Story Ideas for Media 2/15/13

U.S. Poet Laureate will present reading – Feb. 19. Natasha Trethewey, U.S. Poet Laureate and Charles Howard Candler Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University, will read from her work at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19 on the 11th floor of the Thompson Library, 1858 Neil Avenue Mall. Trethewey is the author of Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Native Guard, for which she won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize. Her recent book, Thrall: Poems, was published in 2012. The event is free and open to all. CONTACT: Kelli Fickle, (614) 292-2242 or fickle.7@osu.edu. SEE: http://artsandsciences.osu.edu/events/a-reading-with-us-poet-laureate-natasha-trethewey

Taste of OSU delivers international cuisine and cultural insight – Feb. 22. Ohio State’s Office of International Affairs, along with more than 30 student organizations and dining services chefs, will host an evening of international food, exhibits and cultural performances at the 2013 Taste of OSU from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 22 in the Ohio Union, 1739 N. High St. The event is free and open to all Ohio State students, faculty, staff and friends. Food tickets cost $1 each (cash and BuckID only), and can be exchanged for samples of international cuisine. More than 4,000 people are expected to attend Taste of OSU, an Ohio State Signature Event. CONTACT: Maureen Miller, Office of International Affairs, miller.4468@osu.edu or (614) 307-0062.

Anxiety about relationships may lower immunity, increase vulnerability to illness. Concerns and anxieties about one’s close relationships appear to function as a chronic stressor that can compromise immunity, according to new Ohio State research.

In the study, researchers asked married couples to complete questionnaires about their relationships and collected saliva and blood samples to test participants’ levels of a key stress-related hormone and numbers of certain immune cells.

The research focused on attachment anxiety. Those who are on the high end of the attachment anxiety spectrum are excessively concerned about being rejected, have a tendency to constantly seek reassurance that they are loved, and are more likely to interpret ambiguous events in a relationship as negative.

“Everyone has these types of concerns now and again in their relationships, but a high level of attachment anxiety refers to people who have these worries fairly constantly in most of their relationships,” said Lisa Jaremka, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in Ohio State University’s Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research. CONTACT: Emily Caldwell, (614) 292-8310; Caldwell.151@osu.edu. SEE: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/attachanx.htm.

Ohio State Digital First recognized for excellence. Ohio State’s Digital First initiative has been named a 2013 New Media Consortium (NMC) Center of Excellence Award, which recognizes the university’s success in the integration of technology with teaching, learning or creative expression.

Increasingly, Ohio State University faculty are using iBooks, iTunes and posting their lecture notes online to supplement their teaching. And students are finding that their study spaces are anywhere – the Oval, the student union or at a table in a campus café – so long as they have a laptop or tablet.

Ohio State’s Digital First initiative is putting tools into the hands of faculty and students to expand teaching using technology. Digital First has helped to facilitate the development of several iTunes U courses and iBooks, which faculty across the Ohio State community are using to enhance student learning and engagement. It also is working to expand wireless capacity in many classrooms on the Columbus campus. CONTACT: Ashley Miller, Digital Union, (614) 292-3698 or miller.6275@osu.edu. Twitter: @DigitalFirstOSU

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 or Amy Murray, (614) 292-8385 or murray-goedde.1@osu.edu