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Kelly Mori writes about health and higher education.Home > Blogs > On Campus > Archives > 2008 > December
December 2008
Wittenberg on ice?
Ok, it was a trick headline but I do want to talk about Wittenberg University and the ice.
I wrote a story Tuesday that stated National Trail Park and Recreation District could choose to build its long anticipated ice arena just across the creek from Wittenberg University. (The site is just west of Wittenberg’s physical plant and south of Buck Creek, which separates the university from downtown.)
Admittedly, it’s not a done deal and no one mentioned Wittenberg in the interviews I did for the story, but I can’t help but wonder, is there a hockey team in Wittenberg’s future?
Would there be a benefit to the university to add hockey to its schedule? Would there be enough local support?
What do you think?
**ADDENDUM - The ice arena was part of a $5 million tax levy passed by voters in 2005 to cover the construction of a new stadium, a water park and the ice arena. The money is in a capital fund and no new tax dollars will go to the ice arena construction.
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Sinclair opens college resource center at Alter High School
Sinclair Community College will open a new college resource center on Friday, Dec. 19, at Alter High School in Kettering.
The John and Connie Taylor Resource Center will house 20 state-of-the-art computers with test preparation software for the PSAT, SAT and ACT, as well as study software for the OGT. Students also will have access to computer-aided career and college counseling.
The resource center was made possible thanks to a generous donation from John and Connie Taylor through the Sinclair Community College Foundation.
Sinclair and Alter will jointly host a ribbon cutting ceremony at 4 p.m. on Dec 19 at Alter High School. The Taylors and officials from both Sinclair and Alter will attend.
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Will college students return after Christmas?
Various news reports have predicted many college students will not return after Christmas break due to the recession.
I asked Wittenberg University’s dean of students, Sarah Kelly, about the university’s numbers and its prediction for January enrollment.
I was a little surprised to hear Kelly say the school expects fewer withdrawals this year than last.
She acknowledged the university was worried when bills were sent out earlier this month, so they decided to “get out in front of this” - urging students to contact financial aid before making any decisions.
Many students who did, qualified for additional help. Some through traditional programs, others through the university’s student aid.
The result?
“I’m not anticipating a lot of surprises in January,” Kelly said.
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Wright State professor awarded Ohio Health Policy Researcher Award
Betty Yung, a professor at Wright State University’s School of Professional Psychology (SOPP), is among four 2008 winners of the Ohio Health Policy Research Awards, given annually by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio to recognize the best applied health policy research in Ohio.
Yung received the award for researchers at tier 2-4 universities for the study, “Capacity-Building Needs of Minority Nonprofits.” Yung led a team of researchers from Wright State, University of Akron, University of Cincinnati and Case Western Reserve University in a statewide study of the capacity-building needs of minority health service providers. The research was funded by the Ohio Commission on Minority Health.
Yung was presented with her award at a Dec. 12 luncheon at the “Bridging Policy and Practice: The 2008 Ohio Health Data and Research Conference” in Columbus.
Yung is the director of the Center for Child and Adolescent Violence Prevention located at SOPP’s Duke E. Ellis Human Development Institute on Edwin C. Moses Boulevard in Dayton.
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University System of Ohio announces new dual admissions program
Ohio’s 10-year “Strategic Plan for Higher education” took a major step forward on Wednesday, Dec. 17, with the announcement that Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland State University and Kent State University have created a dual admissions program that for the first time will allow University System of Ohio students to select both a community college and a university at the time of admission into a community college.
Ohio Board of Regents Chancellor Eric D. Fingerhut and the presidents of the three institutions signed agreements Wednesday creating a new Dual Admissions Partnership Program that will benefit students at those schools.
The program will enroll students at Cuyahoga Community College and Cleveland State, or at Cuyahoga Community College and Kent State, with the goal that students complete an associate degree at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) while preparing to transfer to Cleveland State or Kent State to complete a bachelor’s degree.
“This is a major step forward for Tri-C, Cleveland State and Kent State, as well as for University System of Ohio students as a whole,” Fingerhut said. “Dual admission is an excellent choice for students who want an affordable, high-quality college education, especially if they know from the outset that they intend to use the community college as a springboard to a bachelor’s or other advanced degree.”
Providing students with dual admission options where each student can select a community college and a university at the time of admission into a community college program is a key component of the “Strategic Plan for Higher Education” that Fingerhut submitted in March to Gov. Ted Strickland.
Upon successful completion of a two-year program, the student will not have to apply for admission into the university because that admission has been pre-approved. This will save students time and paperwork because the transfer will be automatic into the university.
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Lumina Foundation selects Ohio to receive higher education grant
The Lumina Foundation for Education announced on Tuesday, Dec. 16, that Ohio has been selected as one of 11 states to receive a grant to help graduate more students by make college more efficient and cost-effective.
Ohio and 10 other participating states will receive a one-year grant of $150,000 through the foundation’s Making Opportunity Affordable (MOA) initiative to develop innovative strategies in key policy areas to promote sustainable improvements in productivity. The states will be eligible to compete next year for a $2 million Opportunity Grant to implement their plans over four years.
The other participating states are Arizona, California, Colorado, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and Wisconsin.
The $45.5 million MOA initiative seeks to advance policy innovation and change in higher education finance, management and instructional delivery to get many more students into and through postsecondary education.
The new grant will enable Ohio to conduct a statewide policy audit to identify major policies that are perceived to significantly hinder affordability and efficiency, and better communicate and advance three key strategies that will make public higher education more productive and efficient.
The strategies include the creation of a new funding formula for public higher education that targets state dollars on successful academic outcomes, such as course completions and degree completions; the formation of a statewide Efficiency Council that will identify and disseminate best practices across the system in a high-profile, public forum; and the submission of accountability reports from all public higher education institutions, which marks the first time in Ohio’s history that institutions have systematically aligned their own goals with the state’s goals.
States receiving the initial, $150,000 grants will be eligible to apply for the larger grants next year. In the fall of 2009, Lumina will award grants of $2 million each to as many as five states whose plans hold the greatest promise to bolster higher education productivity.
Lumina Foundation for Education, an Indianapolis-based private foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access to and success in education beyond high school.
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Prepaid college plans are the rage but not in Ohio
More parents are choosing to lock in future tuition rates through 529 prepaid college plans, thanks to tanking investment 529s and expected tuition increases.
But if you’re from Ohio, put down the phone. You don’t qualify.
The state, along with West Virginia, Kentucky and Colorado, eliminated that option during the dot-com bubble crash between 2000 and 2002, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The state still participates in the investment-type 529 plan which does not lock in rates but has the potential for growth (ostensibly).
With Gov. Ted Strickland hinting at a thaw in the state’s tuition freeze, how will your paying-for-college strategy hold up?
Will you make a change?
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Attorney General settlement improves credit card marketing to college students
Getting college students to apply for credit cards in exchange for a burrito will be more difficult for companies thanks to a settlement announced Friday, Dec. 12, by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
The settlement is between the state and two companies that the state alleged used deceptive advertising in an attempt to persuade Ohio State University students to apply for credit cards. Attorneys from the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law filed the lawsuit in September 2007 against Campus Dimensions Inc., a marketing and advertising firm; and OSU La Bamba Inc., a restaurant chain. The suit, filed in Franklin County, charged the companies with violating Ohio’s Consumer Sales Practices Act.
Faculty and third-year law students in the Civil Law Practicum at Moritz had been monitoring credit card solicitation practices in the Columbus university area for more than a year.
According to the suit against La Bamba and Campus Dimensions, a credit card marketing event was held at the La Bamba restaurant in Columbus. Fliers for the event were posted around the OSU campus advertising a “Free Sandwich and Drink” for OSU students. The original complaint stated violations occurred because the promotional fliers for the event advertised free burritos but did not disclose the offer’s requirement that students apply for a credit card.
The settlement states that in the future, the companies will not participate in any credit card marketing plan which includes violations that include:
- Failing to clearly state the conditions of an offer
- Using bait advertising
- Using “free” without clearly setting forth all terms and obligations of the offer
- Notifying prospective consumers about a prize or something of value without disclosing any and all conditions necessary to get it
The court also ordered La Bamba and Campus Dimensions to disgorge their profits from the marketing event, and to pay the Attorney General’s Office money to be distributed to a non-profit organization to promote the financial literacy of college students to improve their understanding and use of credit cards.
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Low income adult students taking part in study
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a study of an Ohio program that offers scholarships to high performing, low income, adult students at four state colleges.
The scholarship program is designed to help adult students, many of them parents, stay in school buy offering scholarships between $300 to $900 a quarter/semester, contingent upon grades. The Foundation is conducting a study of programs in Ohio, New York, California and New Mexico
Students can still apply to participate through late December or mid-January at the three colleges doing random assignment (Lorain County, Owens and Sinclair Community College). There will be an additional enrollment period for spring quarter at Sinclair.
Scholarship program contacts at each campus’ financial aid office, individual campus enrollment deadlines, and student eligibility details can be found at http://regents.ohio.gov/sgs/teap.
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Can pharmacists reduce health care cost?
Individuals with chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension experience better health if their pharmacist takes on a more advisory role when it comes to monitoring patients’ medications and dosing schedules.
That’s what the City of Asheville, N.C. found out after a 10-year project designed to reduce health care costs for city employees.
Called the Asheville Project, the program is a model the dean of the new Cedarville University School of Pharmacy wants to see developed locally.
Marc Sweeney said during a Wednesday news conference, the university believes innovative models of pharmacy care can help reduce health care costs in the region.
It makes sense, considering patients already tend to have a closer relationship with their pharmacist than with their doctor.
And according to a recent Gallup Poll, people rated pharmacists higher than medical doctors in the areas of ethics and honesty.
What do you think?
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UD students celebrate Christmas on Campus
University of Dayton students will share Christmas this year with approximately 800 Dayton-area school children, escorting them through a winter wonderland that features cartoon characters, games, dancing, singing, crafts, face-painting and, of course, Santa Claus.
UD’s 45th annual “Christmas on Campus” will be held from 5:30 to 11 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 11, at various sites on the UD campus.
The theme of this year’s event, which is free and open to the public, is “It Begins with a Wish.”
The opening ceremony, live Nativity, tree lighting and Santa’s arrival are at 6 p.m. in Humanities Plaza. Activities in Santa’s Workshop, RecPlex and Kennedy Union start after the tree lighting and end around 8 p.m.
Santa’s Workshop activities include making magnets, Christmas cards, Popsicle picture frames and paper snowmen, and frosting cookies. The carnival features children’s games.
Kennedy Union is the place for entertainment. Miami Valley Dance Company, Celtic Academy of Irish Dance, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company 2, South Dayton Dance Theater and Jeraldyne’s School of Dance Youth Ensemble are among the performers.
Dayton school children will return to their buses by 8:15 p.m.
Christmas on Campus ends with a candlelight walk at 8:45 p.m. from Humanities Plaza to the Frericks Center, the site of a Mass celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Them Mass will feature a 40-person choir and a crowd of approximately 2,000 people.
The Christmas on Campus committee selected Dec. 11 as the date to best accommodate the UD academic calendar and the calendar and needs of the Dayton City Schools. Before this year, UD celebrated the event in conjunction with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Dec. 8.
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Is a bad economy good for community colleges?
It looks like community colleges are experiencing increasing enrollment due to decreasing employment.
I talked to Clark State Community College about this Tuesday and an official there said that community colleges traditionally see enrollment upswings when the economy nose dives.
That’s because newly laid off workers are reevaluating their resumes and deciding to upgrade their current skills or acquire some new ones all together.
I would think this would be good news for Clark State’s bottom line, as well as for those of other community colleges.
I do wonder if these students are having trouble acquiring funding - loans - for these courses since we’ve heard so much about the stingy student loan market.
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Ohio State Marching Band to perform in Inaugural Parade
O-H-I-Obama. The Ohio State University Marching Band will head to the nation’s capital to participate in the Presidential Inaugural Parade on Jan, 20, 2009.
“It’s a great honor to be chosen to represent Ohio on this historic occasion,” said Jon Waters, assistant director of Ohio State’s band. “All 225 band members - the largest all-brass and percussion band in the world - will travel to Washington to join some of the nation’s best marching bands.”
The band was chosen after a rigorous application process, which included submission of a resume, video and recommendations from state officials to the Presidential Inaugural Committee in Washington, D.C.
This will be the fifth Inaugural Parade for the “Pride of the Buckeyes,” having marched on Inauguration Day for Presidents Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, George H.W. Bush and twice for George W. Bush.
Band members will spend three days in Washington. After a day of sight-seeing on Jan, 18, they will perform at an Ohio Democratic Party function on Jan 19. During the three-mile long parade on Jan. 20’s Inauguration Day, the band will play songs including “Beautiful Ohio,” the official state song; “The Buckeye Battle Cry,” and “Fight the Team Across the Field.”
“Right now, our concern is lining up buses and hotels, and that’s not going to be easy,” said Waters.
The cost of the band’s trip to the nation’s capital will be paid by private donations.
The “Pride of the Buckeyes” also will perform on Jan. 5 at the Fiesta Bowl in Phoenix.
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Study looks at non-borrowing students
The Institution for Higher Education Policy released a study this week on students who forgo borrowing for college
I lost interest slightly in the report when they cited 2003-04 data for their conclusions. After all, getting a student loan in 2003 was quite a different scenario than today.
The study concluded that students who tended to forgo student loans were:
- Part-time community college students
- Older, independent adult students
- Minorities, such as Latino or Asian Americans, whose cultural values could discourage borrowing.
The study expressed concern that an aversion to student loans could prevent qualified students from pursuing higher education. It also suggested initiatives to educate more students about loans.
What do you think? Are students who shy away from student loans making a good fiscal decision or are they always better off taking on debt now to invest in their futures?
What about under current economic conditions?
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Wright State professor rates in Top 10 list
Wright State University professor Gaetano Guzzo III ranks high with his students, according to the Web site, Rate My Professors. Guzzo, an instructor of sociology and anthropology in the College of Liberal Arts, was named to the Web site’s 2008 Top 10 List for top-rated professors.
Guzzo received 91 ratings on the Web site. He had an average easiness of 4.4, average helpfulness of 4.4, average clarity of 4.6 and overall quality of 4.5.
Rate My Professors is a review site that allows college and university students to anonymously assign ratings to their professors. The site contains more than six million ratings, for more than 500,000 professors.
The site was founded in 1999. It was purchased in January 2007 by MTVu, a subsidiary of Viacom.
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Nurses most trusted by public. Bankers, not so much.
Finance majors will likely not appreciate the results of the latest Gallup poll which found that bankers have reached an all-time low when it comes to the public’s confidence.
The 2008 Galllup Honest and Ethics poll showed that 84 percent of Americans rated nurses high or very high in the areas of honesty and ethics, while bankers dropped from a 41 percent high-to-very-high ethics rating in 2005 to 23 percent in 2008.
Bankers took a hit most likely from the Wall Street mess, but they’re still not in the least well-rated professions for honesty and ethics. Lobbyists and telemarketers took that honor, with less than 7 percent of people finding them honest or ethical.
Congressmen didn’t do so well either with a 12 percent honesty-and ethics rating.
Journalists fell somewhere in the middle with 25 percent high-ethics-and honesty rating.
Now that’s harsh.
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Wright State professors named “Heroes of Emergency Medicine”
The American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) has selected three physicians and educators affiliated with the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine to be honored as “Heroes of Emergency Medicine.”
Dr. Glenn Hamilton, Dr. Joan Kolodzik and Dr. Jonathan Singer, all faculty members within the school’s department of emergency medicine, were nominated by colleagues to be recognized for their significant contributions to emergency medicine, their communities and their patients.
The “Heroes of Emergency Medicine” program is part of a yearlong celebration of ACEP’s 40th anniversary. With 12 honorees selected from medical schools, hospitals and other health care organizations throughout Ohio, the three Wright State faculty members represent 25 percent of the state’s “heroes” and the highest number affiliated with any single institution.
Dr. Hamilton is professor and chair of emergency medicine and serves as Board Chair of the school’s National Center for Medical Readiness (NCMR), an innovative training center he co-founded to pioneer new approaches to civil medical readiness.
Dr. Kolodzik is assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine; director of education/EMS for Premiere Health Care Services and attending emergency physician at Upper Valley Medical Center in Troy.
Dr. Singer is associate program director and director of scholarly works for the medical school’s emergency medicine residency program, and is one of the first professors in the nation to specialize in pediatric emergency medicine.
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African-American males focus of upcoming public hearing.
Springfield is one of 15 Ohio cities chosen to take part in public hearings designed to address the needs of the state’s African-American male population.
The public hearing will be held 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 4, at
The commission, at the request of Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, is holding hearings throughout the state. The 15 participating cities represent 80 percent of the state’s African-American population. About 18 percent of Springfield’s population is African-American, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.
The Commission, which is working with the Ohio State University Kirwan Institute, identifies and promotes strategies and public policies to foster improvements in social, economic and educational opportunities for African-American males.
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Opera Scenes at Cedarville
The Cedarville Opera Ensemble will perform its fourth annual Opera Scenes Program,7 p.m., Thursday and Friday, Dec. 4 and 5.
The singers will perform, in English, four opera scenes taken from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and “Don Giovanni” and Kurt Weill’s “Street Scene.”
Cedarville’s assistant director of music, Taylor Ferranti, will give a brief plot summary before each scene.
Student performers include Stephanie Haines, Lisbeth Cummings, Catherine Stampfli, Katie Lutz, Stacey Keller, Alise Merrin, Emily Sammons, Joshua Griffith, Greg Gallagher and Ian Casper.
Opera Scenes will be performed in the Dixon Center.
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