Ascent fall 2010 by College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio State

fall 2010

ASCENT

news from The Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences

SEARCHING FOR MISSING AMERICANS In June, Tim Gocha and Lara McCormick were appointed to the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) to participate in investigations and recovery operations of American military war dead. They are two of only six graduate students from across the country selected for the fall 2010 installation of the program {page 12}.

in this ISSUE new year new offerings

MORE THAN 40 new courses

4 SNAPSHOT OF THE INCOMING CLASS

engulfed:

graduate sTUDENTS TAKE ON THE gulf OIL SPILL

8 A FRESH PERSPECTIVE {

}

Three freshmen share their stories

bobby wassel:

HARD WORK REWARDed

10 PUTTING THE I IN O-H-I-O

Zoology major Ryan Wiens dots the i at the Michigan game

11 SELECTED EVENTS {artsandsciences.osu.edu/events} in the College of Arts and Sciences

searching for missing americans

pow/mia recovery mission { }

14 GETTING THE HABIT OF GIVING

Alumna Anne Evans gives her time to students

15 THE NEW COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES ALUMNI SOCIETY

a message from dean steinmetz Alumni, you remember it well. There is absolutely nothing like autumn quarter at Ohio State; the air filled with excitement and anticipation of endless possibilities. Each new freshman knows that feeling of being on the brink of an adventure that will change his or her life.

ASCENT Ascent: the act or process of ascending; advancement Welcome to the inaugural print edition of Ascent, the College of Arts and Sciences’ newsletter for alumni and friends. The goal of this publication is to communicate with you, our arts and sciences alumni and friends and help you reconnect with the arts and sciences by sharing stories and snapshots of student, faculty, and alumni successes.

Students change our lives, too. Every year they remind us why we are here, inspire us to deliver the promise of a welcoming environment, a quality education, and personalized attention.

Circulation To maximize our outreach to alumni while remaining committed to responsible fiscal stewardship, we will print Ascent three times a year with one third of our alumni receiving a print version once a year. All alumni will receive the email version, each quarter, and can access these stories on our web site, artsandsciences.osu.edu.

This year’s freshmen are the best-prepared students in Ohio State’s history. They hit the ground running, challenging all of us to keep up, and with more than a month of classes under their belts are well on their way to becoming seasoned Buckeyes.

Please email asccomm@osu.edu to send us your email address or updated contact information, receive only the online version, or to receive all three issues of this publication in print. Libby Eckhardt | eckhardt.12@osu.edu

I feel privileged to lead an amazing group of students, alumni, faculty, and staff as we begin our first academic year as a unified College of Arts and Sciences.

614 688 5687, Chief Communications Officer

Elizabeth Tarpy Alcade | alcalde.1@osu.edu 614 247 4462, Communications Director

Greg Bonnell | bonnell.11@osu.edu

It is a pleasure to share some of their stories with you now. Please let us hear from you.

614 688 5609, Sr. Visual Communications Specialist

Eva Dujardin Dale | dale.36@osu.edu 614 292 8832, Sr. Visual Communications Specialist

Gloria Eyerly | eyerly.3@osu.edu 614 292 7871, Communications Director

Shantay Piazza | piazza.31@osu.edu 614 247 2574, Communications Specialist

Joseph e. Steinmetz, Phd Executive Dean and Vice Provost, College of Arts and Sciences The Ohio State University

Sandi Rutkowski | rutkowski.1@osu.edu 614 292 4759, Communications Director

Karin Samoviski | samoviski.1@osu.edu 614 292 7356, Visual Communications Specialist

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES William Oxley Thompson Memorial Library, posted to Ohio State’s web site, Image of the Day, by alumnus Scott Sanders. See more campus photography at osu.edu/imageoftheday.

186 Hall THE University OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 230 N. Oval Mall Columbus, Ohio 43210

artsandsciences.osu.edu 3

INCOMING SNAPSHOT NEW FALL QUARTER FRESHMEN {Columbus campus}

35%

of Ohio State’s new students are expected to enroll in arts and sciences

54%

graduated in the top 10 percent of their high school classes;

With more than 40 new courses, students in the arts and sciences have a remarkable variety of options available to them this year. The common thread? A superb undergraduate experience. here are just a few:

Gulf Oil Spill: Environmental Risk Assessment {Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology} Students attempt to sort out fact from fiction and build a reliable data resource useful for ongoing study of the ecological impacts of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Their first task is to find the oil!

90%

The Politics of International Terrorism {Political Science}

23%

Elementary Low-Dimensional Topology {Mathematics}

graduated in the top 25 percent of their high school classes;

are honors students

27.7

is the average ACT score;

1230

is the average SAT score

73%

are Ohio residents;

are international students

NEW YEAR NEW OFFERINGS

International terrorism is one of the most important security and foreign policy challenges facing the world today. Students explore the concepts and actors involved in international terrorism, the experience of the United States since 9/11, and key issues in understanding and responding to terrorism—including the trade-off between democratic freedoms and security.

Not for the faint-at-heart – Knot projections; Reidemeister moves; classification of surfaces; Seifert surfaces and matrices; Knot invariants: genus, colorings, group labelings, determinant, signature, Alexander polynomial, braid index, Jones polynomial. Public Discourse on Autism {English} What does it mean to be autistic? An autism parent, professional, or advocate? Public discourse on autism has reached critical mass. Students challenge popular, literary, and scholarly representations of autism to develop an understanding of autism as a complex and crucial part of the human experience. Costume Design and Construction {Dance} Costume design and dance have had a love affair since the first steps were choreographed. This course introduces students to the art of costume design and construction for dance in a carefully balanced curriculum, including both practical hands-on experience and intensive focus on artistic development. Global Criminology {Sociology} Largely due to the technological revolution, crime has become a global phenomenon. Students delve into world-wide problems of human trafficking, drug smuggling, illicit trade in arms and nuclear weapons, money laundering, human organs, endangered species, and counterfeit goods from the perspectives of criminology and criminal justice.

ENGULFED SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION; graduate STUDENTS TAKE ON THE gulf OIL SPILL

artsandsciences.osu.edu 5

Everyone has seen the pictures: oil-soaked pelicans, stranded sea-turtles, dead fish floating in black-streaked water, out-of-business signs along dusty roads, fishermen laying boom and skimming petro-blobs instead of laying nets and skimming shrimp. These images just hint at the environmental and human toll being taken in the Gulf of Mexico. Graduate students in environmental toxicologist Roman Lanno’s Gulf oil-spill seminar are familiar with those images and concerned about the story they tell. This autumn, they embarked on their own fishing expedition, hoping to hook some solid facts in the wake of the worst oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. “More than six months after the explosion and sinking of BP’s Deep Water Horizon, there are still more questions than answers. Information that’s needed is not widely available, but this is a forum to help find answers,” Lanno said. Lanno was on a three-month sabbatical, doing research and teaching an ecological risk-assessment course in Portugal, when the news broke. He immediately saw the possibilities of using the spill as a timely, real-life case study. “What more compelling way to introduce my students to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Ecological Risk Assessment (ERA) framework?” Lanno asked rhetorically. “This risk-assessment format provides a framework to process and organize information to make it manageable and hopefully helps sort out fact from fiction. Not having an absolute answer is part of the risk assessment process,” Lanno explained. “We can never be 100 percent certain of anything, but finding out what you can control allows you to focus on what you can do.”

FACT:

After the seminar’s first sessions dealing with risk assessment, problem formulation and developing conceptual models, and guest lectures by experts on exposure and human health effects, students will launch into making their own presentations. The class is a mix of students from several graduate programs: ecology, organismal biology, environmental science, civil and chemical engineering, and natural resources. These twelve women and four men bring to the table a variety of perspectives, concerns and questions that enrich the conversation and expand the possibilities for separating fact from fiction. Lanno began the first class by making it clear that it was up to the students to be proactive in seeking answers. “As graduate students, this is your course, not mine. I want you to think about what you see as being the spill’s biggest impact and based on that, work on your topic presentations.” These students are not naïve; they fully understand the range of potential problems and the complexities involved in getting your mind around a situation of this magnitude. But its enormity does not deter their determination to tackle it. Their willingness to dive right in is obvious from the passionate discussion that ensues. Environmental science graduate student Scott Stuckman wonders, “How does science operate in environments where so much information is lacking, and data is uncertain or inaccessible? Much of the data collected by both the government and BP is proprietary and off-limits to

4,000 oil rigs LOOM OVER THE GULF; SOME 10 stories high AND AS WIDE AS an aircraft carrier. thERE are 62 Federal OVERSIGHT Inspectors

FACT:

worldwide, every year, accidental spills dump 200 million gallons of oil into the environment

FACT:AMERICANS

BURN NEARLY 20 MILLION BARRELS OF OIL A DAY

FACT:

ONE-THIRD OF OUR SHRIMP AND OYSTERS COME FROM THE LOUISIANA COAST. BY EARLY JUNE, OIL from the spill FORCED THE CLOSURE OF ALMOST ALL COASTAL OYSTER/ SHRIMP GROUNDS

FACT:

OVER THE PAST 40 YEARS AN ANNUAL AVERAGE OF 383,040 GALLONS OF OIL HAS SPILLED FROM GULF PIPELINES, PLATFORMS, AND WELLS

independent scientists until the legal issues are resolved. How much can we know about the actual amount of oil released, the extent of underwater plume(s), and the unknown effects of oil plus dispersants in deep water?” Some worry about the effects on reproduction; not just on fish, bird, or other gulf and wetlands wildlife populations, but possible long-term problems for humans. Others worry about the natural habitats themselves; breeding grounds are literal havens for countless creatures. Can they recover, or not? Many of the students question whether we had the technology in place to deal with many aspects of a deepwater oil spill. Most have read articles indicating we did not. Everyone knows that there were no viable backup plans for managing accidents, and very little oversight. One woman in the class cites BP’s infamous spill-response plan for the Gulf that mentioned walruses and sea otters. It had been cut and pasted from plans for the Arctic. For some, the biggest question is “who has control now?” Some make the case for putting the disaster in the context of the bigger picture. This spill is far from being an isolated incident; it is just the largest of many worldwide. There are those who reportedly have said that the environment will correct itself. But one student voices what many are wondering, “How far can we push the ecosystem we’re living in?”

The great hope is that this will be a wakeup call that will energize environmental groups, raise public awareness, and galvanize politicians and industry decision-makers. Jonathan Hall, a graduate student in ecology, expressed it this way, “I truly hope that every citizen will be sobered by the potential costs of our energy consumption. We need to realize BP and all the other oil companies in the Gulf are being pushed to drill further and further out, taking increasing risks because of our demands to fuel our modern lifestyle.” But everyone is concerned, along with Lanno, about what happens now that the well is finally capped. The public perception may be that capping the well was the end-game. “What worries me most is that it will be forgotten. We have a short attention span – out of sight, out of mind. And

there, but no one seems to know exactly where it is or what form it’s in. “That’s a huge piece of vital information that’s missing,” Lanno said. “We need to know where the oil is, how much there is, and its chemical composition. “Researchers suggest there’s a 22-mile oil plume somewhere in the Gulf, but we don’t know its shape and composition. Is it heavy? Is it light? That makes a difference about where it ends up. How much of the release is in the atmosphere, in water, sediment, at the bottom of the ocean? Wherever it is, it’s an issue. In order to investigate potential ecological and human impacts, we need this basic information.” Lanno believes the key factor in moving forward is building a useful information base about where the oil is and what form it’s in. “In most instances, such as the mine tailings spill area I was working on in

As graduate students, this is your course, not mine. I want you to think about what you see as being the spill’s biggest impact and based on that, work on your topic presentations. with media coverage drying up and public attention diverted elsewhere, it may stem the urgency to fund the longterm, on-going research that needs to be done,” Lanno said. There is little solid data and few verifiable facts. The five million barrels of oil that spewed out before the capping is still

Portugal, most of the facts are there. You are able to get a handle on the problem from the beginning. In deep water, you’re in deep trouble.” Walking out after class, someone offers this question, and answer. “In the end, who is responsible for this mess? The answer seems clear to me: we all are.”

a fresh perspective

This fall, the College of Arts Here are the first impressions

I am in the Honors Program and I live in honors housing in Siebert Hall on south campus. I am also a member of the Program for Advising in Scholarship and Service (PASS) in the College of Arts and Sciences. I was drawn to PASS’ early arrival program, the academic support, and the regular community service.

Ricardo Locci When I made the decision to attend Ohio State, I didn’t stop smiling for a week – I knew I had made the right choice. I am majoring in chemistry, and I am premed, but I’m open to other options. I really like the idea of combining arts and sciences for a balanced life.

I really enjoyed Welcome Week, the involvement fair, and Buck-I Frenzy. If you can’t find something to do at Ohio State, you just don’t want something to do. In addition to academics, I am interested in soccer, swimming, boxing, swing dancing, yoga, choir, and theatre – Ohio State has clubs for all of these, and hundreds more. I hope to join the Men’s Glee Club and some theatre productions – maybe even minor in theatre.

CJ (Carly) Jones Before I visited Ohio State, I was a little concerned about the size; after I visited, I knew I wanted to come here. Once I learned more about the campus and all of the opportunities, it didn’t seem so big. I like the diversity of the people here; you don’t feel that you have to fit a particular mold.

hard work rewarded Last summer, Bobby Wassel worked four jobs to save enough money to pay his tuition to Ohio State. He worked as a life guard at Kings Island; tutored elementary-school math students; apprenticed with a carpenter, building and installing homes; and delivered newspapers. His work week was really long, Monday to Monday. “I saved $4,000, but not enough to cover tuition and extra costs,” said Wassel, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. Then Wassel received word that he had been awarded a Students First, Students Now scholarship – enough money to secure Wassel a place in the 2010 incoming freshman class. Wassel doesn’t have to search for words when describing the impact of the scholarship on his future. “When I opened my email and

found out about the scholarship, I could finally breathe a little. I knew I had a chance.” Wassel’s scholarship was made possible by the generosity of Keith and Linda Monda, who invested in the Students First, Students Now scholarship fund to provide support for Ohio undergraduates to pursue their education and dreams. “ I am deeply indebted to those people who believed in and guided me along the way,” said Monda. “Investing in a young person’s education is my effort to pay forward.” Wassel has plans to make good on that investment. He is an Environmental and Natural Resources Scholar with a major in biology and hopes to practice medicine or conduct medical research;

See more freshmen profiles at go.osu.edu/profiles.

My family is from Venezuela; my parents are here in the states, but a large part of my family is still in Venezuela. I grew up speaking both Spanish and English.

and Sciences welcomed MORE THAN 2,000 new freshmen. s of three of them. stay in Columbus. I am working at a new part-time job, too, to help meet my college expenses.

I became a member of the Politics, Society, and Law (PSL) Scholars program because I am interested in politics, criminology, and law enforcement. I live in the PSL Scholars residence hall on north campus; even our RA is in the program. This fall we will be going downtown to observe the Ohio Supreme Court; I’m really looking forward to it. One of the reasons I chose to attend Ohio State was the opportunity to double major in criminology and Japanese. Many schools don’t offer both majors. I like anime and manga, and so I have an interest in Japanese culture. I’m looking forward to taking classes in Japanese culture, criminology, and taking clustered courses with PSL scholars. If I can fit it in, I’m also interested in doing a minor in forensic science. I am interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement, maybe with the FBI, or I may decide to go to graduate school in East Asian Studies, or even law school.

I am majoring in political science and Spanish. Because of the classes I took here last year, I have already completed my basic foreign language requirement and can take courses in both majors as a firstyear student.

LaTerrance Hopewell I am from Columbus and I had planned to go away to college. Then I took classes at Ohio State during my senior year in high school, and fell in love. When I was offered a Morrill Scholars Excellence Scholarship and a Students First, Students Now award, I just had to

I have already changed a lot since high school; I have become more outgoing and plan to take advantage of the many opportunities here at Ohio State. I am in the PASS program, and I live in the Afrikan American Learning Community in Morrill Tower. I am an intern in Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and I’m interested in learning karate and joining SHADES, an LGBT student group. In addition, I have looked into the resources of the Bell Resource Center for the African American Male.

he would like to serve his country as well.

When I opened my e-mail and found out about the scholarship, I could finally breathe a little. I knew I had a chance.

“My dream is to practice medicine in the military and maybe someday develop a new vaccine,” said Wassel. In his spare time, Wassel volunteers his time to community environmental cleanup efforts and gets in a bike ride or two. He will be starting a part-time job soon, as well, to save money for next year’s tuition. Students First, Students Now, is Ohio State’s promise of continued access to a quality education. Initiated by President Gee in 2008, Students First, Students Now Scholarships are even more critical today, opening the door for students and keeping it open. Give the gift of an Ohio State education, go.osu.edu/asc-giveto.

Putting the “i” in o-h-i-o Zoology major Ryan Wiens is living the dream of all sousaphone players in Ohio State’s Marching Band. On November 27, he will be the one dotting the “i” in Script Ohio at the Michigan game. “I’m really excited and honored to be part of this long tradition—it’s amazing,” said Wiens. But the unassuming senior from Powell, Ohio did not volunteer how he was chosen. When pressed, he admitted that the selection is based on who has marched in the most games. “Marching in every game is not a given—there are more players than spaces, so the Monday before every game, people who didn’t play in the last game can challenge those who did.” Putting things together, the inescapable conclusion is that the “i-dotter” must be very good to take that bow. Wiens, who will graduate in spring 2011, has been in the Marching Band since his freshman year. He explains that band members have to audition for their positions every August, but thinks it’s a good idea, “It keeps us on our toes.” For those who wonder at the precise perfection of “The Best Damn Band in the Land,” the secret, according to Wiens, is “practice, practice, practice.” This rigorous, demanding, competitive program is definitely not just another extracurricular activity.

photo by: Melinda Huntley, Ohio Sea Grant

After the frenetic playing schedule of autumn quarter, which usually includes a bowl game,

Wiens said, “It’s wonderful, but exhausting, so winter quarter I hibernate, then in the spring, I play in University Orchestra.” When Wiens talks about the Band and this quarter’s classes, Musicology and History of Rock ‘n’ Roll, his love of music is evident. That being the case, why not be a music major?

I want to play music for the rest of my life, but I’d rather play it to enjoy it than have it be my career. I’ve loved nature since I was a little kid, so I kind of gravitated to zoology. I’ve always wanted to be a high-school biology teacher, especially in an innercity school or maybe through the Teach for America Program. He’s happy with this choice and sees it giving him the best of both worlds. “I think a degree in zoology gives me more career options; I still want to teach, but I see other doors opening, such as working at COSI, which would be awesome, or being a park ranger.” During his six weeks studying ichthyology at Stone Lab this past summer, he also worked at their Visitor Center, teaching kids how to fish and identify their catches. “The Stone Lab experience was fantastic. How many people are lucky enough to get to work and study on an island!” artsandsciences.osu.edu

artsandsciences.osu.edu/events showcasing the dynamic aspects of the arts and sciences

Math at Top Speed

Exploring and Breaking Myths in the Drag-Racing Folklore Professor Richard Tapia of Rice University will give the Mathematical Biosciences Institute public lecture. November 4, 2010 COSI, Downtown Columbus

AIDA The Ohio State Theatre returns to CAPA’s Southern Theatre to present this Tony Award-winning pop-rock musical. November 18 – 21, 2010 Southern Theatre, Downtown Columbus

Chekhov on Stage and Page The Slavic Department celebrates the 150th anniversary of Anton Chekhov's birth with an international conference. December 2 – 4, 2010

bell hooks On Wednesday, October 20, Visiting Distinguished Professor of Women’s Studies belle hooks led a thought-provoking conversation on “The Practice of Diversity.” She returns to the Columbus campus in May 2011. Read the story, artsandsciences.osu.edu/NEWS

SEARCHING FOR MISSING AMERICANS

Tim Gocha and Lara McCormick are spending this quarter in Vietnam on a recovery mission. In June, the graduate teaching associates in anthropology, were appointed to the U.S. Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) to participate in investigations and recovery operations of American military war dead. They are two of only six graduate students from across the country selected for the fall 2010 installation of the program. “JPAC selects only the nation’s top graduate students in anthropology,” said Clark Larsen, chair of the Department of Anthropology. “We have been enormously successful in placing our graduate students at JPAC, reflecting Ohio State as the go-to place for excellence in graduate training in forensic anthropology and skeletal biology.” The mission of JPAC is to achieve the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing as a result of the nation’s past conflicts. Recovery Teams travel throughout the world to recover Americans missing from the Vietnam War, the Korean War, World War II, and the Cold War. Talking with Gocha and McCormick about their appointments before they left Ohio for Hawaii, it’s evident that they are wellsuited to work on this kind of project. Neither views this as simply a career-building opportunity; it is a personal commitment.

Military service runs in my family, said Gocha. My great-great-great grandfather fought for the Union in the Civil War, my great grandfather saw battle in World War I, both of my grandfathers served in World War II, two uncles fought in Vietnam and my cousin is currently stationed in Iraq. 12

McCormick shares a similar family history, “My father served as a Captain in the U.S. Army and my grandfathers and several of my uncles served in World War II. My brother, a national guardsman, volunteered for duty in Kuwait, during the ‘Iraqi Freedom’ campaign.” In addition to their family histories, Gocha and McCormick shared personal experiences volunteering in organizations that stressed and promoted community service. Gocha joined the Boy Scouts (he became an Eagle Scout at 17). McCormick became a Lutheran Girl Pioneer, a group that focuses on community service projects.

This page: An arrival ceremony with joint service honor guard. (photo courtesy of JPAC) Above left: Lara McCormick and Tim Gocha in Hawaii preparing for project training; lower left and right: JPAC recovery teams. (photos courtesy of JPAC)

Gocha and McCormick spent August and September on Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, Hawaii in JPAC’s Central Identification Laboratory, the largest forensic anthropology laboratory in operation. There, they received intensive training in the identification and reconstruction of fragmentary and complete human skeletons, recovery and analysis, and scene processing. Communicating by e-mail from Hawaii, Gocha wrote, “Working with so many scientists and researchers from a variety of backgrounds allows for the kind of research collaborations you don’t usually find

in a traditional academic environment.” McCormick echoed his comments, “The applied nature of this kind of forensic work and the importance of this mission make this appointment a once-in-alifetime opportunity.” In early October, Gocha and McCormick were deployed to Vietnam to serve five weeks as team members on military search and recovery teams. They will return to Hickam Air Force Base in December where they will participate in arrival ceremonies to honor the sacrifice made by those individuals whose remains are recovered during the mission.

Watch videos from JPAC missions at go.osu.edu/powmia, for more information on jpac, visit jpac.pacom.mil.

getting the habit of giving Anne Evans is an Ohio State alumna (BA, political science, 2009). She is also a full-time law student (Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law). In her spare time, Evans volunteers on alumni outreach projects for arts and sciences undergraduate students. “Ohio State is in my blood,” said Evans. “I had such an incredible experience when I was an undergrad. I want to make sure others get that same chance.” When Evans was in high school in Cleveland, Ohio she set her sights on attending Ohio State. Both her mother and father are Ohio State alumni. She also made up her mind to get involved in politics and community service as soon as she touched down on the Oval. Excelling in the classroom was a priority for Evans, but not her only one. She got involved in Undergraduate Student Government (USG) and served several years as chair of the Student Affairs committee, guiding projects that brought together students and members of the Columbus community to address safety and wellness issues. “Helping to create a bridge between students and other campus constituents was very important to me,” said Evans. “I wanted to make a difference both in and out of the classroom.” As graduation approached, Evans began to look for opportunities to meet alumni who could share insights on careers in law and politics. Serendipitously, social and behavioral sciences’ alumni were hosting a mentorship dinner for undergraduates.

At the dinner, Evans met Steve Chappelear, a Columbus lawyer, Ohio State alumus, and currently, co-chair of the Arts and Sciences Alumni Task Force, who would become a mentor to Evans as she navigated her way through the law school application process and throughout her first year in law school.

college of arts and sciences

alumni society

“I was so fortunate to have someone like Steve help me along the way,” she said. “Knowing that I could pick up the phone and ask for help and advice got me through some pretty nerve wracking times.” “I immediately noted at the mentoring event that Anne was motivated, outgoing, and loved Ohio State...key ingredients for service to our alma mater,” said Chappelear. “I suggested that she become involved in alumni activities, and didn’t have to ask twice.” Undeterred by the crazy demands of law school, especially those of a first-year student, Evans became an alumni volunteer. “I really believe it’s important to become an alumni volunteer because, as Woody Hayes said, ‘you should pay it forward’,” said Evans. Evans is currently in her second year of law school and continues the great tradition of Ohio State leadership and service to others by volunteering her time at alumni and student outreach events. She advises other recent graduates to get involved as well as reminding them that “the Ohio State community extends far beyond the undergraduate experience and, in many ways, being alumni can be just as dynamic of an experience as being a student at Ohio State. By becoming involved early, new graduates will get to meet people from many different backgrounds and really expand their lifelong network.”

The Arts and Sciences Alumni Task Force with Executive Dean and Vice Provost Joe Steinmetz. left to right: Annie Gordon, Arts and Sciences Alumni Relations, Charles Hickey, Mary Hickey, SR Abshaw, Steve Chappelear, Executive Dean Steinmetz, Eric Burgess, Andrea Applegate, Milan Jovanovic, Melissa Roach, and Megan Cahill, Arts and Sciences Alumni Relations.

Appointed by Executive Dean Steinmetz, a College of Arts and Sciences Alumni Task Force has been charged with creating a new, unified arts and sciences alumni society. The new alumni society will develop programming that offers opportunities for fellow alumni to engage with each other, to connect with the university, and to interact with and support current students to build a strong pipeline of future alumni. Consisting of representatives from the arts, humanities, mathematical and physical sciences, biological sciences, and social and behavioral sciences, the task force will be developing a charter and structure for the new arts and sciences alumni society and designing and implementing the nomination and appointment processes for alumni society officers and board members.

The support from arts and sciences alumni to move to a consolidated alumni society has been overwhelming,” said Dean Steinmetz. “I am grateful to everyone who has stepped forward to volunteer their time and talents to make this happen. Get updated on the progress of the task force. Visit artsandsciences.osu.edu/alumni.

We want to hear from you After you have read our newsletter, please take a few minutes and complete our reader survey at artsandsciences.osu.edu/survey We are committed to creating a dialogue with our readers. However, we currently have access to only 45% of our alumni emails. Please help us serve you better by sending us your email address at asccomm@osu.edu. You may also reach us by mail: Communications Services 1010 Derby Hall 154 N. Oval Mall Columbus, Ohio 43210

Mirror Lake, photo by student Shaun Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Brien

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES 186 University Hall THEN.OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY 230 Oval Mall Columbus, Ohio 43210

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