Story Ideas for Media 2/1/10

News

Ohio State takes lead role to improve state’s auto industry. On the heels of Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s State of the State speech, in which he suggested that businesses and industry work with Ohio’s universities to solve economic challenges, Ohio State is playing a major role in making recommendations to grow the state’s auto industry. At a meeting of Strickland’s Ohio Auto Industry Support Council, Giorgio Rizzoni, director of Ohio State’s Center for Automotive Research and professor of mechanical engineering, presented a set of five specific recommendations to protect and advance automotive manufacturing in the state. SEE: http://engineering.osu.edu/news/?p=990 .

EPA: Ohio State among top purchasers of green power. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has named Ohio State University one of the largest purchasers of green power among higher education institutions. Ohio State ranks number 17 on EPA’s Top 20 College and University list. The university purchases 18 million kilowatt-hours of green power annually, enough power to meet 3 percent of the institution’s purchased electricity use. This is the equivalent of avoiding the carbon dioxide emissions of more than 2,000 passenger vehicles per year.
“Ohio State University is teaching an important lesson by changing how it purchases electricity,” said Cheryl Newton, EPA regional Air Division Director. “EPA’s Green Power Partners are raising the bar for clean, renewable energy use.” SEE: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/

Knowlton Hall wins prestigious award for architectural design. Ohio State’s Knowlton Hall, home of the Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture, was recently awarded an Architecture Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects. The award is the profession’s highest recognition of works that exemplify excellence in architecture, interior architecture and urban design. Knowlton is one of 28 winners among more than 700 submissions around the world. The building was designed by Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects of Atlanta, in collaboration with WSA studio of Columbus. CONTACT:Becky Lonardo, mailto:lonardo.9@osu.edu,(614) 247-5409. SEE: http://knowlton.osu.edu/?content=13&article=1472

Events

Ohio State University Trustees to meet – Feb. 4-5. The Ohio State University Board of Trustees and its committees will meet Thursday (2/4) and Friday (2/5) at the Longaberger Alumni House, 2200 Olentangy River Rd.
The schedule includes meetings on Thursday (2/4) of the Audit and Compliance and Trusteeship committees from 12:30 to 2 p.m.; the Medical Affairs and Development and Investment committees from 2:15 to 3:45 p.m.; and meetings of the Fiscal Affairs and Academic Affairs and Student Life committees from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Trustees will meet in executive session from 9 a.m. to noon, and meet for dinner at 6:30 p.m.
On Friday (2/5), the board will reconvene at 8:30 a.m. and move into executive session. The formal board meeting begins at 12:30 p.m. CONTACT: Shelly Hoffman, (614) 247-4748. SEE: http://www.osu.edu/news/newsitem2693

Sports and masculinity explored in art exhibition “Hard Targets” – through April 11.
The multimedia exhibition Hard Targets, on view through April 11 at the Wexner Center, surveys provocative artworks produced over the last 25 years that take masculinity and sports as their central themes. Ranging broadly in interest and focus from biology to commodity and locker room to stadium, Hard Targets endeavors to complicate and revise the time honored archetype of the male athlete as an aggressive, heterosexual, hypercompetitive, emotionally remote subject.
*During Super Sunday (Feb. 7) gallery admission is free, and there will be related activities for the whole family, including a tour, pennant-making, “drawing” with sports equipment, face painting, and more. A free screening of Go Tigers!, a documentary about high school football in Massillon, Ohio (called one of the best documentaries of all time by ESPN) will be held at 2 pm, along with trailers from sports movies. SEE: http://www.wexarts.org/ex/index.php?eventid=4209

Alleviating Poverty Through Entrepreneurship Summit - Feb. 5. Ohio State students in the Fisher College of Business are convening scholars, policy makers and social entrepreneurs for a day-long exchange of ideas to address how entrepreneurship strategies can help impoverished communities. The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 5 at the Wexner Center Film Theater, 1850 College Rd. World Bank economist Hippolyte Fofack, who manages the macroeconomic and growth program for the banks, will join Lonnie J. King, dean of Ohio State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, and Robert L. Caldwell, Institute for Urban Public Policy, to discuss various policy initiatives utilized to address poverty through business development. SEE: http://fisher.osu.edu/newsroom/headlines/index.php?folder=65&news=1621

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