Story Ideas for Media - 10/18/10

News

Now open: Station 88. A new store has opened in the Ohio Union featuring unique apparel, novelty and convenience items with an Ohio-centric and Ohio State theme. Station 88 is named in honor of Ohio’s 88 counties.
Open seven days a week, the store sells trademarked Ohio State items alongside home-grown Ohio products. Vendors include Sloopy Girl, a Perrysburg, OH, apparel company; Hartstone Pottery, featuring stoneware produced in Zanesville, OH; Longaberger, a Dresden, OH, company offering a collegiate collection of scarlet and gray baskets, with a portion of the proceeds helping support the Ohio Union Alumni Society; and Homage, a Columbus-based company who offers throw-back apparel, among other items. CONTACT: Kellie Uhrig, 614) 292-5944, kuhrig@studentlife.osu.edu.

Ohio State sets new enrollment records. The Ohio State University is attracting more students than ever, and has set new enrollment records this fall – in the size, diversity and academic quality of its student body.
Enrollment at Ohio State has set an all-time high, with new records in the number of students at the Columbus campus, and across the entire university. The autumn 2010 enrollment report shows 64,077 students on all campuses and 56,064 on the Columbus campus (increases of 860 and 1,050 respectively).
Diversity is also up, with enrollment by ethnicity on all campuses increased to record-high levels of African American (3,972), Asian American (3,129) and Hispanic (1,737) students. In addition, enrollment of international students reached an all time high (4,940).
For this year’s freshman class, Ohio State officials saw a record number of applications, and the class has set records in academic excellence. At Columbus, there are 6,549 new freshmen. The class set record highs in average ACT (27.8) and SAT (1235) scores and in the percentage of students graduating in the top 10 percent of their high school class (54).
SEE: http://www.ureg.ohio-state.edu/ourweb/srs/srscontent/AU10/AU10Report.pdf

Research

Study finds number of people with disabilities, family caregivers using Adult Day Service centers nearly doubles in eight years. The number of individuals with disabilities and family caregivers using Adult Day Service (ADS) centers to address their care needs has nearly doubled in the last eight years – and 35 percent more ADS centers exist today, according to a recent study by the Met Life Mature Market Institute.
The study, produced in collaboration with the National Adult Day Services Association and The Ohio State University College of Social Work, reports ADS centers serve over a quarter of a million people—an increase of more than 100,000 since 2002. There are more than 4,600 ADS centers nationwide, a 35 percent increase in eight years. Approximately, 29 percent of the centers have waiting lists, more than half of the participants are women (58 percent), and 30 percent are under age 65.
“In addition to providing needed long-term care services, ADS centers serve as an emerging provider of transitional care from the hospital to home, providing short-term rehabilitation following discharge from the hospital,” said Ohio State social work professor Holly Dabelko-Schoeny, who led the Ohio State portion of the study. CONTACT: Frankie Jones-Harris, (614) 292-3540 or jones-harris.1@osu.edu.

NSF Grant to Study National Energy Policy and Technology Impacts. The Ohio State University and Ohio Supercomputer Center have received a four-year, $1.675 million federal grant to develop a computer tool that researchers, government leaders and the public can use to study and understand changes in energy-related technology, policy and pricing. Researchers will develop a computational system called the Integrated Computational System for Energy Pricing and Policy (ICS-EPP), which models the national power grid. The ICS-EPP will enable analysis of various scenarios including the cost of adding electric vehicles to the grid, the effect of various pricing and incentive structures for users, changes in the demand on the system and resulting environmental impacts. CONTACT: Gina Langen, (614) 688-4423.

Events

Ohio State competes for title in football stadium and tailgate recycling – Oct. 23. Since 2007, Ohio State fans have been recycling and reducing the amount of trash generated at football games – diverting more than 300 tons of trash away from landfills.
Now, Ohio State has signed up for a national challenge to see which school can recycle the most. As part of the EPA Gameday Challenge, participating schools choose one game in October to generate and measure the most recycling. Ohio State’s challenge game is Saturday vs. Purdue.
Fans attending the game will need to continue recycling in order to win the title and beat 90 other participating schools, including Michigan, Purdue, and Ohio University. Schools will be judged in several categories including least amount of waste generated per attendee, greatest greenhouse gas reductions, and highest recycling rate. Winning schools will be announced in November. CONTACT: Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385.

CHINA Town Hall to feature U.S. ambassador – Oct. 18. China's rapid development and Sino-American relations have a direct impact on everyone in the United States. CHINA Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections, is a national program designed to provide Americans the opportunity to discuss these issues with leading experts. The program features a webcast by Jon M. Huntsman Jr., U.S. ambassador to China, and a presentation by Cathy Barbash of Barbash Arts Consulting Services. The event takes place today (10/18) with a reception at 6:30 p.m. at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, 1501 Neil Ave. Register at http://chinatownhall2010.eventbrite.com/ CONTACT: Cathy Becker, becker.271@osu.edu, (614) 292-7529.

U.S.-China Economic Trade Policy Presentation – Oct. 25. Ohio State University graduate and former trustee Dan Slane, chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, will present “Domestic manufacturing is the only solution to our crisis: What it will take to bring them home from China?” at 4 p.m. on Monday (10/25) at the Ohio Union Traditions Room, 1739 N. High St. Slane’s talk will review the current multi-faceted relationship between the United States and China and why our current trade balance is unsustainable and a primary threat to the U.S. economy. CONTACT: Gina Langen, (614) 688-4423.

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: Liz Cook, (614) 292-7276 or cook.17@osu.edu; Shelly Hoffman, (614) 247-4748 or hoffman.511@osu.edu; Jim Lynch, (614) 247-4110 or lynch.270@osu.edu; or Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385 or murray-goedde.1@osu.edu