Trustees: Development, Research, Miscellaneous

TRUSTEES ENDOW CHAIRS AND PROFESSORSHIPS, APPROVE CONTRACTS

COLUMBUS -- The Ohio State University Board of Trustees 
on Friday (9/13) established endowed chairs and 
professorships in constitutional law, ecological management, 
children's literature and agricultural marketing and policy.  
The board also approved research contracts and conducted 
other business.

Board creates chairs in law, ecological management

Trustees established The Heck-Faust Memorial Chair in 
Constitutional Law, created with a gift of $2,765,244 from 
the estate of Grace Fern Heck-Faust, who lived in Urbana and 
earned her bachelor's and law degrees from Ohio State in 
1928 and 1930, respectively.  Annual income from the 
endowment will provide salary and program support for a 
scholar and teacher in constitutional law.

The W. K. Kellogg Foundation-endowed chair in 
ecological management was created with a $1.5 million gift 
from the Battle Creek, Mich., foundation.  The annual income 
from the endowment will support the work of a professor 
whose research, teaching and public service focus on 
ecosystems design and management and on farming systems.

The chair holder will lead a multi-disciplinary 
stakeholder team to produce innovative research and teaching 
programs concerned with an ecological approach to farm and 
resource management.  The thrust will be in the area of 
whole farm, farming community and natural resource 
management.

The Charlotte S. Huck Professorship in Children's 
Literature was created from a $512,181 fund established to 
support a faculty member specializing in children's 
literature.  The fund was created in 1986 with gifts from 
Ohio State alumni and friends of Charlotte S. Huck of 
Columbus (43202), a professor emeritus in the College of 
Education, who was instrumental in establishing Ohio State's 
nationally renowned program in children's literature and 
played a key role in helping to establish Reading Recovery 
and other programs. 

The Francis B. McCormick Professorship in Agricultural 
Marketing and Policy was created with $250,191 from a fund 
established in 1991 with gifts from the estate of Francis B. 
McCormick, an alumnus and former associate chairperson of 
the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural 
Sociology.

In addition, trustees created several other named 
endowed funds with gifts to the university's development 
fund and foundation:

-- The John W. Wolfe Chair Fund in Cancer Research, 
$750,000.
-- The John Adam Sammet and Emma Miller Sammet Trust, 
$237,638, for research and education in the School of 
Natural Resources.
-- Mary Keller Moyer Memorial Fund, $235,345, to 
provide funds for academic use in the College of Veterinary 
Medicine.
-- The Affiliate to the Ohio Optometric Association 
(AOOA) Endowed Fund to Support the BuckEYE Van in the 
College of Optometry, $115,000, for annual costs of the 
van's use in on-site vision screenings of school children, 
pre-school children, and residents of nursing homes.
-- Miriam and Stanley Schwartz Jr. Cancer Research 
Endowment Fund, $100,375.
-- The Richard A. Yarrington and Esther Rabe Yarrington 
Endowed Scholarship Fund, $60,385, in the Knowlton School of 
Architecture.
-- The Professor Samuel E. Rasor Mathematics 
Scholarship Fund, $52,146.
-- The A. Alfred Taubman Innovation Fund in Business, 
$50,000, for new projects and activities.
-- The Franklin M. Rhodes Memorial Scholarship Fund in 
Industrial and Systems Engineering, $30,000.
-- James B. Umsted Scholarship Fund, $30,000, for 
university students who are financially needy.
-- The Glenn C. and Janet L. Wenz Scholarship Fund, 
$29,844, for students attending the Agricultural Technical 
Institute.
-- The Smith E. Howland and Aristech Chemical 
Corporation Scholarship Fund, $28,000, for students in the 
Department of Chemical Engineering.
The Sarah M. and William F. Spengler MBA Program 
Enrichment Fund, $26,400.
-- Edward F. Lopina Scholarship Endowment Fund, 
$25,586, for students in the Fisher College of Business.
-- The Drug Emporium Scholarship Fund in Pharmacy, 
$25,000.
-- The William M. and Rosalind W. Wolfson University 
Scholarship Fund in the Fisher College of Business, $25,000.
-- Paulding County 4-H & Youth Endowment Fund, $15,363.

Research projects approved

The board approved 401 contracts totaling $33,333,123 
for research projects funded in June and July.  Singled out 
for special mention were:

-- The business plan for the National Regulatory 
Research Institute for fiscal year 1997, funded with 
$1,660,091 from the National Association of Regulatory 
Utility Commissioners.  The association established the 
institute at Ohio State in 1976 to provide research and 
educational and technical services to the nation's state 
public utility commissioners.  This year, the institute is 
involved in 15 new projects focusing on helping states adapt 
to restructured and more competitive utility markets.  The 
institute is directed by Douglas N. Jones and has a full-
time staff of 25, in addition to faculty from Ohio State and 
elsewhere and several graduate and undergraduate students.

-- A study of the development of myopia, or 
nearsightedness, in children, conducted by Karla Zadnik of 
the College of Optometry.  The National Eye Institute is 
providing $830,582 to investigate factors that may predict 
the onset of juvenile myopia, assess the influence of 
ethnicity on the development of normal ocular and refractive 
error, and use the phenotypic characterization of children 
in the Orinda Longitudinal Study of Myopia to identify 
prevalent cases of myopia and their families.
    
-- A study of the function and assembly of carbon 
dioxide assimilatory enzymes.  F. Robert Tabita of the 
Department of Microbiology is heading the study, funded with 
$257,766 from the National Institute of General Medical 
Sciences.

-- A study of the large blooms of microcystis 
aeruginosa, a non-nitrogen-fixing species of cyanobacteria, 
that occurred in the western basin of Lake Erie last year.  
While levels of other cyanobacteria have remained low, 
microcystis aeruginosa has suddenly increased.  Because 
microcystis can produce virulent toxins, David A. Culver of 
the Department of Zoology and other investigators plan to 
delineate the interactions of the algae and its toxins with 
Lake Erie, monitor the frequency and distribution of the 
blooms, examine their causes, and communicate the results to 
the public, Lake Erie managers, and the scientific 
community.  The Ohio Department of Natural Resources is 
providing $227,402 for the study.

-- A project to retrieve information on precipitation 
that fell over Greenland from 1979 to 1995.  Variations will 
be studied and contrasted and the relations between 
Greenland precipitation and cyclonic activity, temperature 
variations, and large scale atmospheric circulation will be 
studied and summarized.  David H. Bromwich and Qiu-Shi Chen 
of the Byrd Polar Research Center are conducting the 
project, funded with $227,208 from the National Aeronautics 
and Space Administration.

Resolutions in memoriam

The board approved resolutions in memory of:

-- Alfred B. Garrett, professor emeritus in the 
Department of Chemistry and Ohio State's first vice 
president for research, who died July 12.
-- Florence A. Hendee, assistant professor emeritus in 
University Libraries, who died July 6.
-- Thyra B. Kabealo, professor emeritus in the 
Department of English, who died July 31.
-- Iris Macumber, professor emeritus in Ohio State 
University Extension and retired Montgomery County extension 
agent, who died June 4.
-- Walter E. Mitchell Jr., professor emeritus in the 
Department of Astronomy, who died July 26.
-- Andrew I. Schwebel, professor in the College of 
Social and Behavioral Sciences, who died June 4.
-- Floyd S. Stahl, professor emeritus in the School of 
Physical Activity and Educational Services and former head 
baseball and basketball coach, who died July 26.
-- Vern A. Vandemark, associate professor emeritus in 
the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural 
Sociology, who died July 13.
-- Marilyn Robinson Waldman, professor in the 
Department of History and the Division of Comparative 
Studies in the Humanities, who died July 8.
 

Miscellaneous matters

In other business, trustees:

-- Elected William J. Napier as secretary of the Board 
of Trustees through the May 1997 meeting.  Napier succeeds 
Robert M. Duncan, who stepped down this summer.

-- Presented a student recognition award to Karen Lee 
Gallagher, a medical student from COLUMBUS (43214), for her 
outstanding leadership and volunteer services to the 
university community.

-- Accepted 115 waivers of competitive bidding 
requirements for purchases totaling $39.7 million, including 
$27.4 million for merchandise for resale and $8.2 million 
for health care services and equipment for the hospitals.  
In all, 88 purchases totaling $37.1 million were from sole-
source suppliers, nine purchases were made for emergency 
reasons, and 18 others for sufficient economic reason.

-- Appointed architect Curtis J. Moody and retired 
Columbus Dispatch editor Robert B. Smith to terms on The 
Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute 
Board.  Smith's term ends May 13, 1999, and Moody's term 
expires May 13, 2000.  Trustees also reappointed Richard J. 
Solove and Ellen Hardymon to terms expiring May 13 in 1997 
and 1998, respectively.

-- Heard a report on the annual Campus Campaign from 
Richard Hill, professor and dean emeritus of the College of 
Optometry, and Marquetta Peavy, assistant director of 
hospital human resources.  The campaign works to educate 
faculty, staff and prospective graduates about fund raising, 
nurture a philanthropic attitude, and increase the level of 
giving and percentage of participation on campus.   Hill and 
Peavy noted that since the campaign's inception in 1985, 
current and retired faculty and staff have contributed more 
than $33 million to Ohio State.

-- Heard a report in the Educational Affairs Committee 
from Nancy M. Rudd, vice provost for academic policy and 
personnel, regarding two draft policies that are being 
discussed this fall by a number of university groups.  One 
addresses two kinds of conflicts in employment: conflict of 
commitment and conflict of interest.  The other clarifies 
the university's policy and process for approving faculty 
external professional service activities such as consulting.  
An interim revised process for approving and monitoring 
external professional service activities will be implemented 
this fall pending approval of the new policy.

-- Heard an update on Ohio State's accreditation by the 
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.  Alayne 
Parson, vice provost, and Randy Smith, provost's faculty 
fellow, reported that approximately 20 evaluators are 
expected to visit Ohio State in early May. The Accreditation 
Steering Committee is finalizing a draft accreditation 
report, which will be reviewed by numerous university 
committees and individuals.  Ohio State and all other 
universities and colleges are accredited every 10 years to 
ensure they meet academic standards.

                           #

Contact:  Tom Spring, University Communications, 
(614) 292-8309.


[Submitted by: Von Reid-Vargas (ereid@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu)
               
Fri, 13 Sep 1996 16:44:08 -0400]
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