Human Sciences Magazine, Volume 18, 2013

The official magazine of the College of Human Sciences, Oklahoma State University 2013

measuring New department head

UP

Kathleen Robinette

brings her expertise — and some high-flying goals — to

OSU

h u m a n s c i e n c e s m a g a z i n e • V O L UME 1 8 , 2 0 1 3 14

Kenyan influence

College of Human Sciences students who go on a study-abroad experience in the African nation of Kenya share the impact of the program.

About the cover

Kathleen Robinette is bringing a wealth of expertise in fit mapping to OSU as the new head of Design, Housing and Merchandising. Photo by Gary Lawson / University Marketing 6

Pairing up

Collaboration is key as researchers seek to make their studies move seamlessly from their labs to human testing.

16 A

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Celebrating 75 years

The School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration is commemorating its anniversary with a look at its past and its growth into a leader in global hospitality and tourism education.

taste for health

The OrganWise Guys program teaches elementary school students how to make healthy choices in food and activity.

When you join the OSU Alumni Association, a portion of your membership comes back to the college to fund programs such as homecoming and other alumni events. Contact us for more information: humansciences.okstate.edu, 101 Human Sciences, Stillwater, OK 74078-6116 (405) 744-5053 telephone (405) 744-7113 fax

Stephan M. Wilson Dean, College of Human Sciences Julie Barnard Human Sciences communications Manager Dorothy L. Pugh Ed i t o r Paul V. Fleming A r t D i r e c t o r Phil Shockley Gary Lawson P h o t o g r a ph y Michael Baker Ass o c i a t e Ed i t o r Human Sciences magazine is a publication of the ­Oklahoma State University College of ­Human Sciences. Its purpose is to ­connect this college with its many stakeholders, providing information on both ­campus news and pertinent issues in the field of human sciences. © Oklahoma State University 2013

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Solving family problems

Joseph Grzywacz (left, with OSU-Tulsa President Howard Barnett) has a broad vision for the Center for Family Resilience at OSU-Tulsa.

Oklahoma State University in compliance with Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Executive Order 11246 as amended, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and other federal laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid, and educational services. Title IX of the Education Amendments and Oklahoma State University policy prohibit discrimination in the provision of services of benefits offered by the University based on gender. Any person (student, faculty or staff) who believes that discriminatory practices have been engaged in based upon gender may discuss their concerns and file informal or formal complaints of possible violations of Title IX with the OSU Title IX Coordinator, Director of Affirmative Action, 408 Whitehurst, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, (405) 744-5371 or (405) 744-5576 (fax). This publication, #4437, issued by Oklahoma State University as authorized by the College of Human Sciences, was printed by OSU Marketing, University Printing Services. at a cost of $3,100.00. 5,000/Jan/13.

15% PCW SOY INK

“The future is purchased by the present.” — author Samuel Johnson Since my arrival five years ago, the College of Human Sciences has been preparing for the future through goal setting and strategic planning. I am happy to report several of those ambitious goals have been “purchased,” assuring that upcoming generations of human scientists will be well prepared for the challenges of the future.

portrait / phil shockley

from the

DEAN’S

o ffi ce

In the pages that follow, you will see several results of the planning process, reflecting the passion of our faculty, staff and students.

The College of Human Sciences at Oklahoma State University is among the top programs of its kind in the U.S. and a leading program for many of its disciplines internationally. The human sciences focus on food and nutrition security, local and international commerce, human relationships, natural and human resource management, and health promotion. These issues are at the heart of the college’s teaching and learning, research and discovery, and outreach and engagement.

In order to more clearly describe its broad range of academic programs and research initiatives, in 2011, the college adopted the College of Human Sciences name. The change was the result of a larger deliberative process, which identified a “reimaging campaign and marketing strategy” as a top priority.

Human Sciences has added initiatives to better prepare students to understand and identify with different cultures. Over the past couple of years, two student groups have traveled to Kenya.

Before they go, the students learn about Kenya, its people and their

culture, their education and their government, the vast landscape where they live and the unique wildlife with which they share the land. Only about 2 percent of U.S. college students study abroad and well over 95 percent of them study in the more familiar environs of developed countries.

In the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration’s

75 years, it has gone global with annual trips to Europe as well as the opportunity for its students to earn dual degrees in Europe and China. Known as 2+2 programs, OSU students and their counterparts at Turku University in Finland, Robert Gordon University in Scotland and China’s Sun Yatsen University begin their coursework at their home university and then complete the next two years at the partner school, earning bachelor’s degrees from both universities.

Currently, more than 40 Chinese students are enrolled at OSU, and 13 HRAD students have participated in the European program with 17 students from Finland and Scotland coming to OSU. Dr. Kathleen Robinette’s arrival is a result of Design, Housing and Merchandising’s goal setting process for its future.

Kath’s unique education and experience directly benefits the DHM goal of conducting collaborative

scholarship and building educational partnerships. Her leadership will facilitate identifying professional partners’ needs and refine curricula to implement industrybased technologies.

Established in 2009, the Center for Family Resilience

conducts research on families in crisis and translates the results into real-world solutions. With generous support from the George Kaiser Family Foundation, CFR faculty work with community partners in Tulsa and across the state to deliver solutions that will promote resilience and improve the quality of life for individuals and families. Dr. Joe Grzywacz, the George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Family Resilience, has taken a leadership role in this partnership system.

Nutritional sciences faculty members are known for their innovative research that benefits Oklahoma, the U.S. and the world.

Their team approach to solving health issues through nutrition amplifies their research and instruction productivity. It is an interdisciplinary philosophy that drives the advancement of science, giving discoveries quicker practical impacts.

The ultimate goal for any college is for its students to graduate. For the fifth year in a row,

Human Sciences has the highest freshman retention rate on the OSU campus. Much of the credit for this goes to Dr. Shiretta Ownbey and her unit, Academic Programs and Services, which effectively facilitates first-year students’ transition to the College of Human Sciences with effective recruitment and student-centered, developmental advising services.

Of course, these initiatives require financial support. In February 2010, the university launched Branding Success: The Campaign for Oklahoma State University with a billion-dollar goal. Human Sciences has reached 90.6 percent of its $40 million Branding Success goal. In other gifts, donors have given more than $14.43 million for 38 new scholarships for students, one endowed chair and three new professorships.

It has been my privilege, pleasure and pride to lead this remarkable group of students, faculty and staff for the past five years. Their enthusiasm for discovery is contagious, and our alumni and donors have been moved by their passion.

I hope you, too, will be inspired by these stories of the visionaries past and present in the College of Human Sciences.

Ste phan M . Wilson, De an

The School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration at Oklahoma State University is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2012-13 by reflecting on its history and anticipating its future as a leader in global hospitality and tourism education.

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University Archives

The past The School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration program began when Oklahoma A&M

President Henry G. Bennett asked Daisy Purdy, the head of household science department, to form a committee to work on a curriculum plan in hotel administration.

Purdy believed the degree would need a strong business influence because most Oklahoma hotel general managers would be responsible for food service as well as general management. Courses in foods, nutrition, meal management and institutional administration were planned. Architecture and engineering courses were included so the graduates could read blueprints and talk with engineers with authority.

According to Purdy, the plans were warmly received: “After we put together what we considered a good course for such training, I took what we had planned to several outstanding hotel managers in the state for their consideration. … On the whole, they agreed with our thinking.”

The departments of Home Economics, Commerce and Engineering formed the joint program in 1937.

This program included 30 weeks of supervised employment in a hotel or similar institution. By 1942, a restaurant management course was added.

Purdy taught a basic course that was required for all students. The College Cafeteria and Murray Hall were used as laboratories.

By 1948, the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration had a faculty listing in the school course catalog. In 1950, the Union Club Hotel opened at the new Oklahoma State University Student Union. Now known as the Atherton Hotel at OSU, it has been an integral part of the hotel and restaurant education. The hotel continues to be a professional training ground for hotel operations and guest service skills.

John J. MacAllister, best known as “Mr. Mac,” took over HRAD in 1955 and served as director until 1971. During his tenure, the program moved more toward the hospitality industry and grew from 29 students to 287 when he retired.

MacAllister modified the curriculum, added new courses and started the annual Restaurant Management Conference. He also started a hotel and restaurant society for students. He was known for taking information about the program to various trade shows across the nation, and he secured the first $10,000 Houston Endowment Foundation Scholarship.

Daisy Purdy, the first head of HRAD, meets with Bill Stone (from left), Melvin Bennett, Victor Cooper and W.L. Cooper, some of the department’s early students.

In 1956, MacAllister started

Hospitality Days , an annual gathering planned and executed by students. The purpose of Hospitality Days remains the same today: to bring alumni back to share their experiences, to have professionals in the hospitality and tourism industry participate in a career fair and to build student appreciation for both the school and the industry.

Baker Bokorney’s service to the school resulted in the 1991 completion of the second floor of Human Sciences West. The school’s current space includes two food-service laboratories, a demonstration classroom, a quick-service restaurant and Taylor’s Dining Room. continues

“The opportunity to have so many hands-on courses and leadership opportunities is priceless experience.”

— Senior Elise Moore (Class of 2013)

gary lawson / University Marketing

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The present

University Archives

75 years of leaders

gary lawson / University Marketing

During its 75 years, the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration has had seven directors:

Bill Ryan

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Daisy Purdy, 1937–55 John J. “Mac” MacAllister, 1955–71 G. Baker Bokorney, 1972–1991 Ray Kavanaugh, 1992–1997 Patrick J. Moreo, 1998–2006 Richard Ghiselli, 2007–2009 Bill Ryan, 2010 –present

gary lawson / University Marketing

The Wine Forum of Oklahoma is just one of those priceless experiences. Established in 2009 with support from Marilynn and Carl Thoma, the Wine Forum educates the public about wine’s contribution to a healthy lifestyle and provides the students who manage the event the opportunity to interact with some of the most successful hospitality professionals.

Trisha Yearwood (center) works with students Morgan Ford (left) and Julie Rudeen to prepare the September 2010 Chef Series Dinner that featured the country singer and cookbook author.

Lindy Wiggins

According to an early brochure, table setting was a carefully supervised phase of student training.

The 385 students currently enrolled in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration take a core curriculum that includes an emphasis in lodging, restaurant and business, where they develop accounting, critical thinking and communication skills. They also receive hands-on training in classes covering lodging operations and basic food preparation. Senior Elise Moore (Class of 2013) says, “The opportunity to have so many hands-on courses and leadership opportunities is priceless experience.”

The school has been named one of the top research programs in hospitality research productivity by The Journal of Culinary Science & Technology, which ranked OSU first for average faculty productivity and third for the overall weighted rank and tenured faculty productivity from 2001-2010.

“We are proud to be recognized for our faculty’s research accomplishments,” says Director Bill Ryan , who also holds the Charles W. Lanphere Professorship. “This type of recognition also reflects the high caliber of scholars our students are exposed to, not only in the classroom, but as they are involved in many of these research projects with their professors.”

While the school may have begun with an Oklahoma-centric focus, today’s HRAD students have unique international opportunities. Every year, students can spend five weeks in Switzerland learning European cuisine and international hotel management.

Distinguished Chef Benefit Series. Since 1991, chefs from all over the world have come to OSU for one week to teach the art and science of preparing and serving a multi-course gourmet meal for guests.

Recently, Israeli chefs Erez Amos and Ilan Roberg spent a week with HRAD students preparing their native cuisine for their guests. Clinical assistant professor Steve Ruby, who directs the chef events, said the event provided a truly unique international culinary experience for students, faculty and patrons.

“Even with a language barrier, our students were inspired by their gentle natures and unique cuisine — especially the coconut milk pasta with pomegranate syrup for dessert,” Ruby says.

Jim Anderson , a former faculty member and past president of the Oklahoma Restaurant Association, started the event more than 20 years ago to provide professional instruction and hands-on experience for students entering hospitality careers. Since then, more than 100 chefs have provided valuable lessons to students while exposing guests to unique cuisine from around the world.

Director Ryan says the chef series has elevated the reputation of the program worldwide. “Chefs go back and spread the word about this amazing event that provides our students additional experiences outside the classroom,” he says.

Minh Dinh

The OSU school and the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management at Sun Yat-sen University in China’s Guangdong Province offer a dual undergraduate degree program in hospitality administration.

The collaboration between the universities allows students from each to spend two years studying at their home university, then travel overseas to complete a two-year program at the other. Upon completion of the program, the students will have earned bachelor’s degrees from both schools.

The first 21 Chinese students began their coursework at OSU in August 2011 after they had completed general education courses approved by OSU during their first two years at Sun Yat-sen. A second cohort of 20 students was enrolled for the fall 2012 semester.

“Sun Yat-sen is one of the top 10 universities in China,” says College of Human Sciences Dean Stephan M. Wilson. “We have a pretty amazing group of students here. Twenty have made the President’s Honor Roll each semester they have been here.

“We have other 2+2 programs,” he adds. “But this is the first large cohort of international students to participate at the undergraduate level.”

For students who might think spending two years in China is just too long to be away, other opportunities closer to home abound, including the

The future The school, its students and alums can see a bright future ahead. Plans for construction and renovation of the Human Sciences building call for relocating the hospitality program and its kitchen and dining labs to premier spaces in the new building.

The new space will provide for street-front access to a quick-service café, a computer simulation lab dedicated to HRAD students and hospitality research, a beverage education center and state-of-the-art food labs. Industry partners will work closely with the HRAD faculty and building architects to ensure that the new facilities will stay flexible and on the cutting edge.

David North (center, HRAD Class of 1996), general manager and executive chef of Oakwood Country Club in Enid, Okla., is assisted by Ali McAlister and Tim Friske during the 2011 Wine Forum of Oklahoma’s Grand Tasting.

“In order for our program to remain a high-caliber academic one, our students need to experience the industry’s newest options in design and operations,” Ryan says.

“The program is well-positioned with the curriculum, research capacity and reputation, and the expectation for facility improvements to continue to be a global leader in hospitality and tourism education for another 75 years.”

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Easing the Way Translational research teams move studies seamlessly from lab to humans.

Gone is the era of the superstar researcher. These days, it’s all about team, and nowhere is that more prevalent than in Oklahoma State’s College of Human Sciences.

“The classical model of research at a university or medical center is one of individuals working alone,” says Nancy Betts , professor and head of the college’s nutritional sciences department. “The era of the individual ‘superstar’ researcher is starting to change with the recent emphasis on translational research.”

Scientists conducting translational research do things such as conduct experiments from the lab-mouse level up to the human level. Betts says traditionally there were barriers between researchers (working with the animal models), and clinicians (working with humans), and the two didn’t work so closely together. But scrutiny of federal funding for scientific research has increased support for studies that move more seamlessly from testing to human benefit.

Collaboration is key Accordingly, translational research is something at which Human Sciences and its nutritional sciences department excel. Faculty members, most of whom also carry a heavy teaching load, collaborate on each other’s research projects and with folks from other institutions. Brenda Smith , professor and graduate program coordinator, is one of those OSU scientists.

Phil Shockley / University Marketing

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“Some people think of translational studies as a one­-way street,” Smith says.

“In other words, researchers carry out a study in the basic science laboratory, and the rationale for the study is its application to a human health problem.

A translational research program is the process of working back and forth between studies in the laboratory and the clinical setting. It’s a two-way street. Most researchers work in one aspect or another. We are attempting to bridge the two approaches, but it takes a multidisciplinary team.”

Smith and her collaborators have several projects taking that approach to problems afflicting the health of millions of people. One project looks at how the human body copes with chronic states of inflammation and their role in conditions such as osteoporosis.

“One of the studies we’ve been working on has been a long-term study with Native American women,” Smith says. “It’s a two-year project started in 2007 that follows 300 Native American women.”

Other professors in the department collaborate similarly.

Combining expertise

From left: Brenda Smith, Edralin Lucas and Nancy Betts

Edralin Lucas looks at functional foods and runs her own translational research projects, including one for the National Mango Board on the fruit’s effects on body composition in obese people. Her interests are in seeing how certain foods can help prevent or delay the development of chronic disease such as heart disease.

“Drugs might have some side effects,” Lucas says. “With the active components from food there aren’t as many side effects. And they’re cheaper, too, than drugs.”

The mango project, begun in 2007, was in its human study phase at press time, but it began in mice, Lucas says. Researchers fed the mice high-fat diets supplemented with mango and compared their body fat with others on the same diet but with a diabetes drug instead of mangos. The results indicated mango was as effective at reducing body fat and improving blood sugar as the diabetes drug but had none of the drug’s side effects, such as bone loss.

Like Smith’s osteoporosis projects, Lucas’ research projects wouldn’t be possible were it not for the contributions of her colleagues Smith, Stephen Clarke from the OSU nutrition department, OU’s Stanley Lightfoot and Penny Perkins-Veazie from North Carolina State University.

With their expertise combined, they could look at the health benefits of food and try to understand how it works using an entire spectrum of the experimental approach, such as from cells to animals to humans.

The work is part of dozens of studies within the department and others within the College of Human Sciences that focus on helping people live better lives.

M att Elliott

gary lawson / University Marketing

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MEASURING Fit matters in many ways to new department head Kathleen Robinette was one of the speakers at the TedxOStateU event in November.

By Laura crutcher

Kathleen Robinette, the newly appointed department head of Design, Housing and Merchandising in the College of Human Sciences at Oklahoma State University, has improved and possibly even saved lives with her leadership in anthropometry, the study of human body measurements.

During her three-decade career with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Robinette created groundbreaking technologies that improved the fit of more than just apparel and environmental spaces. Oxygen masks, helmets, harnesses, body armor, anti-gravity suits and biological and chemical suits all fit better thanks to her work. That’s especially important, given that any of these items not fitting well could prove hazardous or even deadly. phil shockley / University Marketing

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Her goal as new department head is to utilize her research in

A cooperative research and development agreement between

the technology of fit mapping, 3-D

the Air Force lab’s Human

scanners and motion capture in

Effectiveness Directorate and the

curriculum development so students

Society of Automotive Engineers

can see safer, more effective

International led Robinette and her

product development.

group to partner with 35 organiza-

“I determined there must be a

tions such as Gap Inc., Levi Strauss

better way to measure people than

& Co., Boeing Co., John Deere and

with sticks and tape measures,”

Ford to provide thousands of 3-D

she says. Robinette should know:

human models that are used world-

She brought the world’s first

wide for engineering many types of

three-dimensional human head

products.

measurement scanner to fruition in

The Federal Laboratory

1985, followed by the first 3-D whole

Consortium for Technology Transfer

body scanner in 1993.

(FLC) honored CAESAR with a 2008

Robinette began collecting 3-D anthropometric data and initiated a whole body human measurement survey known as CAESAR, the Civilian American and European Surface Anthropometry

Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer.

Going global In 2006, Robinette founded an international non-profit organiza-

18- to 65-year-old North Americans

tion known as WEAR (World Engineering Anthropometry Resource), which stores a growing

and Europeans of various sizes and

database of engineering, anthro-

proportions, plus it offered menu-

pometry and fit data for design use.

accessible measurements of each

Scientists desiring better fit and

Resource. The first of its kind, CAESAR cataloged 3-D scans of

subject.

function in nearly anything worn or used in one’s environment can access the complete, raw, highquality data at a fraction of the cost of less complete sets of data.

Robinette’s early goal for the global user consortium, which is based in France, was to prove that 3-D human body cases lead to better ergonomic designs than statistical percentiles. continues

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“I determined there must be a better way to measure people than with sticks and tape measures.” — Kathleen Robinette

Kathleen Robinette wants to make airliner seats wider so traveling long distances in the air isn’t hazardous to one’s health. “I personally know two people who have died from blood clots they got from long flights,” she says.

gary lawson / University Marketing

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gary lawson / University Marketing

“Case methods are reality-based rather than statistics-based mathematical constructs,” Robinette says. “Using cases, you select a whole person based on their particular combination of body dimensions and what’s important for your design.”

At least one of Robinette’s most important inventions didn’t involve advanced technology but rather targeting and designing for consumers. With traditional implements — calipers and tape measures — Robinette developed the fit-mapping method, which is used to effectively size products during product development.

In 1989, the Navy was having significant trouble with women’s dress uniforms fitting well. Approximately 75 percent of Navy women had to have major alterations, usually in the shoulder or hip area, at a cost of $200-$250 out of their own pocket.

“The Navy had added some sizes to try to fit more women, and they really just asked us how to get the right size,” Robinette says. “But my Navy colleague believed they needed a better sizing system.

“In apparel they grade for 8, 10, 12. If the waist grades up an inch, the bust goes up an inch, but that’s not the ratio in which people actually grow in size.”

Robinette explained how, when designers size in that way, they’re missing “huge proportions” of their market.

She coined the term “fit mapping,” which simply means mapping to one’s target market.

In this case, Robinette discovered that the most common need was for a uniform with a few more inches in the hip. Robinette coined the phrase “plus hip,” a size with the same waist but a hip two to three inches larger. The Navy began calling it “women’s,” a term now commonly used. Robinette and her team also came up with a fit offering a slender, more boyish hip. By dropping duplicate sizes and replacing them with alternate shapes, the Navy ended up with the same number of sizes. And the number of Navy women who could get a good fit without costly alterations went from 25 percent to 99 percent.

Robinette says, “That’s the first time anyone had done any kind of study like this, where they actually determined which bodies fit in which sizes and used that information to alter the assortment of sizes to optimize their target market — in this case, the Navy.”

Flying goal Anthropometrics is important to all areas in which one lives, works and moves. In that vein, one of Robinette’s goals is to get airlines to widen their seats enough that passengers can move.

“The poor fit on commercial airlines is kind of a mission for me,” she says. “I want to change that.”

Most airline seats fit poorly in two ways, she says. First, limited legroom means passengers can’t move around in the seats to keep the blood flowing.

Deep vein thrombosis is a real and serious risk on long flights.

“I personally know two people who have died from blood clots they got from long flights,” Robinette says. The second problematic area with airline seating, she says, is the width.

“Many people design for 5th percentile (small) female and 95th percentile (large) male, assuming women are smaller and that this will accommodate 90-95 percent of the people,” Robinette says. And so, using that measurement for men, airlines make their seats 17 inches wide — yet 25 percent of women have wider hip breadth than that. “That means one in every four women is wider than the seat,” she says, adding, “Not having room to move affects not only you but also the person next to you.”

Ironically, for men the problem is even worse because the width of the hips is not the widest part of the seated male body. “The widest part of the male seated body is the shoulders.

The 17-inch seat width accommodates only 3 percent of men in the United States. Ninety-seven percent of men are broader in the shoulders. When you consider that the people next to these men are also affected, it is reasonable to conclude that 100 percent of the passengers on a full flight are affected by poor fit.”

So what does this all mean for the future of design, housing and merchandising on the OSU campus?

The department is home to the DHM Product Design and Testing Laboratory, which includes most of the technology and tools Robinette helped to develop and use in worldwide research initiatives.

Kathleen Robinette works with more than apparel over fit issues.

A firefighter’s helmet is a vital piece of his equipment and must fit correctly to give him as much protection as possible.

“I think we have a lot of new technology (3-D scanning, motion capture, fit mapping) that people are not using,” she says. “So one of the things I want to do here is figure out how to get it into our curriculum and our research and help our faculty.”

Robinette is a fellow of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society and the Air Force Research Laboratory and serves on the National Academies Board on Research Data and Information. Some of her many honors include the Air Force Meritorious Civilian Service Award, Director’s Excellence Award from the Air Force Materiel Command Public Affairs, Outstanding Scientist Award from the Affiliate Societies Council, the Arch T. Colwell Award from the Society of Automotive Engineers, the Women in Government Award from Good Housekeeping magazine and the Outstanding Alumnus Award from Wright State University.

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Joseph Grzywacz, director of the Center for Family Resilience at OSUTulsa, has a vision for the institution: “My goal is that the center become internationally recognized as the premier laboratory for translational family science.�

gary lawson / University Marketing

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mission:

strengthening

families

Tulsa center aims to create real-world solutions for all situations To lead the field in applied interdisciplinar y scholarship focused on reducing risk and enhancing resilience within individuals and among families across cultures and generations.

That’s more than a mouthful — it’s the mission of the College of Human Sciences’ Department of Human Development and Family Science.

The department fulfills its mission through instruction, fostering and promoting critical thinking, conducting research and translating research results into practical applications — making knowledge that’s useful today.

A key asset to realizing the mission of the College of Human Sciences as well as the department is the Center for Family Resilience at OSU-Tulsa, established in 2009 with support from the George Kaiser Family Foundation. The center uses family science to make the basic unit of modern society stronger, says Joseph G. Grzywacz, the center’s director and the George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair of Family Resilience.

“Everyone wants strong families — families where the kids flourish and thrive and where members have close meaningful relationships,” Grzywacz says. “The challenge is realizing that goal, especially when families are in challenging circumstances like poverty or unemployment.”

Grzywacz, who took leadership of the center in July 2012, says its faculty affiliates work with advisory boards and community partners from the Tulsa area to use research to create real-world solutions.

“The hope is we’ll create local solutions with national implications,” Grzywacz says.

Accordingly, a big part of the center’s focus is making sense of the messiness of everyday lives to find approaches that work for different people in different situations. For example, most people know their kids need nutritious foods and a good night’s sleep, Grzywacz says, but doing what you know is best is very challenging when you’re a single mom working two jobs that include a swing shift.

“Research published in scientific journals is fine, but that research needs to be transformed into solutions that work for everyone, including the single mom working two jobs. That is the work of the center.

“My goal is that the center become internationally recognized as the premier laboratory for translational family science,” Grzywacz says.

The center will work with departments and colleges outside the College of Human Sciences to achieve its goals, including psychology and sociology (College of Arts and Sciences), management (Spears School of Business) and the Center for Health Sciences.

Grzywacz, recently named a fellow by the National Council on Family Relations, has a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in child and family studies and a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in human and community resources, as well as two years of post-doctoral work at the University of California-Irvine in the School of Social Ecology.

Grzywacz has published more than 170 articles in scientific journals.

His article titled “Work, Family and Mental Health: Testing Different Models of Work-Family Fit,” is one of the top-cited articles from the Journal of Marriage and Family. He is an associate editor of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology and sits on the editorial board of the journals Family Relations and Human Relations.

M att Elliott

“Research published in scientific journals is fine, but that research needs to be transformed into solutions that work for everyone, including the single mom working two jobs. That is the work of the center.”

— Joseph Grzywacz, director

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a life-changing JOURNEY to Kenya all Photos Provided

Tara Newton and Brittany Breece visit with children in the Mount Angel School in Nairobi, Kenya.

Oklahoma State University’s College of Human Sciences is offering students a studyabroad experience in

Kenya that is changing

participants’ lives.

The students grow intellectually, emotionally and even spiritually. The influences of staying in the homes of their Kenyan hosts; battling the traffic of Nairobi, the cobras of Kitui or a brokendown bus in the wilds of Tsavo West; experiencing the spirit of children of Nyumbani Village orphaned by AIDS; or immersing themselves in the culture of places such as Mombasa.

Human Sciences faculty members accompany the students during the study-abroad program, which is part of a partnership with Kenyatta University.

The students who traveled in 2011 and 2012 are sharing their photographs and reflections on their journey to East Africa here.

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Taylor Fletcher gets personal with a giraffe.

“Traveling to different Kenyan towns, experiencing true diversity and seeing such a proud and beautiful culture had a different impact on everyone who went. For me, I didn’t just leave Kenya when the trip was over. I left new experiences, new friends and a small piece of my heart.”

— Carrie Grove

“This trip was a huge step outside of my comfort zone, and I needed to know if what I’ve always been told about such an extreme place was actually true. Surprisingly, the theory about Africa being a deserted land was false. I found more than just interesting people and intriguing events. I found out more about my limits as an individual and learned about the type of character I wish to achieve.” — Jessica Lowe

“Not only did we get to learn in the classroom, both in Kenya and Oklahoma, but we also learned through our experiences while traveling. … Kenya is a beautiful country and the Kenyan people are truly fascinating. Through them and this experience, my outlook on life, my relationships with others, and the way I view our world in general has been changed. I’ll carry this experience with me forever.” — Sarah Abuali “It was three weeks that I was thrilled, inspired, terrified, encouraged, grateful, sad, overwhelmed, thankful and so much more. Kenya wasn’t just a trip. It was a lifechanging experience.” — Amanda Bartlett

“Nyumbani Village told such a remarkable tale of heartbreak and perseverance, and I truly believe that many of us left inspired and motivated to truly look at what is important in life.” — Carrie Grove

“I achieved what I wanted to from this trip and that was to challenge myself in the best and worst of times and also to make many new friends and change lives for the better.” — Larissa Clark

Amanda Bartlett and Amy Wallace meet orphans at the AIDS orphanage in the village of Nyumbani in Kitui, Kenya.

“We learned how they make paper out of elephant dung. That’s right, they make paper out of elephant waste.” — Amy Wallace

college of human sciences

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Through a series of lessons, the curriculum promotes four basic preventative health habits: m a i n ta i n i n g a l o w - f at d i e t, consuming high-fiber foods, d r i n k i n g p l e n t y o f w at e r photography By todd johnson / agricultural communications

“We know that healthy children learn better and grow into more productive citizens.”

— Debra Garrard Foster

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OrganWise Guys program helps students learn healthy choices

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encourage kids to make positive choices that will help them lead healthier lives, which will positively impact our state in meaningful ways for years to come.”

Extension is offering the popular, award-winning children’s program for a fourth straight year, thanks to a partnership with BlueCross BlueShield of Oklahoma (BCBSOK) and its Healthy Kids, Healthy Families initiative. 4-H and Oklahoma Department of Human Services’ SNAP-ED also are key partners in the OrganWise Guys effort in the state, allowing more children to benefit from the educational program.

“BCBSOK is really focused on improving the lives and health of kids,” says Brooke Townsend, manager of BCBSOK’s Caring Foundation. “What’s been great about our partnership with OSU is the comprehensive approach Extension has taken, the evaluation piece they implemented and the fact that we can reach kids statewide. New schools are being added every year.

We’re excited about the history, but we’re also excited about the expansion.”

OrganWise Guys utilizes a comprehensive approach and involves all aspects of a school, including health officials, food service, counselors and teachers.

The OrganWise Guys program is evaluated with reports by teacher observations for pre-K through second grades and before-and-after tests for third through fifth grades. Out of 41 schools, 25 reported the results from testing 2,054 students in the third, fourth and fifth grades.

In seven of the 11 measures, there was a significant shift in the proportion of students choosing healthier behaviors. More children reported they increased their fruit and skim milk servings, as well as their levels of physical activity.

Jacob Offolter (from left), Michelle Lombardo, Misty Benham, Valerie Benham and Amanda Crozier participate in the OrganWise Guys program.

In the fall of 2012, the initiative welcomed eight new and 25 returning schools. The additions translate into an increase of 98 classes and approximately 1,900 students who will participate in OrganWise Guys’ research-based curriculum compared with 2011-12. Overall, program administrators anticipate reaching approximately 9,100 students in more than 400 classrooms across the state in 2012-13.

“The goal of OrganWise Guys is to empower children to be smart from the inside out,” says Atlanta-based OrganWise Guys co-founder Michelle Lombardo, who spoke at the orientation this year. “Although nutrition and wellness are the themes throughout the program, there’s also character education. It’s a really holistic approach for the child to live a healthy, prosperous, long life.”

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Todd Johnson / Agricultural Communications Services

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More than 9,000 Oklahoma elementary school students are expected to benefit this year from OrganWise Guys, a highly interactive nutrition education program offered through the Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service.

Promoting healthy eating and physical activity habits to pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade students, the OrganWise Guys program uses a cast of characters based on organs from the body such as Hardy Heart and the brain-inspired Sir Rebrum to encourage children to eat foods that are low in fat and high in fiber, drink water and exercise.

Lessons vary by grade level and correlate to Oklahoma’s state educational standards.

“We know that healthy children learn better and grow into more productive citizens,” says Debra Garrard Foster, Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension assistant specialist. “OrganWise Guys

a n d e n g a g i n g i n r e g u l a r p h y s i c a l a c t i v i t y.

Photos / Kali Begalka

The other honored alum,

Dr. Jane Schuchardt ,

Distinguished Alumna Bea Paul and College of Human Sciences Dean Stephan M. Wilson

Honoring our oWN

The College of Human Sciences recently honored two distinguished alumnae and three rising stars.

Distinguished alum Bea Paul recently retired as a job developer for Autry Technology Center in Enid, Okla., where she promoted student employment by fostering partnerships with employers as well as job readiness training for students.

Paul received the Association for Career and Technical Education’s (ACTE) National Educator of the Year award in 2010. She was named the ACTE Region IV Educator of the Year in 2009 and Oklahoma ACTE Educator of the Year in 2008. She received her bachelor’s degree in home economics education in 1962.

is the national executive director of Cooperative Extension in Washington, D.C., where she works with extension directors and administrators nationwide to maintain and increase federal appropriations, provide visibility for exemplary programming and create federal partnerships to benefit local and online extension programming.

For three decades, she has provided national leadership to the land-grant and cooperative extension services, serving as a national program leader for Family and Consumer Economics at the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture in Washington. Prior to earning her master’s degree in consumer studies in 1979 from the design, housing and merchandising department in the College of Human Sciences, Schuchardt received a bachelor’s degree in consumer journalism from the University of Nebraska.

She completed her doctorate in family and consumer economics at Iowa State University in 1985.

Dr. Jane Schuchardt

Another rising star, Caroline House, received her bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant administration in 2008. She is working at Marriott International’s western south central sales office as the senior sales manager for group and catering sales. House has won numerous service awards from Marriott, including the 2012 Golden Circle, based on individual revenue goals, room nights goal and event satisfaction surveys. In 2011, she received the Marriott International Sales Star award for overall performance within the western south central sales office. Industry professionals also nominated her for 2011 manager of the year.

Rising star Emily Fuhrman graduated in 2004 with a degree in design, housing and merchandising. Advancing rapidly through the apparel design and production industry in New York City, Fuhrman has served as the product development and production manager for Cece’s as well as working in marketing, production and sales for the House of Wu and as a buyer for Purdy Girl. She is currently the production manager and designer for Leota New York, where she is responsible for designing, developing and merchandising collections and managing production. Fuhrman currently serves the OSU Alumni Association as president of the New York City Chapter.

Emily Fuhrman (left), Dr. Aaron Wilcox and Caroline House were all recognized as rising stars recently.

The third rising star, Dr. Aaron Wilcox , received his bachelor’s degree in nutritional sciences in 2004, graduating summa cum laude. Wilcox earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine from OSU’s Center for Health Sciences in 2008.

During his residency at OSU Medical Center, he was named family medicine chief resident for 2010 – 2011. Wilcox ranked second nationally on the required in-service exam and was named Good Samaritan volunteer physician. He currently practices family medicine at Kay County Family Medicine in Ponca City, Okla., and volunteers at the Community Clinic there.

Since 2008 — Total Goal by 12.31.14 :: $40 million Results as of 12.11.12 :: $36.24 million [90.6% of goal] Student Support :: $12.67 million [38 new scholarships] Faculty Support :: $1.76 million [1 new chair & 3 new professorships] Facility Support :: $3.93 million Program Support :: $17.88 million

College of Human Sciences Oklahoma State University 101 Human Sciences Stillwater, OK 74078-6116 (405) 744-5063 telephone (405) 744-7113 facsimile humansciences.okstate.edu online OSU Foundation

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OSU President Burns Hargis, (from left) Ken Levit of the George Kaiser Family Foundation, Dr. Joe Grzywacz and Dean Stephan M. Wilson are shown during a medallion ceremony for donors and faculty.