garage – The facility is being renovated and expanded. A portion of the garage was demolished last year, and in its place is a new addition that which will have 800 spaces. The new garage should open sometime early 2009.
Lincoln Tower – Renovation began over the summer to meet increasing demand for residence hall space. The lower 15 floors, which had been office space will be completely renovated. Floors 1-3 will contain program space for students, staff apartments, offices, and mechanical and storage space. Floors 4-15 will be converted from office space back to residence rooms. Floors 16-23 will receive upgrades to the fire suppression system.
Anticipated completion is September, 2010.
Deconstruction: Wrecking ball demolition is no longer the normal method. The new method for clearing sites, which benefits the environment and can yield economic benefits, is known as "deconstruction."
The process salvages the most readily available components and extracts additional materials for reuse.
Brown and Lord Halls will go through this process late this year before demolition.

In Newark, the new Warner Library and Student Center is nearly complete. Students at Ohio State at Newark will soon have a new building that combines a state-of-the-art library with the student center. The official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new 80,000+ square foot building is October 3. 2008http://www.newarkcampus.org/studentlife/Warner/Warner_Splash.asp

In Mansfield, students return to renovated Ovalwood Hall. Students, faculty and staff at Ohio State at Mansfield will return to the newly renovated Ovalwood Hall for autumn quarter classes. Ovalwood Hall was the first building built at the campus and was originally dedicated October 1, 1966 in a ceremony that featured Governor of Ohio James A. Rhodes and OSU President Novice Fawcett.
During the past year and a half, everyone was moved out of the building to permit a more timely renovation process. Faculty offices were moved into the library and modular classrooms were placed in one of the parking lots to hold the many classes that were affected by the renovation.
The 75,000-square-foot facility will now feature more classrooms, larger faculty offices, an enlarged visual arts suite and a new cyber cafe, among other improvements.
A rededication ceremony for the facility is scheduled May 1, 2009 as part of the campus's 50th Anniversary Celebration.