College of Human Sciences Magazine - 2017 Edition

2017 Edition

The official magazine of the College of Human Sciences at Oklahoma State University

BLAZING

NEW TRAILS HIGH-TECH NEW WING OFFERS UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES

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Active Aging OSU experts join researchers around the world to raise awareness that aging well begins when we are young.

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Shining Bright

DHM students received the experience of a lifetime when they traveled to New York City to accept their $5,000 scholarships and meet with fashion industry leaders.

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The Power of Sleep

Human development and family science researcher links poor sleep quality in adolescents to learning difficulties and academic success.

TYLER VAN ARSDALE

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Giving Kids a Head Start

Amanda Sheffield Morris studies family systems to impact the success of students from the early years through their young adult lives.

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The Road Less Traveled

PHIL SHOCKLEY/UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Hotel and restaurant administration alumna, Jan Montgomery, becomes the newest member of the College of Human Sciences Hall of Fame.

Rooms with a View Andrew Mungul utilizes his hotel and restaurant administration degree as corporate director of business development operations for Coury Hospitality.

Cooking for Kids

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COVER STORY

Blazing New Trails

The college celebrates the opening of state-of-the-art facilities in the newly constructed north wing.

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 H U M A N S C I E N C E S C O M M U N I C AT I O N S M A N A G E R

Deana Hildebrand serves as project director for a program training cafeteria staff in Oklahoma schools to offer healthier meals for students.

Juntos Works

JOSEPH MILLS PHOTOGRAPHY

Tierra Eller COPY EDITOR Lindy Knowles QUICK-DRAW DESIGN, ART DIRECTOR Phil Shockley PHOTOGRAPHY

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Unique program expands its impact on Latino students and their families in Oklahoma.

TODD JOHNSON/AGRICULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS

Berries with a Vision

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Nutritional sciences research provides evidence that wolfberries may be effective in delaying or preventing retinal degeneration.

Gary Lawson

Todd Johnson

H u m a n S c i e n c e s m a g a z i n e is a publication of the ­O klahoma State University College of H ­ uman Sciences. Its purpose is to c ­ onnect this college with its many stakeholders, providing information on both ­c ampus news and pertinent issues in the field of human sciences. © Oklahoma State University 2017

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 University Printing Services. at a cost of $4,900.00. 3,500/Feb/17.

COURTESY DANIEL LIN 15% PCW SOY INK

It has been a long time coming, but I am delighted to let you know the new North Wing of the College of Human Sciences building is officially open!

PHIL SHOCKLEY/UNIVERSITY MARKETING

from the

DEAN’S OFFICE

Seventy years ago plans were unveiled for the College’s new building on what was then the west edge of campus. The building design included three wings connected on a central corridor in the shape of an “E,” but budgetary issues allowed for only two wings to be completed in 1951. In the several decades since, we have tried to accomplish something akin to the original intention but were frustrated each time.

As the 2016-2017 academic year began, the third wing opened. Sixty-five years after the south and (now) middle wing were opened, the North Wing provides facilities and technologies for development and growth for the future. Faculty, students and our community partners will be able to accomplish things that we could only dream of until now.

The enhancements are not limited to the North Wing. The reconfigured entrance between the south and middle wings is a delightful space now. The traditional front entrance of the building was opened up by removing fencing and barrier shrubs.

Wide paths, broad steps and ramps provide multiple ways to access the doors. An elevated circular space paved with bricks arranged to depict the OSU Tartan Plaid is designed to be used as a gathering place for not only Human Sciences students, faculty and staff, but also the OSU community as well. Large trees and other natural

landscaping materials create a park-like space that has already proved quite popular for meetings, conversations and quiet repose. This bucolic setting for meditation, conversation or for relaxation may also serve as a kind of ‘outdoor room’ for classes, clubs or events as yet untried such as weddings and receptions.

The new design of the Human Sciences front door created a more visible entrance to the building and a beautiful natural environment for OSU students, faculty, staff and visitors.

Construction is not the only exciting news we have to share with you. In this edition you will learn about important research that will improve the health and wellbeing for Oklahomans and people around the world.

From its humble beginnings in the basement of Old Central to the spectacular new North Wing, the College continues to blaze new trails in adding to the knowledge of the world through research, teaching and community engagement.

I hope you will stop by and take a look at the new spaces. Let me know when you are coming, and I will be happy to give you a personal tour.

S T EP HAN M . W I L S O N , D E A N

Nutritional Sciences’ Leslie Farias named Outstanding Senior at OSU Leslie Farias, a nutritional sciences senior in the College of Human Sciences, was named a 2016 Outstanding Senior by the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association.

The Outstanding Senior award recognizes seniors who excel in academic achievement; are involved in campus and community activities; and have received academic, athletic or extra-curricular honors or scholarships while at OSU. Farias was involved with a multitude of community service programs during her time at OSU. She participated in the Retention Initiative for Student Excellence program her freshman year, and the Inclusion Leadership program her sophomore year, where she mentored first generation students, like herself, in the transition from high school to college. She also was named a Hispanic Caucus Institute-United Health Foundation GARY LAWSON/UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Scholar her junior year, which allowed her to serve as a medical intern in an underserved community clinic.

“My success at OSU was realizing that my future knows no bounds,” Farias said.

“I have had different types of success while at OSU,” she said. “I would say that the best one would be that OSU allowed me to see myself as a person who succeeds.”

After graduation, Farias enrolled in the Physician Associate Program at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center with an interest in emergency medicine and orthopedic surgery.

The OSU Alumni Association Student Awards and Selection Committee chose 15 seniors to receive the Outstanding Senior award from a pool of 49 Seniors of Significance selected in the fall of 2015.

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ActiveAging OSU aging experts dish out L.I.F.E. lessons

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irst, the bad news. There is no fountain of youth and you’re probably going to have to do more than eat an apple a day to keep the good old doctor away. But, it turns out we’re not left completely defenseless against the march of time as there’s growing evidence that one of the keys to aging gracefully lies in starting that journey when we’re young.

It’s called active aging and a group of Oklahoma State University experts is joining researchers around the world raising awareness of the concept.

“Active aging is staying engaged in life in a number of different ways, but primarily keeping your independence as much as possible, remaining fit both physically and mentally, and staying engaged socially in your world, whether it’s with your religious organization or with family members,” said Emily Roberts, assistant professor in the OSU Department of Design, Housing and Merchandising.

Roberts heads up the OSU-Alliance on Aging, a group of faculty in the OSU College of Human Sciences who are researching different aspects of aging.

Faculty from each of the college’s departments – DHM, Human Development and Family Science, School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration and Nutritional Sciences – is represented within the organization, which was formally established in January with help from a one-year seed grant from the college.

AoA members plan to learn more about each other’s work and seek out

opportunities to collaborate on projects in the future.

“We also want to help the state and the people we serve to understand what kinds of resources we have to offer,” said Mary Ruppert-Stroescu, assistant professor of apparel design and textile science and OSU Cooperative Extension apparel design and textile specialist.

Among AoA’s first fruits is the Active Aging for L.I.F.E. public health initiative, which is designed to encourage improved outcomes across the lifespans of all Oklahomans in four core areas – longevity, independence, fitness and engagement.

As part of the initiative, this spring, the AoA hosted the Active Aging for L.I.F.E. Series, a 4-week speakers’ series that drew a mix of older adults 65 and over as well as young people ranging in age from 18 to 25.

“Aging is not a thing that happens down the road. The things we do today impact how we are 10 years from now and two or three decades from now. That kind of awareness is what we’re trying to focus on, particularly with students,” Roberts said.

Although most people recognize the truth behind the old saying that life isn’t a dress rehearsal, the sentiment can become easily lost in the blur of daily living. This makes the AoA and other deliberate efforts to keep the idea top of mind so valuable.

“There’s always that question that you can ask people what active aging is, but no one really thinks about it on a daily basis,” said Devin Davis, a junior nutrition major at OSU, who attended all four sessions of

Aging is not a thing that happens down the road. The things we do today will impact how we are 10 years from now and two or three decades from now.

– Emily Roberts, assistant professor, design, housing and merchandising 2

2017 EDITION

the speakers’ series. “Before this speakers’ series, I thought I had a good idea, but the more you go to these sessions, the more you realize you don’t know as much as you thought you did.”

The session on longevity made the deepest impression on Davis, but she said each presentation has sparked her to make little changes, such as trying to incorporate more exercise and becoming more involved in clubs to which she holds membership.

Meanwhile, a trio of older adults – Helen Roby, Carol Duckwall and Sue Wilkey – who sat in on each session said they weren’t sure what to expect when they agreed to attend.

“For me, all the things they talked about are things I already knew to do, it’s just I haven’t done them. It’s reminding us,” Roby said.

Duckwall agreed. “It’s pulled together many things we’ve studied on our own and read about, like exercise, eating right and keeping your mind busy.”

“This is another nice thing. We met each other,” Wilkey added, noting that she and Duckwall know each other from the fitness center, but had met Roby through the speakers’ series. “I think being involved with people, it does lift your day.”

Data from the World Health Organization indicates that while healthy aging begins at birth with our genetic inheritance, only about 25 percent of diversity in longevity can be explained by genetic factors.

The rest is tied to social, personal and

OSU-ALLIANCE ON AGING

physical environmental factors such as sex, ethnicity, occupation, home, community, education level and socioeconomic status.

It is in this context that the relatively new concept of active aging is gaining traction worldwide.

“We’re increasing our longevity, the amount of years we live, but for me, I want to live long, but I want to be healthy,” Ruppert-Stroescu said. “I would like my children, students and all young people to realize this is important much earlier.”

In seconding her colleague’s comments, Roberts noted the number of people 65 and

older, as well as those 80 and older, is going to almost double by 2030.

“The students now are going to be in a society where they’re going to need to understand the implications of people living longer and what that means socially, in terms of policy, medical issues, all those things,” she said. “This really comes down to quality of life at all stages.”

Looking ahead, the AoA recorded each of the sessions in its speakers’ series and, in addition to posting the videos to the organization website, the group also will share the resource with Extension

educators to use as the basis for future projects and workshops.

Longer term, the AoA hopes to eventually expand its reach statewide with the help of additional grant funding.

“I think one of the main things is education, knowing what your options are and knowing what you can and can’t do alone,” said Ruppert-Stroescu.

For more information about the AoA, future events and links to aging related topics and resources, visitallianceonaging. okstate.edu.

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LEI LAN A MC K I N D R A

Dean Stephan Wilson and Norma Codding attended the first session on L.I.F.E. lessons. The Active Aging for L.I.F.E. Series featured four speakers who focused on improving the longevity, independence, fitness and engagement of Oklahomans.

JULIE BARNARD/HUMAN SCIENCES

COLLEGE OF HUMAN SCIENCES

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Shining Bright

DHM students earn national recognition

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n January 2017, four College of Human Sciences’ design, housing and merchandising students received the experience of a lifetime when they were chosen to each receive a $5,000 scholarship from the Fashion Scholarship Fund.

Merchandising students Natalie Berg, junior, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Jessica Hoover, junior, Stillwater, Oklahoma; Lauren Walker, sophomore, Fort Smith, Arkansas; and apparel design and production student Sierra Winrow, senior, Oklahoma City, were among 225 scholarship recipients who were honored at at the Geoffrey Beene National Scholarship Awards Dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.

While the students’ accomplishments are certainly impressive, the fact that they are among 17 DHM students who have won 19 scholarships in the past five years speaks to the caliber of the OSU apparel design and merchandisng programs.

The rigorous application process for the scholarship begins when students are assigned case studies focused on a fashion company looking for strategic growth opportunities. Using the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis, the applicants must demonstrate creative thinking, research and strong written communication skills to be successful. Merchandising students are then asked to produce a six-month buying plan and design students must create a product line for the company.

Selected by some of the top names in fashion, winning students receive not only the scholarship, but also industry mentors and opportunities for internships with national and international companies.

Each scholar is paired with a mentor who provides career guidance, industry insights and introductions to their elite professional networks through ongoing communication and in-person meetings.

Two-time recipient and 2016 graduate, Brooke Begalka received FSF scholarships in 2015 and 2016. Returning to New York meant more the second time around for her.

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2017 EDITION

“The first scholarship helped me to get my summer internship,” Begalka said.

“I used the scholarship to fund my entire summer in New York City because I had an unpaid internship. If I didn’t have the scholarship, there was no way I would have been able to live in New York.

“Also, I think it helped round me as a person in the industry,” Begalka, who is now a product development assistant at Anthropolgie, said. “I was a merchandising student, but I competed in the design part of the scholarship so it opened different opportunities that I wouldn’t have had any other time.”

Diane Limbaugh, apparel design and production clinical instructor said to have 19 total awards in such a short time, speaks to the quality of the program.

“This year our students competed with 569 other students from around the nation this year, and were among only 229 selected,” Limbaugh said.

“The entire FSF program - from the scholarship and mentors to the internship and job fair - sets the students up to be successful in any setting they decide to pursue,” she said. “Alumnae from our program who received the scholarships are making names for themselves in the fashion industry through the connections they made at FSF.” One of the 2017 recipients, Lauren Walker, is the first sophomore from OSU to receive the award. Using Macy’s and Etsy as clients, she developed a six-month merchandising plan featuring selected items from an Etsy vendor that Macy’s stores could sell in their brick and mortar stores.

“I learned so much about the fashion industry as a whole during this week (in New York City),” Walker said. “What I really learned was that you have to be willing to put yourself out there. I was surrounded by very important people in the fashion industry during the cocktail hour and gala and it was very intimidating.

Well, the CEOs and presidents all started out where I am now, and they know how hardworking I am because I received this

COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO

Top: Diane Limbaugh and Brooke Begalka are pictured during the 2016 YMA-FSF Gala.

Bottom: Natalea Berg, Lauren Walker, Jessica Hoover and Sierra Winrow are ready to attend the 2017 YMA-Fashion Scholarship Fund Gala.

scholarship. They actually wanted to talk to me and that gave me the confidence to put myself out there.”

Celebrating 80 years of support to young people interested in fashion industry careers, the 2017 Fashion Scholarship Fund awarded a record $1.3 million in scholarships this year. The FSF is a national non-profit association consisting of influential members of the fashion community committed to recruiting, nurturing and cultivating the best students from its member schools, so they can become the next generation of leaders in the fashion industry.

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The

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Power of Sleep HDFS professor investigates how sleep predicts adolescents’ success

leep is essential for promoting positive outcomes during adolescence and across the lifespan. Indeed, chronic sleep deficiency has been identified as a key predictor of a variety of physical and mental health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, diabetes, depression and substance abuse.

College of Human Sciences Associate Professor in human development and family science Michael Criss believes poor sleep quality impacts adolescents’ potential for academic success as it has been linked to learning difficulties.

“Given the physical and neurological transformations, sleep may be especially critical during adolescence,” Criss said.

“I am interested in how adolescents’ relationships with their friends and parents impact their sleep.”

Criss used a sample of 171 girls ranging in age from 12-16 years who came from families with an average yearly income of little more than $27, 000. During daily telephone interviews, the adolescents reported sleeping on average 7.89 hours per night. Participants slept nine hours or more only 30 percent of the time. As expected, they slept more on weekends than on weekdays. Although there was some variation in the amount of sleep the adolescents got each night, the daily and overall weekly averages were significantly

less than the 9-10 hours of sleep suggested by many health organizations.

Criss wanted to investigate whether peer and parent involvement and openness were related to the number of hours the adolescents slept during the two-week reporting period.

“If the adolescents had warm and open relationships with their parents and spent a lot of time with them, they tended to have good sleeping habits, at least with respect to total hours slept,” Criss said.

However, the results from the peer relationships were more complicated. When adolescents had open communication and warm and close relationships with their friends, they tended to get less sleep.

“I think it’s possible that teens who have open and warm relationships with their friends are probably texting their friends a lot at night, which is decreasing the amount of sleep that they get each night,” he said.

As one would expect, adolescents who slept more each night tended to be less depressed and do better in school.

High levels of adolescent sleep were related to low levels of depressive symptoms and high levels of school grades, but only among adolescent currently going through puberty. In other words, sleep may be especially important during puberty.

He is now examining the link between texting and bed time. In preliminary

analyses using a sample of 13-16 year-old girls and boys and their parents, Criss collected assessed sleep, media use and texting through daily telephone interviews over seven days. In this sample, he found that some adolescents were sending and receiving around 400-600 texts across the seven days. Moreover, time and duration for texting peaked on Friday nights, which was accompanied by poor sleep.

“Adolescents going to bed after 1 a.m. reported significantly higher levels of total texts compared to youth going to bed at 9-11 and 11-1, respectively,” Criss said. “Although these are just preliminary findings, they suggest that adolescents who spend many hours in the evening watching TV, playing video games, and texting tend to sleep less and have later bed times.”

He expects the information learned from this and upcoming projects will inform future intervention and prevention programs focusing on adolescent electronic communication, parent-teen relationships and adolescent sleep.

“Concentrating on these critical issues may decrease antisocial behavior during adolescence. Effective intervention programs also may decrease the amount of money the state spends on incarceration and mental health treatment,” Criss said.

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COLLEGE OF HUMAN SCIENCES

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HeadStart

PHIL SHOCKLEY/UNIVERSITY MARKETING

GIVING KIDS A

Morris works to improve family, school and community relationships for youth

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manda Sheffield Morris believes the entire family system should be understood in order to affect the success of students from the early years through their young adult lives. She has had an interest in emotional development and the factors that affect adjustment and resilience since her undergraduate studies.

As the Bryan Close Endowed Chair in Early Childhood Development in the College of Human Sciences, Morris’ research focuses on disadvantaged, high-risk families and children during important transitions in their lives. While much attention has been placed on early 6

2017 EDITION

education and its role in school readiness, Morris believes young children’s socialemotional development is the key to success and is accomplished by creating supportive family environments.

That passion has led Morris to be the principal investigator on six current projects studying the well-being of children, youth and their families primarily in the Tulsa area where she lives and works at OSU in Tulsa.

Partnering with two Tulsa area providers of quality childcare, Morris and her team are evaluating and providing program development expertise for the

Community Action Project’s (CAP) Head Start and Early Head Start Centers, and Tulsa Educare.

Morris is currently studying the effectiveness of dual-generation education programs directed by Tulsa County’s Community Action Project.

CAP’s CareerAdvance® program supports the career-development of lowincome parents while their preschool children are enrolled in Early Head Start and Head start centers. The program is the subject of a multi-methods evaluation, the Family Life Study, which includes implementation, outcomes, and impacts.

Led by researchers at the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University, the Ray Marshall Center at the University of Texas at Austin, Columbia University, and New York University, the study is funded from the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Through a contract with the initial project, Morris is the principal investigator leading data collection, interviews, and focus groups designed to evaluate the effects of the unique workforce development program.

“The Family Advancement Study is exciting to me as a researcher because it is a randomized control trial,” Morris said. “It’s a longitudinal study with multiple waves of data collection. We are following families and a comparison group to provide more accurate information on the success of the program.”

“We have been able to study the impact of dual-generation parent’s perceptions of their involvement and evaluate the effect of the program on the children’s development in such areas as school readiness and socioemotional development.”

Morris points out the many benefits the research projects are making for OSU and its faculty.

“OSU received more than $1.5 million in grants for these projects,” she said.

“Research projects at this level not only provide grant funding and data for publications and presentations, but also opportunities for student training and partnerships with leading researchers in the field.”

Morris is partnering with Dr. Jennifer Hays-Grudo and her research team to evaluate the impact of programs delivered by the Tulsa Children’s Project to children and their parents who attend three Educare Centers in Tulsa.

Working to break the cycle of poverty, Educare provides high-quality early childhood education and care to lowincome families. Several projects are in place that are aimed to improve mental health among parents and staff at the three sites.

“Parent and teacher relationships are important predictors of children’s overall adjustment, with more supportive and less coercive adult-child relationships being more beneficial,” Morris said.

“The Super Parents Program led by the Tulsa Children’s Project improves parenting through training in mindfulness,

stress management, and basic parenting skills, Morris said. “Our research will evaluate the training and impact of positive parenting on the families.”

With funding provided by the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the Centers for Disease Control, Morris is looking forward to evaluating new initiatives TCP is delivering to Educare families.

Morris will also study the effectiveness of Legacy for Children™, a parenting group for pregnant moms developed by the Centers for Disease Control.

“Legacy is a three year program focused on responsive parenting while building a social support system for moms,” Morris said. “We will be able to evaluate a project that prepares families to improve their children’s opportunities for success and make any suggestions to improve its long term impact on Tulsa’s citizens.”

Morris embraces OSU’s and Human Sciences’ land-grant mission of high-quality teaching, – Amanda Sheffield Morris, research and outreach. In addition Bryan Close Endowed Chair to having her book chapters and in Early Childhood Development research journal articles required reading in classes at OSU and other One is a training program for caregivers universities, Morris takes her findings to of infants and young children up to 24 the community by sharing her expertise months known as Attachment and Bioon parenting with cooperative extension behavioral Catch-up (ABC) Intervention. educators and by leading parenting classes Trained-staff conduct home visits over 10 in a variety of settings including community weeks. Sessions help caregivers learn how organizations, preschools, and churches. to respond to children, while developing “It is exciting to bring cutting edge appropriate nurturing skills. early childhood programs and research “We are looking forward to working on to the Tulsa Community,” said Morris.

ABC to see how well it works with high“Partnering with community agencies risk families,” Morris said. allows us to evaluate the impact of these “Research shows that intervening early, programs on a large scale, with the through the family and caregivers, is one goal to take such programs beyond of the best investments we can make to Tulsa to the broader Oklahoma and end the intergenerational transmission of national community.” poverty, putting children on a trajectory for positive development.”

Parent and teacher relationships are important predictors of children’s overall adjustment.

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Amanda Morris interacts with children in one of Tulsa’s Educare sites. Morris is conducting research to evaluate the impact of programs provided for low-income families.

PHIL SHOCKLEY/UNIVERSITY MARKETING

COLLEGE OF HUMAN SCIENCES

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The Road Less Traveled

Montgomery inducted to Human Sciences Hall of Fame

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hen Jan Montgomery completed her bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant administration, she had planned for a career in hospitality. But as most plans go, hers changed course and the state of Oklahoma is the beneficiary of that detour.

The Chanute, Kansas, native arrived in Stillwater because Oklahoma State University had the only program in hospitality administration close to home for her and her husband, Roy, who was also an HRAD student.

After working in food service and hotels for a few years, Montgomery’s career path took a side road to Hugo, Oklahoma when the couple returned to Roy’s roots. Montgomery started working for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services where she was the regional supervisor for Tri-County Manpower Training. She was responsible for developing employment opportunities for low-income people in Choctaw, McCurtain, and Pushmataha counties.

Three years later, Montgomery began a 26-year career with the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service. As an extension home economist, a county extension director and rural development program specialist, Montgomery provided educational leadership on topics from life skills to economic development.

During this time, she earned a master of science in nutritional sciences, then known as food science, nutrition and institutional administration.

In 1986, Montgomery was named the southeast district extension director for OCES. She was the first female ever named to an administrative position at this level in OCES. She provided leadership to 60 professional and 35 paraprofessionals in 19 counties. In addition to administrative duties, her responsibilities included training, program development and procurement of county budgets.

In 1995, Montgomery’s career highway headed north to Stillwater when she was named special assistant to the dean and director of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Oklahoma State University. In this role, she worked with the Oklahoma Legislature and the U.S. Congress to provide research-based information on issues related to agriculture and economic development. She was responsible for developing public policy programs and training for DASNR employees to be able to share with their constituents and elected officials.

After 12 years, Montgomery took a U-turn and headed back to Hugo where she became the co-owner of Three Sisters Investment, Inc. and the executive director for the Hugo Housing Authority.

Montgomery served on the Rural Enterprises, Inc. Board of Directors from 1985 to 2005, leading the group as chair from 1989 to 1991. She served as chair of the Southern Regional Middle Management Program Leaders of Directors in 1992. Her other leadership activities include vicepresident of the National Association of Extension Home Economists, the Governor’s Economic Development Committee and the Commission on the Status of Women.

Her dedication to improving the lives of Oklahomans has been recognized by Epsilon Sigma Phi with the Superior Service Award, the

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2017 EDITION

TODD JOHNSON/AGRICULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES

USDA Superior Service Award and the Choctaw County Outstanding Professional Woman Award.

Montgomery and Roy raised three daughters, two of whom have degrees from the College of Human Sciences. A third daughter completed her studies in family and consumer sciences at Southeastern Oklahoma State University.

Montgomery’s life perfectly depicts the adage ‘success is not a destination.’ The roads she chose or were chosen for her, were filled with success at each stop and yet her trip continues. The lives of those she encountered along the way are better because of her dedication to their future.

Induction into the Human Sciences Alumni Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed upon an individual by OSU’s College of Human Sciences. The award recognizes alumni for their service to society, their professional accomplishments and their contribution to the College.

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Rooms with a View A

HRAD alumnus makes his mark on the hospitality industry

s they climb the career ladder, rising stars seem to be soaring above the crowd. But some rising stars have their feet planted firmly on the ground. That is exactly where you will find School of Hotel and Restaurant alumnus, Andrew Mungul.

In just five years after graduating, Mungul has been named corporate director of business development operations for Coury Hospitality, a hospitality development and management company.

But that lofty position is built on a foundation of hard work and experience.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant administration in 2011, Mungul’s career began as the sales manager in Tulsa with Coury Hospitality’s Ambassador Hotel.

He soon moved to the company’s Ambassador Hotel in Kansas City where he served as director of operations and sales and marketing.

In 2014, Mungul returned to Tulsa as the general manager of the Ambassador and soon was directing the multimillion dollar renovation of the historic facility.

The hotel is listed on the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Through his leadership, the property received its first AAA Four Diamond rating.

Mungul said the classes that prepared him for his career were those focused on financial performance and accounting.

“Accounting, revenue management and classes like these aren’t the most glamorous, but they are essential for a successful career,” he said. “These classes established the foundation that I build upon daily and without these classes, I would not be a successful property manager.”

People noticed and recognition for his efforts followed. Named a College of Human Sciences Rising Star in 2015, Mungul also earned the Oklahoma Hotel and Lodging Association Outstanding General Manager of the Year for a small property in 2015. He was named one of Oklahoma’s 2016 NextGen Under 30 winners in the hospitality category.

Mungul said he does his best to empower employees to create change and take ownership of their situations while

providing them the tools they need for success.

“I trust them to perform the responsibilities they were chosen for and I have full faith they can deliver,” he said.

Mungul currently serves as a board member of the Metro Tulsa Hotel and Lodging Association and the Oklahoma Hotel and Lodging Association.

While in school, Mungul, served as the American Hotel and Lodging Association student chapter president and was a member of the vintner committee during the 2011 Wine Forum of Oklahoma.

Building a network of like-minded, driven individuals is something Mungul recalls as great experience while at OSU. “Regardless of where you come from, you instantly find yourself surrounded by other students and faculty who have the same goals as you do, who feel passionately about the industry like you do and who genuinely want you to succeed,” he said.

Mungul’s regard for his hospitality degree has only increased as his career has grown.

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COURTESY ANDREW MUNGUL

Regardless of where you come from, you instantly find yourself surrounded by other students and faculty who have the same goals as you do, who feel passionately about the industry like you do and who genuinely want you to succeed.

– Andrew Mungul

COLLEGE OF HUMAN SCIENCES

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Blazing New Trails New Human Sciences building wing

transforms academic opportunities

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ith a snip, a prayer and a rainbow, the College of Human Sciences marked another milestone on the Oklahoma State University campus. After a 65-year wait, the cutting of an orange ribbon opened the newly-added third wing.

The 76,700 square-foot construction project with its soaring spaces will transform Human Sciences programs with new state-of-the-art labs, kitchens, dining venues, galleries and conference rooms.

Prior to the ribbon cutting, a redesigned courtyard entrance received Native American blessings from Warren Pratt of the Pawnee tribe.

A rain shower before both events produced a beautiful rainbow marking the college’s new north wing as a pot of gold.

“After so many years of dreaming and planning, the activities of the morning set the tone for our celebrations of the north wing and the courtyard,” Dean Stephan Wilson said.

Students are at the center of this $25 million transformation, and every detail is planned to ensure OSU is able to provide them the best education possible. Each new space will enable programs to better serve students and push the boundaries of cross-discipline educational discovery in the College of Human Sciences.

With a front door right on Monroe Street, the Great Hall is an expansive space with a towering orange glassed elevator and grand staircase. The staircase also features seating space with charging stations for students’ electronic equipment.

Taylor’s, the hospitality program’s fine dining lab and the Hirst Center for Beverage Education which will provide students and faculty with a new avenue for beverage and food experimentation, discovery and research are located on the first floor for easy access.

Just inside the front door, The Gaylord Gallery allows more than adequate space

For too long, students and their impressive work have been hidden away in hard-toreach spaces. Now everyone coming in the door can see how impressive our students and faculty are.

– Dean Stephan Wilson 10

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JOSEPH MILLS PHOTOGRAPHY

for exhibits from research posters and presentations to fashion and smart garment displays.

“For too long, students and their impressive work have been hidden away in hard-to-reach spaces,” Wilson said. “Now everyone coming in the door can see how impressive our students and faculty are.”

Jorns Hall is located off the Great Hall in close proximity to many of the new laboratories. It provides much needed space for seminars, workshops and outreach activities.

Multi-station food preparation labs, Planet Orange, HRAD’s quick service dining venue, and the Hal Smith Restaurant Group’s demonstration kitchen complete the remaining space on the first floor.

Wilson said that even though most of the work on the north wing is complete, the new spaces related to HRAD will open for the spring semester.

“We need to make sure everything is in place and ready to go before classes are scheduled in Taylor’s and the other food service labs,” Wilson said.

Two large labs on the fourth floor feature innovative industry related equipment students will use in their chosen professions. The state-of-the-art Mixed Reality Lab focuses on research and instruction in augmented reality, virtual reality and digital prototyping — allowing students to develop design projects along the reality-virtuality continuum.

Filled with industry-leading software and automated equipment, the Gerber Technology FashionTech Design and Development Center will provide opportunities for students to develop the skills and experience they will need in apparel design and merchandising careers.

A bright, light and airy design studio and sewn products lab complete the fourth floor student spaces.

All Human Sciences students celebrated the opening of the new North Wing. Photos with Pete, t-shirts, a signed matt for a permanent display and a group photo commemorated the historic event.

GARY LAWSON/UNIVERSITY MARKETING

CONTINUES COLLEGE OF HUMAN SCIENCES

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Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Gary Sandefur and Dean Stephan Wilson ceremoniously cut the ribbon to the Human Sciences North Wing marking its opening for faculty, students and staff.

Hotel and Restaurant Administration offices and conference room, a large computer lab and the Human Sciences Partners Suite fill the third floor.

“While the north wing is impressive, it is even more exciting to see the strides we’ve made with our friends, alumni and corporate partners to fund this project,” said Dean Stephan Wilson. “You can see the synergy the new spaces add to all of our programs when you have partners like SONIC, the Hal Smith Restaurant Group, the Cleo L. Craig Foundation, the E.L. and Thelma Gaylord Foundation, Gerber Technologies and so many more committed to our vision.”

The Hal Smith Restaurant Group’s pledge to name the demonstration

classroom demonstrates the type of partnership to which Wilson refers.

HSRG’s chief operations officer, Hank Kraft, sees this as a partnership with OSU that allows both entities to promote what they stand for.

“We have recruited from OSU for the past 15 years and employ more than 20 alumni from the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration,” Kraft said.

“We were given the opportunity to invest in the future growth of the program and its students, who are also the future of our company.”

More than 30 individuals, groups and corporations committed at least $25,000 each to the project with six pledging $1 million or more.

PHIL SHOCKLEY/UNIVERSITY MARKETING

Jack Betts represents a group of about 30 alumni and friends who make up the Human Sciences Partners Group, which advocates the success of the college through a variety of activities, including networking and mentoring students. The group pledged $100,000 to name a conference room inside the Partner’s Suite, a dynamic space that allows professionals from industry, community outreach, and extension entities to partner with students and faculty.

“With all the growth the College is experiencing, the new wing is not a luxury, it’s essential,” said Betts, who points to a 50-percent overall increase of student enrollment over the past decade. “The College is an outstanding college. They have some of the best students in their

We invite you to visit and explore our exciting new facility!

Featuring a state of the art kitchen with high definition cameras situated above the cooking and preparation surfaces, the Hal Smith Restaurants Demonstration Classroom is well equipped for studio-style culinary demonstrations and lessons in a multi-tiered classroom setting.

PHOTOS BY JOSEPH MILLS PHOTOGRAPHY

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The Dick Autry-Jim Anderson Culinary Skills Lab includes 10 fully equipped work stations for students in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration.

Prior to the ribbon cutting, Warren Pratt, a member of the Pawnee tribe provided a Native American blessing in Pawnee and English for the redesigned central courtyard entrance.

PHIL SHOCKLEY/UNIVERSITY MARKETING

The College of Human Sciences offers students hands-on learning that sets them apart from their peers.

– Jack Betts, Human Sciences Partners Group field. The College has growing pains, and it is unacceptable to me to do nothing about it. If we were to do nothing, we would be depriving students a quality education they deserve.”

Longtime donor and 1966 School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration graduate Bryan Close agrees.

“The College of Human Sciences offers students hands-on learning that sets them apart from their peers. It’s what makes the programs like Hotel and Restaurant Administration exceptional and the education they receive from OSU unique,” he said. “I love seeing both the students and the College succeed.”

The north wing expansion created opportunities for realigning the vacated spaces of the original building. Plans are being made for several departments to take advantage of the spaces that were opened up when other programs moved into the north wing.

“Our next steps will be to determine how best to use those empty offices and labs,” Wilson said.

In the meantime, the North Wing’s bright new spaces are drawing rave reviews from students, faculty, alums and guests who have experienced them.

Since 1992, Taylor’s has provided fine dining experiential learning for HRAD students.

Its bright new location is easily found right off the North Wing’s Great Hall.

Human Sciences faculty, staff and their families celebrated the North Wing opening with a Fiesta Grande. Greg Clair, Lisa Slevitch and Jing Yang enjoy the generous buffet of Mexican cuisine.

JULIE BARNARD/HUMAN SCIENCES

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Abundant natural light and work spaces in the Sewn Products Lab on the North Wing’s fourth floor foster creativity and collaboration for design, housing and merchandising students and faculty.

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Cooking For Kids Partnership program trains Oklahoma schools to offer healthier meals for students

If kids learn to eat healthy at school, maybe it’s something that will stay with them. They’ll do better in school, they’ll have better health outcomes and be more productive Oklahomans.

– Deana Hildebrand, associate professor, nutritional sciences 14

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lthough Nancy Sitler, child nutrition director for Sapulpa Public Schools, thought she and her staff were providing solid meal service in the six kitchens across the district, she was nervous about inviting an outside chef consultant to review operations.

“I was actually scared to death to have the one-on-one consultation,” she said.

Despite the nerves, Sitler turned to Cooking for Kids, an innovative, statewide initiative offering low- to no-cost culinary training to child nutrition professionals.

“I guess I shouldn’t have worried because Chef Callie [Fowler] was great,” Sitler said. “She made some suggestions on a few minor improvements for preparation procedures, but her main emphasis was helping us to sell our program, which is one area where I knew we needed help.”

The one-on-one chef consultations are the newest addition to Cooking for Kids’ training options for Oklahoma schools.

“We know that each school district has unique needs, so just to do skill development training, one-size-fits all,

is only good up to a point,” said Deana Hildebrand, project director, associate professor, nutritional sciences, and Extension nutrition specialist at Oklahoma State University.

Each year for the next three years, Cooking for Kids chefs will work directly with 25 schools by assisting with needs assessments; identifying goals, areas of development and potential barriers; and providing food service operations and culinary arts expertise.

The goal? To enhance the overall meal service experience – both for students and school nutrition professionals.

The consultations are free but schools must apply for the assistance, which lasts for about 12 months.

Though its early yet in the first round of consults, equipment, staffing and time management have emerged as major challenges for schools.

“Many people have multiple jobs within our kitchens. It’s looking at how to best utilize one’s time to get things done and making sure we’re not sacrificing the quality of the food for budget or equipment. Every school has child nutrition employees who need help building their skill set,” said Fowler.

Interestingly, Fowler, who also has been the executive chef for child nutrition for Union Public Schools for two years, believes the ambitious effort is transforming the food kids eat at school as well as the individuals who are preparing that food.

With its aggressive push for more scratch cooking and an increase in fresh fruits and vegetables, Cooking for Kids is encouraging child nutrition professionals to Far Left: Deana Hildebrand serves as the project director for the Cooking for Kids program.

move from serving highly processed foods to preparing amazing food kids need and want to eat.

“Cooking for Kids has been this great springboard for these individuals, giving them not only life skills, but also providing an outlet for child nutrition to shine,” Fowler said. “I feel like Cooking for Kids definitely shines the spotlight on what these extraordinary individuals are doing and the impacts they’re making on these kids.”

In the third year of a five-year partnership between the OSU College of Human Sciences, Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service and Oklahoma State Department of Education, Cooking for Kids is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The program is free and open to participating schools.

Cooking for Kids includes skills development training with a heavy focus on increasing participants’ proficiency in areas such as scratch cooking, knife skills and marketing cafeteria options to students.

Once schools have completed the three-day skills development training, they become eligible to apply for the new oneon-one consultations.

Four Sapulpa school nutrition professionals have successfully completed skills development training. As a result of those experiences, Sitler said one employee who attended the training earlier this year later became a manager and is thriving in the new role.

Meanwhile, two others gained an important boost of confidence to try offering new menu items, including options kids were going off campus to buy, after their training experience.

“I believe any training that my ladies

can receive, where they are more confident in their abilities to prepare and market our meals is a huge benefit,” Sitler said.

Hildebrand said Cooking for Kids is an interdisciplinary program that truly exemplifies the land-grant university mission by combining the science of nutrition, the business of operations and the culinary arts to the benefit of the Oklahoma’s school nutrition programs.

The overall approach seems to be working. Evaluations from 2015 indicate training participants have increased knowledge in a range of areas including nutrition, knife skills, use of standardized recipes, time management, food safety and professionalism.

Just as telling, interest in additional training from participants who have completed skill development and oneon-one consultations is so high that administrators are also exploring creating another layer of learning opportunities for alumni of the program.

Over the course of its initial fiveyear run, Cooking for Kids anticipates impacting about half of the approximately 540 Oklahoma school districts through its training opportunities.

“We know eating healthier foods is going to lead to better health and kids will do better in school because they’re not sick,” Hildebrand said. “If kids learn to eat healthy at school, maybe it’s something that will stay with them. They’ll do better in school, they’ll have better health outcomes and be more productive Oklahomans.”

Below: Students at Lomega Elementary enjoy healthy lunch options prepared by their school’s nutrition professionals who participated in the Cooking for Kids skills development training sessions.

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TODD JOHNSON/AGRICULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES

Juntos Works

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ith plenty of hard evidence confirming its strategy is working, Juntos, a unique program helping Latino students and their families hit all the right academic notes, is poised to expand its impact in Oklahoma.

Creator of the Juntos in Oklahoma program and human development and family science associate research professor, Ron Cox points to the fact that Oklahoma’s demographics are rapidly changing and the Latino children of today will make up a sizable portion of tomorrow’s workforce for the need to develop programs to promote education as a solution to the state’s economic issues.

“Besides the important moral implications and social justice considerations, if innovative steps are not taken to help these youth thrive socially and academically, we will not have enough qualified workers to meet the state’s demands, which will have severe economic implications,” Cox said.

Cox, who is the George Kaiser Family Foundation Endowed Chair in Child and Family Resilience and Cooperative Extension family science specialist, explains Juntos takes its name from the Spanish word for “together”.

“The concept of collectively bonding together in pursuit of the important goal of earning an education is a strong and deeply anchored theme throughout the entire program,” Cox said.

TODD JOHNSON/AGRICULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES

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Academic achievement program for Latino students finding big success in Oklahoma

The program has been operating in Tulsa’s East Central and Nathan Hale Junior High Schools since the 2013-14 academic year and now serves nearly 100 eighth and ninth graders, including the 50 students added this fall.

School officials select students for participation in Juntos. Eligible participants are identified as students who are struggling academically and at a higher risk for failure if they continue on their current path. The program is built around three major components.

First, is a six-week family workshop series followed by monthly family nights that help acculturate families to the U.S. educational system, promote education as a family goal and strengthen family communication and cohesion.

Second, participants and their families receive one-on-one support provided by a success coach based on a customized personal education plan.

Third, families participate in an urban 4-H club promoting science, technology, engineering and math activities; positive peer connections; crucial life skills; and meaningful service learning projects.

“It’s all about partnership and doing things together and uniting other people to make friends and do activities instead of staying home,” said Leonardo Guerrero, a ninth grader at Nathan Hale and Juntos participant. “You make new friends, do activities, go places. You do activities

COURTESY PHOTO

together, but it all involves teamwork, no matter what.”

As part of the program’s educational slate, participants spend two full days in the summer living on the OSU campus in Stillwater, where they engage in science, technology, engineering and math-related projects such as working with sensors and textiles to create smart garment components, sequencing DNA from horses and creating videos using the latest technology.

“It’s helping to motivate me for the future and everything, telling me this and that for a better college opportunity,” said Juntos participant Jimmy Buniges, a freshman at East Central.

Angelica Santillan, a sophomore who also participated in Juntos, appreciates the relationships she has built with her mentors in the program.

“I love it! We have tutoring and they help me with my grades,” she said. “They know how to explain things very well and they help you with applications and tell you what you should be aiming for.”

While communities in Oregon, Texas and Florida also are implementing Juntos, Oklahoma, North Carolina and Iowa are part of a multistate research project related to the initiative. Early data on the program’s effectiveness is promising.

Findings from 2014-15 program evaluations only bolster anecdotal evidence of Juntos’ effectiveness. Based on

data collected before and after program participation, the amount of education students desire and realistically expect to earn dramatically increased. Parents surveyed on the same question also registered a significant upswing in the desired and expected amount of education of their students.

Participants’ drug use and likelihood of accepting an offer to use drugs dipped, and there was a notable decrease in the number of their close friends who skipped school, earned detention and exhibited other negative behaviors.

Juntos students also posted a 33 percent decrease in absences, 23 percent drop in tardiness and a 29 percent rise in gradepoint average.

If Juntos continues on its positive track, it not only will be a win for participating students and their families, but also for the state of Oklahoma.

“Dropouts cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in both social services expenditures and lost revenues. The ability of Oklahoma companies to find an appropriately trained and competent workforce is severely compromised,” Cox said.

“We’ve trained folks from the community to work in their communities,” Cox said. “We’re also using multiple angles to address the issue, including parent involvement, positive youth development and positive peer affiliations. Finally, I think the extended nature of the program also is important. Participants receive a full year of intensive intervention.”

In the coming year, Juntos expects to expand its reach to five more middle schools with a portion of a $11.3 million National Institutes of Health grant creating the Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Adversity at the OSU Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa.

Cox, who will oversee research comparing those initiatives’ effectiveness, said Juntos and other programs like it are extremely important for the future of Oklahoma.

“We want to create a model that will help youth in Oklahoma and across the nation become the successful leaders we know they can be,” Cox said.

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Far Left: Mary Ruppert-Stroescu, design, housing and merchandising assistant professor, demonstrates application of electronic sensors for smart garments during the Juntos summer program at OSU-Stillwater.

Juntos students study insects during a summer camp on OSU’s Stillwater campus.

Left: Juntos students prepare to board OSU’s Big Orange Bus for the trip to Stillwater.

TODD JOHNSON/AGRICULTURAL COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES

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Berries with A College of Human Sciences professor predicts ancient berry’s rich future

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ittle red and orange wolfberries have been used in China for centuries to ensure longevity and treat age-related conditions of the liver and the eye. But those qualities and many more have only recently been confirmed due to researchers using the latest in high performance analytic methods.

College of Human Sciences Assistant Professor in nutritional sciences Daniel Lin and colleagues are among those researchers who are providing evidence of the little red berry’s effectiveness on delaying or preventing retinal degeneration.

Wolfberries, or Goji berries, are the fruits of two closely related perennial plants, Lycium barbarum and Lycium Chinense, which are native to Asia and southeast Europe. Commercial production mainly comes from plantations in Ningxia Hui and Xinjiang Uyghur regions in China.

The bioactive components in wolfberries include but are not limited to 18

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polysaccharides and carotenoids. The fruits contain large amounts of the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin which are believed to have significant importance in eye health. Lin and his colleagues sought to determine the nature of the preventative effects of dietary wolfberry on diabetic retinopathy.

During the study, mice were fed a diet that included 1% wolfberries. The control group’s diet did not include wolfberries. Highperformance liquid chromatography indicated mice fed the wolfberry diet for eight weeks experienced increases of ~13.7% in overall zeaxanthin and lutein concentrations in the liver and retinal tissues.

Retinal damage caused by complications of diabetes is the leading cause of vision impairment and blindness in working age adults. Hyperglycemia is a major cause of the progression of the disease. No permanent cure is available at this time. In the early stages of diabetes the retina’s small blood vessels are still intact with no damage. As the

hyperglycemia-induced oxidative stress progresses it alters cellular stability and mitochondrial health.

Mitochondria are often referred to as the powerhouse of the cell because they generate most of the cell’s supply of adenosine triphosphate which is the source of the cell’s energy. Mitochondrial dysfunction is the primary indicator of retinal degeneration in diabetes.

Mitochondria damage in mice fed wolfberries for eight weeks was completely reversed. The study showed wolfberry improved dispersion of mitochondria and increased pigment granules in the retina’s epithelium cells.

The vascular system in the retina provides nutrients and oxygen to the inner retina, new blood vessels supply the outer retina. In diabetes, elevated blood glucose, hyperglycemia and blood flow decline result in hypoxia or oxygen shortages in the retina. Dietary wolfberries ameliorated

COURTESY DANIEL LIN

Vision hypoxia and slowed down vascular dysfunction in the retina of the mice.

“In the study, dietary wolfberry restored the thickness of the whole retina, in particular the inner nuclear layer and photoreceptor layer,” Lin said.

“To our knowledge, this is the first report that wolfberry bioactive constituents prevented or delayed the onset of the disease of diabetic retinopathy in an animal mode,” Lin said.

“We believe the inhibition of hypoxia may be beneficial to maintaining healthy vision for diabetic patients,” Lin said.

“The bioactive components in wolfberry may very well delay the progression of retinal degeneration for people suffering from diabetes.”

Not satisfied with one aspect of wolfberries’ impact on health, Lin is also studying its effects on obese mice.

“High fat diets cause mitochondrial dysfunction and a study of obese mice

COURTESY DANIEL LIN

indicates wolfberry dietary intervention can lead to the prevention of excessive amounts of triglycerides and other fats in liver cells,” Lin said.

With the burgeoning costs associated with pharmaceutical treatments, researchbased evidence of the lasting effects of nutraceuticals such as wolfberries will have tremendous impact on the health and wellbeing of the world’s population.

Lin said the western world is taking notice of the tiny fruit’s potential as wolfberry production is being found in Arizona, California and Nevada.

“Shipping the fresh fruit is difficult so most of the fruit from China is dried,” he said. “The dried fruit is still highly effective, but as with all fruits, fresh wolfberry is best.”

It appears the ancient remedy will soon be the next new functional food to enhance and improve health.

Top Left: Wolfberries dry in the sun on shallow trays for 48 hours before they are prepared for shipment.

Top Right: Daniel Lin inspects wolfberries growing on the woody stalks of deciduous perennial plants.

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Seniors of Distinction Human Sciences honors students for academics and leadership

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ach year the academic units within the College of Human Sciences select and nominate their top graduating students to be recognized as Seniors of Distinction. The recipients of the prestigious award are selected for this honor based on their academic success, leadership, scholarship and contributions to their chosen fields.

“We are very proud of these exceptional students, and we look forward to watching them grow into the future leaders of their respective fields,” said Stephan Wilson, dean of the college. “I hope they will always remember the family they have here in the College of Human Sciences and will come back to visit us often.”

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Lindsey Harr Nutritional Sciences Allied Health Tulsa, Okla.

Emmy Humphrey Human Development & Family Science Child & Family Services Choctaw, Okla.

Kate Janike Nutritional Sciences Pre-Medicine Lincoln, Neb.

Katie Lacy Hotel & Restaurant Administration Arapaho, Okla.

Allison Lyon Hotel & Restaurant Administration Coppell, Texas

Sally Merriman Design, Housing & Merchandising Interior Design Yukon, Okla.

Sherry Ramsey Human Development & Family Science Child & Family Services Stillwater, Okla.

Lizzy Schrantz Design, Housing & Merchandising Apparel Design & Production Oklahoma City

We are very proud of these exceptional students, and we look forward to watching them grow into the future leaders of their respective fields.

– Dean Stephan Wilson 20

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NewLeadership Swinney and Osteen selected to serve in department head positions

Jane Swinney – Design, Housing & Merchandising

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ane Swinney, Ph.D, has been named head of the design, housing and merchandising department in the College of Human Sciences.

Swinney joined the department in 2000 and was promoted to associate professor in 2006. She has provided leadership for DHM as program coordinator for the merchandising degree option, graduate program coordinator, associate department head, internship coordinator for apparel design and production and merchandising, and interim department head.

Swinney earned a bachelor of science in textiles and clothing from Colorado State University, a master’s degree from Iowa State University and a doctorate of philosophy in Human Sciences from Oklahoma State University.

As the College of Human Sciences representative to the University Assessment and Academic Improvement Council, she is highly engaged with the assessment of student learning and has served as the assessment coordinator for the department at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

In 2007, Swinney received the OSU Regents Distinguished Teaching Award. Her teaching is in the area of retail management and profitable merchandising analysis. Her research on small business and family business has been published in numerous journals.

Currently, Swinney is also serving as the President of the American Collegiate Retail Association.

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Sissy Osteen – Human Development & Family Science ANTHONY HART

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issy Osteen, Ph.D., has been named department head for the human development and family science department in the College of Human Sciences.

Osteen is an associate professor and until her appointment has been the state resource management specialist for Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service.

Homebuyer education, credit reporting and scoring, money management and financial literacy are Osteen’s areas of expertise. Her professional interests are centered on how individuals and families make decisions that impact their resources and how education can influence making appropriate choices.

Since arriving at Oklahoma State University, Osteen has presented at more than 90 state, regional and national conferences. She has produced publications

for national refereed journals. Using research-based findings Osteen has developed educational materials and curriculum focused on protecting and maximizing assets for Oklahoma families.

She has received many awards for her work including the Oklahoma Homebuyer Education Association’s Award for Excellence in Homebuyer Education, the Outstanding Professors Academy Award, and the Oklahoma Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Outstanding Extension Professional Award.

Osteen earned a B.S. in home economics education and an M.S. in clothing and textiles from the University of Arkansas.

She received an Ed.S. in counselor education from the University of South Carolina and a Ph.D. from the College of Human Sciences at OSU.

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Stillwater, OK 74078-6116

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