University Outreach & Engagement
400 Stillman Hall
1947 College Road
Columbus, OH 43210-1106
Phone (614) 688-3041
Fax (614) 688-3884
http://outreach.osu.edu
2008 OUTREACH AND ENGAGEMENT GRANT AWARDS
Faculty and staff received support for outreach and engagement efforts with community partners
in the awards announced by four grant programs at The Ohio State University: Service-Learning
Initiative course development and enhancement grants, Continuing Education course
development grants, OSU CARES/OSU Extension seed and faculty support grants, and
University Outreach and Engagement Excellence in Engagement grants. Amounts ranged from
small course enhancement grants of $500 to the Excellence in Engagement Grants of up to
$100,000.
The 2008 awards were announced on April 15 at the fifth annual James F. Patterson Land-Grant
University Lecture presented by Dr. E. Gordon Gee, president of The Ohio State University. The
lecture, which honors former Board of Trustee member James Patterson, is given by a prominent
figure who addresses the range of challenges facing land-grant institutions in the 21st century
and beyond.
In all, 20 projects from 12 colleges, 2 regional campuses, OSU Extension, Ohio Sea Grant
College Program, OSU Medical Center, University Libraries, and Byrd Polar Research Center
received funding. They illustrate how engagement is being embedded in colleges across the
university. They also showcase how Ohio State is sharing expertise broadly across the entire
state and deepening relationships with community and school partners.
2008 Excellence in Engagement Grants (up to $100,000) support an interdisciplinary team to
build upon their academic/research excellence and to establish an innovative, creative, scholarly
outreach and engagement initiative that will give the team, college/regional campus, and
university recognition both regionally and nationally for its partnership with the community.
1. Engineering to the High Schools
Betty Lise Anderson, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of
Engineering; Partners: Marcy Raymond, Principal, Metro High School; David B. L. Gould,
Director, Upper School, Columbus School for Girls; Susie Carr, Assistant Superintendent for
Curriculum and Instruction, Whitehall City Schools; Chris Brandon, Project Director, Battelle
Engineering Experience; Glenda LaRue, Director, Women in Engineering Program, College of
Engineering
The United States is facing a shortage of engineers. To address this shortage, the key is to
educate school teachers, and through them their students, about what engineering is. The
teachers are eager to learn, and the schools are creating STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math) clubs and engineering clubs to reach the students, but the teachers and
clubs need content. This project will tap the creativity of electrical and computer engineering
students at OSU in creating projects and designing activities, including the equipment, to teach
teachers about various aspects of technology, showing how principles taught in physics,
chemistry, and math can be applied to create technology that benefits mankind. Project staff will
develop hands-on activities and take them to high schools to teach the teachers. Ohio State will
supply materials, documentation (written and possibly video/podcast), as well as in-class support
to facilitate teachers’ transferring of those projects to the classroom and STEM clubs.
2. Mansfield Young People’s Project
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2008 Outreach and Engagement Grants
Lee McEwan, Associate Professor, Mathematics, OSU Mansfield; Heather Tanner, Associate
Professor, History, OSU Mansfield; Partners: Young People’s Project, Algebra Project
The Mansfield Young People's Project (MYPP) supports the Ohio state legislature’s STEM
education enhancement goals through a unique partnership among the Ohio State University at
Mansfield, Mansfield City Schools, and the Algebra Project (AP), a national nonprofit organization
increasing math literacy of minority and economically challenged students. MYPP will recruit,
train, and deploy high school and college Math Literacy Workers (MLWs), building upon 12 years
of after-school youth tutoring expertise developed by the Young People's Project (YPP), an AP
outgrowth. Students meeting program criteria will be recruited in annual cohorts and trained as a
team to enhance their identity as learners and knowledge workers. This project will serve as a
bridge to the establishment of the Mansfield Algebra Project, a permanent math intervention
program working with cohorts of eligible students for all four years of high school.
3. Science at the Polar Frontier: BPRC, the Zoo, and Metro School
Carol Landis, Education and Outreach Specialist, Byrd Polar Research Center; Nancy Hampson,
Director of Conservation Education, Columbus Zoo and Aquarium; Marcy Raymond, Principal,
Metro High School
This project will develop interactive public displays for the Columbus Zoo’s Polar Frontier exhibit.
These displays, which provide an in-depth contextual view of the effects of climate change on
Arctic regions, will be shared electronically with partner institutions in the Association of Zoos and
Aquariums. High school students from the Zoo School an the Metro School will develop
demonstrations and activities to be presented at public events. A Byrd Polar Research Center
scientist will serve as the model for a virtual scientist in the displays. The objectives are to
increase public awareness and understanding of present and past climate changes in the Arctic,
to enhance students’ investigative and representational skills, and to develop a sustained
relationship among the partners.
4. Ohio House of Science and Engineering (OHSE)
Susan Olesik, Professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Mathematical and Physical
Sciences; David Tomasko, Professor, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering,
College of Engineering; Amanda Simcox, Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, College
of Biological Sciences; Linda Weavers, John C. Geupel Chair in Civil and Environmental
Engineering and Geodetic Science and Associate Professor, College of Engineering
Ohio State University has numerous well established science/engineering outreach and public
science literacy programs that seek to improve grades K-20 science education (Wonders of Our
World, W.O.W., GK-12 Program, Future Engineers Summer Camp, and the DNA Fingerprinting
Workshop). Operating as a consortium of these highly effective programs, the Ohio House of
Science and Engineering will foster and promote STEM outreach and education activities from
kindergarten through the PhD. It intends to serve all of the following roles in the university
community: a primary point of contact for external constituencies to find STEM outreach
programs at the university; a stable administrative structure for programs and physical base for
operations; a laboratory or think tank for testing and developing new outreach ideas; and a
curriculum development resource for STEM elements in higher education. The proposed
Excellence and Engagement project will expand the efforts of a number of current outreach
efforts to include inquiry-based teaching in K-12 classrooms. This will be the pilot for
demonstrating the OHSE operation. At full strength, the OHSE expects to serve approximately
10,000 K-12 students per year with 1,000-1,500 contributing scientists and engineers.
5. Stable Cradle
Wanda Dillard, Director of Community Development, Ohio State University Medical Center; Mary
Margaret Gottesman, Associate Professor, College of Nursing; Partners: Karen Waugh, Clinical
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2008 Outreach and Engagement Grants
Supervisor, Maryhaven Women’s Program; James Stein, President, Material Assistance
Providers; Andrew Russ, Attorney, Wolfe & Russ LLC
This project will expand and strengthen the existing Stable Cradle Program, a partnership of the
OSU Medical Center and Maryhaven Substance Abuse Services. The goals are to increase the
number of pregnant drug abusing women served by the program, strengthen program quality by
adding additional education and service components for prenatal and postpartum periods, and
evaluating the program’s outcomes and impact. The medical center will be involved in hiring and
training a nurse practitioner and additional lay peer mentor for the program. College of Nursing
will conduct the evaluation and involve students in increasing attendance in pre and postnatal
classes. Material Assistance Providers will offer a furniture bank and Wolfe & Russ LLC will
provide legal support for program participants.
2008 Service-Learning Initiative Grants fund multidisciplinary university/community teams for
the development or enhancement of service-learning courses and projects that address
community goals.
Course Development Grants (up to $3,500)
1. The Computer in the Visual Arts: Service-Learning Section (Art Education 252S)
Karen Hutzel, Assistant Professor, Department of Art Education, College of the Arts; Partner:
Catherine Girves, Director, University Area Enrichment Association
This project will develop a service-learning version of an existing General Education Course,
Introduction to the Computer in the Visual Arts in order to introduce students to the process of
working with youth in teaching computer art and developing collaborative art with the computer as
the tool. The course will be developed in collaboration with the University Area Enrichment
Association through interaction with the existing Gidget project, a collaboration that focuses on
connecting girls and women to technology. In the course, college students will be partnered with
the girls, learn the computer programs together, and share and take photographs toward the
development of art pieces. Through this process, the pairs will learn about each other’s cultures
and communities, work to develop a collaborative art piece to showcase the similarities they find,
and share their work with the college and neighborhood community.
2. Elements of Cartography: Serving the Community with Cartography (Geography 580S)
Ola Ahlqvist, Assistant Professor, and Tim Hawthorne, Graduate Teaching Associate,
Geography, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Partner: African American and African
Studies Community Extension Center
Students in Geography 580S will learn cartography and map design elements, including the use
of GIS software for basic cartographic purposes and apply the basics of cartography and map
design to a local real world project for a a severely underserved lower socioeconomic community.
The students will engage with a local community partner, the African American and African
Studies Community Extension Center, in a mutually beneficial collaborative manner involving
action-oriented research. Through this process, the students will learn about the community and
demonstrate the center how the maps can benefit the community.
3. General Methods in Adult Education (EDU PAES 649S)
David Stein, Associate Professor, Workforce Development & Education, College of Education
and Human Ecology; Partners: Advance One, Reach 1
This course will be redesigned to provide learners an opportunity to explore and critically practice
teaching an adult learner. The course will include new content and learning activities to
demonstrate the teaching and learning challenges of the low-skilled, low-wage adult learner.
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2008 Outreach and Engagement Grants
Through service as a tutor, the university student using class content, critical reflection, and
dialogue with other learners will learn how to implement adult teaching practices. The community
partner is a combination of two GED preparation programs: Advance One, which resides within
the Ohio State University Medical Center, and Reach 1, which resides in Human Resources at
the Ohio State University. These programs serve university employees and other persons who
live in the community surrounding the university.
Course Enhancement Grants (up to $500)
1. Comparative Studies Newark Campus (CS694 and CS698.02)
Katherine Borland, Associate Professor, OSU Newark; Partner: Monimbo Indigenous Movement,
Nicaragua
This is a two-course series designed to test theory (classroom instruction) against practice
(international study tour). The first course, CS694, is Development Theory. The second,
CS698.02 is the Nicaragua Service-Learning Experience. In the second course, students will
construct the first of several cabins designed to house international visitors identified as part of
the alternative tourism market. These visitors would include school groups like our own, other
groups engaged in local service projects, and independent tourists who are interested in
interacting with Masayans outside of the town’s restored colonial market. This project is part of an
ongoing engagement between MIM and the Ohio State University team over a series of years.
2. Business H502, Honors Seminar
Nancy Lahmers, Senior Lecturer, Department of Finance, Fisher College of Business; Partner:
Junior Achievement of Central Ohio
The purpose of the Honors Seminar is to enhance business learning through presentations, team
building, leadership, and community service. Students in the Undergraduate Honors Cohort
volunteer with Junior Achievement of Central Ohio, working closely with an elementary school in
the community to teach the principles of Junior Achievement (JA) in grades 2-5. The
enhancement grant will be used for transportation to the school and children’s books.
2008 OSU CARES/OSU Extension Seed Grants (up to $10,000) fund outreach and
engagement initiatives with partners from at least two departments (including OSU Extension).
1. Ohio Tourism Partnership for Economic Development
Julie Fox, Direct Marketing Specialist, OSU Extension/OSU South Centers at Piketon; Melinda
Huntley, Tourism Extension Program Director, Ohio Sea Grant College Program; Partners: Amir
Eylon, State Tourism Director, Ohio Division of Travel and Tourism; Marc McQuaid, Executive
Director, Ohio Travel Association; Fang Meng, Assistant Professor, School of Human and
Consumer Sciences, Ohio University; Treva Williams, Extension Educator 4, OSU Extension,
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
This grant supports the creation, launch, and evaluation of a web-based Ohio Tourism Toolbox to
provide industry professionals with education, research, and other resources; the Ohio Tourism
Curriculum on CD/DVD for educators, tourism industry members, and other leaders to advance
tourism in their communities; and a research and education network to better connect
tourism/hospitality researchers and educators from universities, colleges, and career centers
across the state. A minimum of 150 tourism industry professionals, educators, and other
community leaders will be engaged.
2. Ways of Knowing Water
Rick Livingston, Associate Director, Institute for Collaborative Research and Public Humanities,
College of Humanities; Lewis Ulman, Associate Professor, Department of English, College of
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2008 Outreach and Engagement Grants
Humanities; Joe Bonnell, Extension Specialist, and Anne Baird, Extension Educator 2, Watershed
Management, Watershed Management, OSU Extension, College of Food, Agricultural, and
Environmental Sciences; Prudence Gill, Curator, Hopkins Hall Gallery, Department of Art, College
of the Arts
This partnership between the Humanities Institute and OSU Extension’s Watershed Management
Program will build capacity for environmental education on the Scioto River Watershed. The
project will include a summer institute for educators, an exhibit at OSU’s Urban Arts Space in
downtown Columbus, and a website supporting an online watershed learning community.
3. Food, Fun and Me!: A Healthy Eating and Nutrition Education Program for 3rd-5th Graders
Participating in Outreach Centers and After School Programs
Sophia Tolliver, Program Manager, and Chasity Cooper, Program Director, Diversity
Enhancement Program, James Cancer Hospital & Solove Research Institute; Marilyn Rabe,
Extension Educator 3, and Susan Shockey, Associate Professor, OSU Extension, College of
Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
Childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions in the United States. It is estimated that in
Franklin County 25% of children are overweight compared to 16% reported nationally by the
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Childhood obesity is associated with more
severe health effects and illnesses compared to adult obesity. This includes the increased risk of
developing chronic diseases as adults such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes due
to obesity. Food, Fun, and Me! is a healthy eating and nutrition education program that has been
specially designed through a partnership between The Diversity Enhancement Program at The
James Cancer Hospital and OSU Extension Franklin County to reach minority and underserved
third-fifth graders who participate in designated after-school and community outreach programs in
Columbus, Ohio. The program uses a series of lessons from the Jump Into Foods & Fitness
(JIFF) curriculum to motivate and teach kids about healthy nutrition, eating habits, and physical
activity. Food, Fun, and Me! will incorporate “train the trainer” formatted training sessions so that
site administrators and OSU student volunteers can sustain the program for years to come.
Children who are exposed to healthy information are more likely to carry out those behaviors as
adults. Inherently supportive of the Healthy Ohio 2010 objectives, Food, Fun, and Me! is a fun
and interactive approach to reach minority and underserved children and enhance the information
available through their school’s health curriculum.
2008 OSU CARES/OSU Extension Faculty Support Grants (up to $20,000) support faculty in
departments that are not affiliated with OSU Extension in conducting outreach and engagement
efforts in partnership with OSU Extension.
1. Body Fit
Carmen Babcock, Assistant Professor, Sport & Exercise Sciences, College of Education and
Human Ecology; Partners: Gail Kaye, Program Director, Department of Human Nutrition; Donna
Pastore, Director, School of Physical Activity & Educational Services; Sandy Stroot, Interim Dean,
College of Education and Human Ecology; Jill Nolan, Assistant Director, Family and Consumer
Sciences, OSU Extension, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
Body Fit, which focuses on education and promotion of positive physical activity behaviors, will
complement the existing nutrition education program, Food Fit, which focuses on dietary intake
and eating behaviors. Through the recent establishment of a unique partnership between OSU
and COSI, Babcock and Kaye have formed a relationship with COSI as part of the Labs in Life @
COSI team. Thus, development of the Body Fit program will be facilitated and implementation of
the program will ultimately have a unique outreach venue. Following the development of the Body
Fit program the ambition is to combine of both Food Fit and Body Fit as an interdisciplinary
behavioral modification intervention. This model would be targeted to school children ages 6-11
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2008 Outreach and Engagement Grants
and would be structured to meet Ohio’s academic content standards. It will also serve as a
program for student visitors to COSI.
2008 Continuing Education Course Development Grants (up to $15,000 per year for up to 3
years) support faculty in adapting credit and noncredit courses delivered using nontraditional
teaching and learning formats that target an expanded learner base and enhance access to
postsecondary education. Noncredit courses must show potential to become credit courses in the
future.
1. Green Building & Sustainable Construction
Qian Chen, Assistant Professor, Department of Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering,
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
2. Frontiers in Life Sciences Research: An Intellectual Exchange between OSU Students and
Their National/International Peers
Venkat Gopalan, Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry, College of Biological
Sciences; Amanda Simcox, Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, College of Biological
Sciences; Ruth Sesco, Library Associate 2, University Libraries
3. Ohio Land Use and Resource Law
Peggy Kirk Hall, Senior Researcher, Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and
Development Economics, College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
4. Standards-based Earth Science for Educators (ES 580)
Garry McKenzie, Associate Professor, School of Earth Sciences, College of Mathematical and
Physical Sciences
5. Capstone Project Course MGTXX5
Peg Pennington, Director of Continuous Improvement, and Rachel Brock, Associate Director,
Center for Operational Excellence, Department of Management Sciences, Fisher College of
Business
6. Web-based Veterinary CE Program
Jennifer Simmons, Director, Educational Resources, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences;
Stephen DiBartola, Associate Dean for Administration and Curriculum, College of Veterinary
Medicine
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