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Ohio
State's news, experts and events give you more on the news

Space shuttle will carry two Ohio State graduates and ROTC flag – Feb. 28. Ohio State University will be well-represented when the space shuttle Columbia begins a 12-day voyage later this month. Two Ohio State graduates are among the seven astronauts who will fly into space to install new equipment on the Hubble telescope. And, one will carry Ohio State’s ROTC Battalion flag into space. Lt. Col. Nancy Currie, an OSU Army ROTC alumna, earned a B.A. in Biological Sciences at Ohio State in 1980. She will take along the OSU Army ROTC “colors,” a 3'x 5' Buckeye Battalion flag. Currie, who is making her fourth shuttle flight, has also invited four OSU Army ROTC cadets to the Kennedy Space Center to view the launch. Accompanied by Col. Jack Gumbert, OSU Army ROTC commander, the four students will also meet astronauts and attend the Currie family launch reception. Richard Linnehan, who earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree at Ohio State in 1985, is a mission specialist. Linnehan is making his third shuttle flight and will operate on an exotic patient – the Hubble telescope. Contact: Col. Jack Gumbert, OSU Army ROTC, (614) 292-6075.

News

Winter Olympics ends with doping controversy; OSU professor joins anti-doping panel – As the winter Olympics drew to a close, the International Olympic Committee announced that it was disqualifying three European athletes and stripping two of them of gold medals for using a performance-enhancing drug. The committee said three cross-country skiers tested positive for darbepoetin, a relatively new drug that stimulates production of red blood cells that carry oxygen to muscles.
Michael Sherman, director of the College of Education’s School of Physical Activity and Educational Services, will look for ways to deter the use of such drugs in sports. Sherman has been appointed to the United States Anti-Doping Agency’s (USADA) Research Policy Advisory Committee. The USADA was formed to administer the doping control program for elite athletes participating in the Olympic, Paralympic and Pan American games. In addition to drug testing and adjudication, the USADA also has responsibility for education and research related to doping by elite athletes. The USADA has $2 million per year to support research related to the deterrence of the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sports. Contact: Michael Sherman, (614) 292-0956.

Experts

Events

Ohio Judges Return to Classroom for a Day – Feb. 26. Judges from around Ohio will return to the classroom from noon to 5 p.m. on Tuesday (2/26) at the Moritz College of Law, 55 West 12th Avenue. Designed to engage members of the judiciary and their clerks with students and faculty, Judges’ Day features a number of panel discussions and presentations. Students can attend a panel discussion on judicial clerkships. Faculty will offer presentations on recent First and Fourth Amendment decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, on the precedential value of unpublished opinions, a review of U.S. Supreme Court criminal case law, and state protection against disability discrimination. Judges and clerks may attend classes in civil procedure or international environmental law. Contact: Liz Cutler Gates, Moritz College of Law, (614) 292-0283.

Event and auction benefit programs at Lake Erie – Feb. 27. Friends of Stone Lab and Ohio Sea Grant host “From Ohio Aquatic Organisms to Manatees: A Behind the Scenes Look at Aquatic Conservation and Research Programs at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium,” from 7-9 p.m. on Wednesday (2/27) at the Fawcett Center. Learn from the experts about the science that goes on behind the scenes at the aquarium at the Columbus Zoo and educational opportunities at Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island, Put-in-Bay, Ohio. A silent auction at 7 p.m. will benefit the Friends of Stone Laboratory, a non-profit group that supports Stone Lab programs and scholarships. Auction items include vintage refurbished microscopes and other Lake Erie-related items. Contact: Karen Ricker, Ohio Sea Grant College Program, (614) 292-8949.

Program will to teach educators about at-risk youth – Feb. 27-28. David Andrews, dean of the College of Human Ecology and co-director of the Center for Learning Excellence (CLEX), is the keynote speaker for the annual 2002 Alternative Education Summit, Wednesday and Thursday, (2/27-28) at the Columbus Marriott North, 6500 Doubletree Ave. Attorney General Betty Montgomery, chair of the Ohio Alternative Education Advisory Council, and Deputy Superintendent of Public Instruction Roger Nehles will open the summit at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday (2/27). A media availability to discuss the success of Ohio’s Alternative Education Challenge Grant Program in assisting at-risk youth is set with Andrews, Montgomery and Nehles for 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday in the Marriott’s Cardinal Room. The summit will feature workshops and networking opportunities for school staff and community partners involved in Ohio’s alternative education programs. In their first year, the programs served a number of students who are at risk for school failure because they were disruptive in class, truant, suspended or expelled. Contact: Janet Ciccone, Human Ecology communications, (614) 292-5338; see href=" http://cle.osu.edu/summit.html">http://cle.osu.edu/summit.html

Construction begins on new OSU student housing – Feb. 28. Ohio State University will celebrate the groundbreaking of new student housing project at 1: 30 p.m. on Thursday (2/28) at the corner of Neil and West Tenth avenues. The project represents the first new student housing constructed on the Columbus campus since Lincoln and Morrill Towers opened in 1967. The four-building project will house 504 students and open in autumn 2003. The new four- and five-story buildings are located close to both the medical center and the Younkin Success Center and are designed to blend with the neighborhood’s historic architecture. The ceremony will include brief remarks by key administrators and student government leaders, followed by the laying of some bricks to support a sign announcing the project. A brief reception will follow at the Younkin Success Center, 1640 Neil Ave. Contact: Ruth Gerstner, Student Affairs, (614) 292-8424.

Board of Trustees meets – March. 1. The Ohio State University Board of Trustees will meet in regular session at 10:30 a.m. on Friday (3/1) at the Longaberger Alumni House, 2200 Olentangy River Road. Committee meetings, where most of the discussion takes place, begin at 9 a.m. Among the agenda items: a report on the “Impact of Budget Cuts and Tuition Recommendations.” Contact: Elizabeth Conlisk, University Relations, (614) 292-3040.

Seminar addresses special needs adoptions in Ohio – March 1. Children with special needs, whether physical, emotional, or educational, often languish in the foster care system when they could be adopted into a safe, caring family. Professor Katherine Hunt Federle, director of the Justice for Children Project at the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University says potential adoptive families often overlook these youngsters because of the unknowns involved in their care. Federle has organized a no-nonsense Special Needs Adoption Seminar at the Moritz College of Law. It will be held from 8 a.m. to 4: 30 p.m. on Friday (3/1) in Drinko Hall, 55 W. 12th Avenue. The agenda is available at href=" http://www.law.ohio-state.edu/JFC/symposia/adoptionseminar.pdf">http://www.law.ohio-state.edu/JFC/symposia/adoptionseminar.pdf The seminar will help prospective adoptive parents, along with attorneys, social workers, and others on the front lines of adoption services, to understand the resources available (and the pitfalls to avoid) in considering a special needs adoptions. Contact: Katherine Hunt Federle, Justice for Children Project, Moritz College of Law, (614) 292-9177.

The person listed as Contact will have the best information about the story. Call on our media relations staff for help with any Ohio State story – Elizabeth Conlisk, (614) 292-3040; Randy Dunham, (614) 292-8295; Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385, and Shannon Wingard, (614) 247-6821.

Contact Natalie Warling at warling.1@osu.edu

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