Author: Kari Lynn Lynn Seymour

Every year the National Science Foundation awards Graduate Research Fellowships to outstanding young scientists.

This year, three Ohio Wesleyan students, senior Mary Ann Lee and alumni Brad Turnwald (’13) and Kristen Lear (’11), were honored in receiving the award.

Over 14,000 applications were submitted, 2,000 of which were selected.

With the award comes a $32,000 per year stipend and $12,000 per year to help pay tuition costs directly for three years.

“The fellowship will enable me to not have to TA for 3 years out of five years of my PhD, which will free up a lot more time for me to put into research,” Lee said.

All three described the application process to obtain an NSF Fellowship as difficult and lengthy.

“The application process was really taxing, because one of the essays basically asks you to design a PhD thesis, which I had no idea what I was going to write about or had not enough knowledge about the topic,” Lee said.

Turnwald echoed similar sentiments, adding simply completing the application alone was valuable experience.

Applications were submitted in early November, at which point they each were sent to three independent panelists, who judged the applications based on intellectual merits as well as the broader impact it would have for the scientific community.

Both Turnwald and Lee earned Goldwater scholarships last year, while Lear earned a Fulbright scholarship as a senior.

“Receiving the NSF fellowship is rewarding because it hinged on obtaining very positive reviews from established senior scientists that anonymously evaluated my research proposal,” Turnwald said.

 For Lee, doing research at OWU was instrumental in helping her think like a scientist and shape her as a scientist overall.

She expressed joy about the opportunities an NSF Fellowship provides.

Originally she had not planned to apply, but Dr. Downing strongly encouraged Lee to send  in a proposal, structuring a directed readings to guide her along.

Turnwald has begun  to study at Stanford University on a Graduate Fellowship.

Both Lee and Lear will start their studies next year at the University of Arizona and the University of Georgia, respectively.

Lear said she felt her time and research experience at OWU played a big part in her success.

“I have no doubt that my research experiences at OWU have opened many doors for me,” she said.

Recent graduates have the lowest donation rates amongst all alumni, and  the Alumni Office is trying to change it.

On average, 20 percent of graduating classes participate in giving back, however that is much lower amongst young alumni. This year 6.4 percent of young alumni donated.

Part of the lower rate stems from less secure financial situations among recent graduates.

From student loans to tight budgets, many alumni feel like they can’t afford to donate so early.

“While I feel motivated to donate without a nudge, I can understand the reality of not giving back as the norm,” said AJ Alonzo (’13).

Gloria Clark (’11) said she understands the university’s need for donations in order to function. She said she feels a personal connection with the school, and the times she had were positive enough to warrant giving back. Sentiments such as this are what the Alumni Office is looking to foster.

“Particularly with our young alumni what’s important isn’t the amount that is given back, but it is building a culture of philanthropy,” said Pablo Villa, (’13), Young Alumni Program Coordinator.

Villa, who also serves as the university’s Phonathon Coordinator, touched on many of the other benefits that come from alumni giving. US News and World Report take alumni donation participation rates into consideration when creating their college rankings, meaning higher donation rates can help improve OWU’s rankings.

He added that donations received could go towards improving the student experience while also strengthening academics.

This in turn would make the degree already held by alumni have an even higher value, and so there are benefits to graduates as well.

In an effort to increase donation rates, the Alumni Office coordinated the 2014 Young Alumni Challenge. Officially held from March 1 through April 1 of this year, the challenge was a competition between past 10 graduating classes for highest amount of donor participation.

Participation was the focus, as each class was measured based on the percentage of their class that gave. While the completion lasted just one month, gifts made earlier that calendar year were also included.

For the winning class, they would have their gift matched by Ellen Simpson ’77. The class of ’12 won with 41 donors comprising 11 percent participation.

With the Alumni Office gaining 136 new donors during the challenge, they will look to repeat the challenge next year and Villa hopes the sense of camaraderie built will spur giving in the future.

“In my opinion the events thrown have been successful for getting young alumni to give back, with us young alums especially those with bars,” Alonzo said.

“Anything that has a more personal feel like letters in the mail and face to face interaction, make a big impact.”

Clark pointed out that those efforts are what need to increase, as phone calls are not working.

“While it may be effective with older alumni who may have fallen out of touch, we just graduated and those calls aren’t pushing us to donate,” she said.

“I think promotion of events has helped, and the emails coupled with social media work out well.

“Hopefully they will build on this even more and announce the winners of each challenge at graduation or put a banner up in HamWil to let the campus know.”

Someone accessing a faculty printer in Phillips Hall changed its settings so three names in the machine’s address book were altered to vulgar and offensive statements. The attack was discovered March 7.

The three targeted professors were included: Paul E. Kostyu, associate professor of journalism, Susan Gunasti, assistant professor of religion and another professor who wished not to be identified.  The language used against each was homophobic in nature.

“There is a certain level of humanity that people need to be aware of, and I think the person who did this needs to understand the impact and gravity of their actions,” Provost Chuck Stinemetz said. “When something like this happens, whether it’s to our entire faculty or only just one, it’s just as important. I know Public Safety has a case open on this, and I have full confidence that they do their jobs to do everything they can.”

Gunasti said she believes that everyone is allowed to hold their own opinions, but the actions in this circumstance are not to be taken lightly.

“The brazen manner of expressing those thoughts is what scares me,” Gunasti said. “I consider OWU an open community, so to think that someone would do this threw me off and made me re-think the campus culture a little bit.”

Due to the ongoing status of the investigation, Public Safety declined to comment.

Assisting PS in the investigation is Information Services, who responded to the situation and reset the printer’s settings.

According to Brian Rellinger, executive director of Information Technology, the settings on the printer were restored to their original status within hours.

“This could have happened on or off campus, or (on) the printer itself,” he said. “We feel it was unlikely that it was done at the device and that leads us to believe someone with enough technical knowledge was able to conduct the changes remotely.”

Both Stinemetz and Rellinger said they are evaluating campus security measures, with Rellinger adding that two changes are being implemented, which will make repeating a similar act much more difficult.

“When I worked as a security guard, an officer once said to me ‘we spend 10 percent of our time trying to deter people from doing things, but criminals spend 90 percent of their time trying to figure out how to do it,’” Stinemetz said.

“Unfortunately, these issues do happen from time to time,” Rellinger said. “However, we work closely with Public Safety to reduce vulnerabilities and resolve problems.”

Gunasti said she hopes this incident will lead to reflection among the campus community.  Stinemetz agreed, and said he believes this is a rare occurrence, one not reflective of the OWU community.

“I hope that the person who did this will come to realize the wrongness of their actions, and will feel guilty about the damage they have caused,” he said.

Local elections could swing the balance of power in Turkey after more than a decade of one party rule, according an Ohio Wesleyan University professor and native of Turkey.

Alper Yalcinkaya, an assistant professor of sociology and anthropology, spoke about the situation in Turkey as the fifth installment of this year’s Great Decisions lecture series on March 21.

“What we are seeing currently is the biggest cultural and political crisis in recent Turkish history,” he said.  “The situation is so unstable that whatever happens there will impact the entire region.”

The influence of different religious thought used to be the main conflict for Turkey, which was founded on secularism.

However, the new challenges Turkey is currently facing are rapidly growing and, according to Yalcinkaya, stem from battling political parties and their influence.  He elaborated on this conflict, which he called the break up.

According to Yalcinkaya, this break up between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Gulen movement brought bloody conflicts marring the opposing ideologies.

Since its creation in 2001, the AKP has held a majority of parliamentary seats. The popular vote for AKP has increased every year under the promise of stability, unity and tolerance.

Under AKP rule, Yalcinkaya explained, the “new Turkey,” emphasized the nation’s economical boom.

“Construction became the engine of Turkish growth,” Yalcinkaya said.

“If you went to Turkey within the last 10 years, the whole country would look like a construction site.  Housing projects boomed and skyscrapers became wide spread.”

Aggressive religious lawmaking, however, and censoring practices such as banning websites and controlling the majority of news reporting, created an opposition led by Fetullah Gulen, who is considered as the face of moderate Islam. As a result, his influence has grown with powerful support and financial backing.

“These upcoming local elections, particularly in Istanbul will be very telling,” Yalcinkaya said. “If AKP finds themselves losing support and votes, we can expect change. But if votes increase or remain steady we can expect a tighter regime.”

Dennis Laich, an earlier Great Decisions speaker, asked if the developments in Turkey could affect its foreign policy.

“Turkey is right across the Black Sea from Crimea, gets almost 60 percent of its gas from Russia,” Laich said. “I wonder which way Turkey goes over the next 12 months.”

Any prediction, Yalcinkaya said, will have to wait on the results of the elections. “However, I believe that ultimately they will follow NATO’s lead in Crimea.”

OhioHealth physical therapist Jeremy Woods works in the Welch facility. Photo by Jane Suttmeier

Injured student athletes now have less ground to cover to receive treatment with the opening of a physical therapy facility in Welch Hall.

Ohio Wesleyan has partnered with OhioHealth to offer physical therapy on campus in a space across from the Arthur A. Belt Fitness Center rather than the off-campus site on South Franklin Street.

The Welch Hall space opened up when Chartwells Trattoria Pizza facility moved to Smith Hall.

A New Location

Levi Harrel, residential life coordinator for Welch Hall, said he thinks the facility’s new location is positive for several reasons.

“First, it puts these medical professionals literally in the same facility where students live,” he said. “Also, it is a big positive to be partnered with the OhioHealth department and enable them to have better access to their clientele.”

The center underwent renovations during the fall semester before opening up to students.

Harrel said he is glad to see the former pizza kitchen and cafeteria occupied after being vacant for the 2012-2013 academic year.

“It is huge that the space is being used for student wellness, as I think that speaks to the dedication that OWU has overall in regards to student health here on campus,” he said.

Craig Ullom, Vice President of Student Affairs, said staff from OhioHealth — which also has a strong relationship with OWU’s Healthy Bishop initiative —  told him they were interested in moving to a smaller facility last year.

“After they told me that 98 percent of their patients are affiliated with Ohio Wesleyan, I offered them the possibility of leasing a space here on campus,” he said.

OhioHealth has a three-year lease in Welch Hall and pays monthly rent to the university. OhioHealth also covered the renovation costs.

Feeling the Benefits

Freshman Summer Tompkins tore her ACL and meniscus, and after surgery in December she is working with the center to help her rehabilitation.

“The Welch physical therapy is a fundamental and necessary part of my recovery, and the ease of access makes my rehab less of a stressful and draining process,” Tompkins said.

Both Harrel and Ullom said they have been hearing nothing but positive feedback from students like Tompkins since the facility opened.

While the center is available to any member of the community, most of the patients in need of treatment are those who have suffered an athletic injury.

According to Ullom, OhioHealth printed promotional posters for the university to distribute, but many on campus still aren’t aware of the center’s existence.

“Since it is still new and such a nuanced target audience, not many people are yet aware of it,” Harrel said.

For Tompkins, treatment has helped her to grow as well as recover.

“The whole process taught me a lot about patience and perseverance,” Tompkins said. “The physical therapy has helped me tremendously not only in my physical recovery, but with how I respond mentally too, So I’m pretty fond of the physical therapy here.”