The eight students who traveled to Tanzania last semester. Photo courtesy of MaryKate Caja.
Eight Ohio Wesleyan students traveled to Tanzania this fall to complete professional research on a variety of topics
Throughout their time in Africa, each student conducted research that would be presented to a panel of nurses, doctors and other African medical professionals. This research was then presented by the students on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Benes Rooms of the Hamilton Williams Campus Center.
Some of the topics covered were the Tanzania Youth Allianceâs fight against HIV/AIDS, breast and cervical cancer and the link between violent conflict and AIDS in Saharan Africa.
Junior Kelli Kiffer presented her research, entitled âThe Truth Behind the Bite – An Analysis and Look into Tanzaniansâ Perceptions of Malaria.â Kiffer gathered information on the impact of malaria and the awareness of malaria in Africa.
Kiffer said âabout 90 percent of deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa are due to malaria.â Kiffer compiled quantitative data to reach this statistic.
Junior Addy Dyrek conducted a research project entitled âWhy Women in Sub-Saharan Africa are More Vulnerable to Contracting HIV: Taking a Look at the Biological, Social, Economical and Cultural Practices That Affect Womenâs Health.”
Dyrek described her experience in Tanzania as âeye-opening. It was incredible to see the dynamic between men and women marriages in Africa.â
Junior MaryKate Caja worked on a project she called âCommunication Barriers Between Parents and Adolescents in Tanzanian Society.â
According to Caja, her âresearch looked into the dynamic between parents and children on topics such as sex education.â
Accompanying the students on the semester-long trip was Randolph Quaye, director of OWUâs black world studies program.
Professor Chris Wolverton. Photo courtesy of owu.edu.
As Ohio Wesleyan botany and microbiology professor Chris Wolverton develops his research on plant gravity sensing, NASA waits to bring his proposal into space.
On Feb. 10, Wolvertonâs research, which he spent âsix to seven yearsâ evolving and refining, was chosen by NASA to be funded and conducted on the International Space Station. The NASA program is tax-payer driven.
Wolverton was one of a handful of recipients of the grant but was one of only three recipients that conducted research on botany. According to Wolverton, âthis particular grant will enable the hiring of more students to work as researchers in the Summer Science Research Program.â
Wolverton expressed that, âthe NASA panel was excited to see this research included undergraduate students.â
Wolverton and the students will work to prepare and send samples into space. However, the date of flight is currently not determined. Wolverton said before sending the samples into space, they âneed to make sure this experiment will be able to be conducted in space.â This is known as the definition phase.
âAt OWU, we were able to use unique tools to conduct and confirm our research,â Wolverton said.
Junior botany major Allie France said she is extremely excited for Dr. Wolverton.
âHe has been working tirelessly on the research and his hard work has finally paid off,â France said. âThis really shows the dedication Ohio Wesleyan professors have to giving their students hands on real world application for the work and research being taught in the classroom.â
The NASA selection process includes two different stages.
âThe first being with the submitting of the proposal and a two page summary of what the researcher intends to do,â said Wolverton.
This process is intended to narrow the search and find the more desirable research proposals.
The second stage includes the proposals that were submitted to the first stage and were selected. During this stage, a panel of 10-12 people evaluates each proposal.
âAbout two people will tear the science in the proposal apart looking for both the strengths and weaknesses and will review the proposal with the remainder of the panel,â he said.
Wolverton worked on this panel in the past. He was asked to step down when he began to consider submitting research. Wolverton did not hold a position on the panel in 2014.
Wolverton believes this accomplishment shows that professors at OWU are âdedicated to giving the best learning experience to their students. This also shows people that we are who we say we are and our university is truly one of a kind.â
SAGE house sits between the Modern Foreign Lanugage House and House of Thought on Rowland Avenue. Photo courtesy of owu.edu.
Ohio Wesleyan University is saying goodbye to the Womenâs House as it has come to be known; instead the Small Living Unit (SLU) will go by its new name: Sexuality and Gender Equality House (SAGE).
SAGE house moderator, senior Meredith Harrison, said the house has been contemplating a name change since fall semester.
âThereâs always been the stereotype that only cisgender women live in the house because of the house name,â Harrison said. âEven if our programming and mission statement represent the people our house is a resource for, the name was really alienating to people of other gender identities.â
During fall semester, three gender nonconforming members moved into what was then the Womenâs House. There has been gender nonconforming and male members in the past.
Harrison went to Residential Life Coordinator Levi Harrel to figure out how the name changing process was completed. The name change was done while filling out the application for the SLU renewal process.
âYou just have to change the house name there and then explain why youâre changing it,â Harrison said.
The name of the SLU isnât the only thing to have changed.
âThis year the mission statement did change a little bit,â Harrison said. âWe just took out âwomenâ and we changed it to all genders and marginalized sexual and romantic orientations.â
Harrison went on to say that the programming has reflected the change in the mission statement.
âIâm fully supportive of it; itâs just nice to not have the question anymore of do only women live here, because we get that a lot,â said sophomore Rowan Hannan. âAs someone who is not a woman and is living in the Womenâs House it was kind of hurtful to hear that all the time.â
They continued by saying it would be hard to measure how long it would take for the new name to register throughout OWU.
âIt will be interesting to see how long it takes for the campus community to catch on,â Harrison said. âThere is so much that goes into it that you donât think about.â
Harrison used the example of a recent tour of prospective students where the guide called it the Womenâs House.
SAGE is still in the process of informing other houses and their moderators about the name change. In addition they plan on talking to admissions and changing the sign on the house. All of this Harrison hopes will help get the word out.
On the sidelines when Europe colonized Africa in the 19th century, the United Statesâ role on the continent changed when decolonization began after World War II, said Ghana native Randolph Quaye.
Quaye, director of the Black World Studies program at Ohio Wesleyan University, spoke about U.S. policy toward Africa in the latest meeting of the Great Decisions Lecture Series Friday.
âI think it is very difficult for me to talk about one specific U.S. policy toward Africa,â Quaye said.
That is because each African country is different, requiring different policies from Washington, D.C. Colonization of Africa resulted from the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885, creating neighboring countries with diverse backgrounds, he said.
âThe U.S. was just an observer,â Quaye said. âThe U.S. never took part in colonizing any of these countries.â
After World War II, charismatic leaders who favored socialism began emerging in Africa. With the decolonization process supported by the Soviet Union and the Peopleâs Republic of China, the United States was forced to step in.
âI feel the U.S.’s relationship with Africa has been mixed,â Quaye said. âThe major U.S. advancements in Africa have been made in the health field.â
Quaye said the African Growth and Opportunity Act passed by the U.S. Congress in May 2000 advanced more open economic policies with African countries and helped build free markets. Greater integration of three economic unions in Africa also was promoted by the U.S. That led to more American influence on the continent.
The U.S. also has promoted democracy and improved health care.
âWe are seeing a gradual reduction in the number of people with HIV/AIDS, specifically in East Africa,â Quaye said.
The war on terror is a continuing problem in many African countries, Quaye said. The U.S has established military zones in Libya, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia and Tunisia.
Stephanie Smith, a Delaware County resident who came with her daughter, Kathy Kelly, said, âI enjoyed the lecture tremendously because I donât know a lot about Africa. Iâve learned so many things about different parts of the world.â
The Syrian refugee crisis will be the topic at the next Great Decisions lecture on March 6 at noon in the William Street United Methodist Church.
In the world of academic innovation, grades are not all that matter. A new importance is being place on the life lessons students learn at college through an experiences transcript.
Elon University in North Carolina first implemented their version, the Elon experiences Transcript, in 1994. It measures participation in five program areas, including leadership, community service, study abroad, internships and undergraduate research. Now, the idea that schools should be putting more than classes on the official record is gaining momentum.
In an online Q&A presentation on Elonâs distributorâs (Parchment Exchange) website, Elon registrar Rodney Parks said this version of the transcript âpaints students in a different light.â
âRegistrars have been pressured for years to try to add more details to the academic transcript,â Parks said.
The Elon experiences transcript is optional, and separate from the academic transcript, though requests for both go through the registrarâs office. Parks said, in response to surveys he sent out to recipients of the experiences transcripts, most employers viewed the experiences transcript favorably.
Parks acknowledged, â…if students donât build robust co-curricular transcripts, [the transcripts] could be seen unfavorably by [recipients].â
The increased focus on experiential diversity, Parks said, is taking âadvising to a whole new level,â with advisers giving life advice as well as academic advice. What goes onto an experiences transcript, Parks said, is determined individually by universities and their campus culture and values.
Ohio Wesleyan Registrar Shelly McMahon said the office listened to the presentation and discussed potential merits, but has no plans to implement the transcript at this time. McMahon said in an email that an OWU experiences transcript might include internships and volunteer work, but, ultimately, validation for content would be up to other departments.
McMahon also said she wouldnât see an experiences transcript as adding pressure on OWU students to take on more; an experiences transcript might be a way âto document what is already happening.â
âOur students are already involved in multiple activities and many want things on their transcript that are non-academic,â McMahon said. âWe don’t have a way to do that now.â
Junior Elizabeth Raphael said the idea of an experience-based transcript seems unnecessary.
âIf one of the organizations that I am a part of did something so incredible that it made the actual transcript (and I played some part in it), maybe I would send it to grad schools,â Raphael said. âBut even then it’s kind of questionable. All clubs and organizations are doing things on campus, but they don’t need to be acknowledged constantly – that’s just not how the world works.â
Junior Joe Wagner said he also believes an additional transcript is unnecessary.
âTranscripts are just supposed to focus on school,â Wagner said. âIf something is that important, why not just put it in your resume?â
Only a few other schools currently offer co-curricular transcripts, including Georgia College and State University and University of North Florida. Parks said co-curricular transcripts make up about 22 percent of Elonâs transcript orders.
Whether the co-curricular transcript catches on remains to be seen, as it remains a fairly new concept.
Frank Sherwood Rowland. Photo courtesy of nobelprize.org.
Ohio Wesleyan alumnus and 1995 Nobel Prize winner Frank Sherwood Rowland will be honored at the next Heritage Day celebration in November.
Sherwood, who was born in Delaware, Ohio, won the 1995 Nobel Prize for his work in chemistry alongside fellow chemists Mario Molina and Paul Crutzen.
With the help of Molina, he discovered that propellants from chlorofluorocarbons sped up the breaking down of the ozone layer. Their discovery prompted international change in the chemical industry.
Heritage Day is celebrated on, or as close to Nov. 13 as possible, to commemorate the first day of classes at OWU in 1844.
A committee works all year to put together a day-long event that will inform students about the history of Ohio Wesleyan.
According to heritageday.owu.edu, âEach year a new topic is celebrated bringing together faculty, students, staff, and friends of the University through the Heritage Day committee.â
âWe’re still determining next year’s program, but more than likely it will focus on environmental and sustainability issues in honor of Rowland’s work,â said Heritage Day committee member Chad Johns, the director of mission in the Chaplainâs Office.
Rowland graduated high school before turning 16. He went on to attend OWU and graduate in 1948 at the age of 18. He earned a degree in chemistry, math and physics. During his time as a Battling Bishop he was also the sports editor of TheTranscript, played on the basketball team and was a member of Delta Tau Delta.
âI think he came back around 10 years ago, maybe a little less, to talk to the fraternity,â said junior Bill Milanick, the current president of Delta Tau Delta.
Milanick went on to say that Rowland â as well as Branch Rickey – are the two brightest people to come out of Delta Tau Delta.
âItâs inspiring, I wonât say we try to live up to his name because I donât think we are going to win any Nobel Prizes but his accomplishments impress upon us to be great,â Milanick said.
Ohio Wesleyanâs lack of gender-inclusive housing may prevent some students from living with who they are comfortable with, and Residential Life (ResLife) has plans to change this.
Gender-inclusive housing means students of all gender identities can live together in the same room or suite.
According to a document written by interns at the Spectrum Resource Center, âgender-inclusive housing provides students maximal choice in determining and taking responsibility for their own living arrangements.â
One of the students impacted by OWUâs non-inclusive housing is freshman Ryan Bishop, a student from Bulgaria who identifies as transgender.
Bishop said he was initially assigned female roommates because he is documented as a female, but was then offered a single room.
âBasically I was told that they (ResLife) canât put me with male students because gender-inclusive housing is not a thing here,â Bishop said. âBut a single room is what they can offer me.â
He said he thought the administration would approve his desired placement if he changed his gender on his documentation, but it would be âproblematicâ if his parents found out.
Bishop recently accepted a bid to the Chi Phi fraternity, but is not allowed to live in the Chi Phi house because it is all-male housing.
Senior Kyle Simon, a member of Chi Phi and an intern in the Spectrum Resource Center, said for Chi Phi to be able to extend Bishop a bid, the fraternity brothers had to call their national headquarters. Then, he said they talked to Dana Behum, assistant director of student involvement for fraternity and sorority life, who was âextremely supportive.â
Bishop said living at Chi Phi would be great, though he is a private person and would prefer having a single.
He said he had not intended to join a fraternity at first, but chose to accept his bid to Chi Phi because he knew the brothers would provide the kind of support he never had.
Simon said even with the current plan for gender-inclusive housing, Bishop may not be allowed to live at the Chi Phi house because the plan focuses on internal bathrooms where men and women are already housed.
âIf we at Ohio Wesleyan are talking about how diverse we are and how great of a supportive community we are, and our policies donât support transgender students, then how supportive are we really?â Simon said. âAnd currently, our Residential Life staff does very, very little to accommodate transgender students.â
Chad Johns is an associate chaplain and adviser to Chi Phi, and said he has heard OWU loses prospective students because of the lack of gender-inclusive housing.
âI think gender is one of the things we get overly concerned about a lot of times in religion,â Johns said. âI think this is a campus where people stay with their friends in different contexts, and letting that be an official living situation isnât anything to worry about as long as everyone whoâs involved wants to be in that living situation.â
Meredith Dixon, assistant director of residential life, said the Spectrum Resource Center, Womenâs Resource Center and SAGE House are working together on a proposal for gender-inclusive housing that the ResLife office will consider.
She said her office has been working on bringing gender-inclusive housing to OWU for over a year and hopes to implement it by the fall of 2016.
âWeâre not quite on the cutting edge, but weâre also not far behind,â Dixon said.
Converting residential facilities to be gender inclusive would not be expensive or involve many changes, she said.
âWeâre actually pretty lucky because most of our facilities have suite-style rooms and bathrooms, so we donât have to do a lot,â Dixon said.
She said Bashford and Thomson Halls would likely remain single gender by floor. The other residence halls would have gender inclusive suites, and students could choose to opt in or not.
Dixon said educating people about gender-inclusive housing would be an important task and she was curious to see how the change is received, especially by alumni, parents and older members of the community.
âGender-inclusive housing is something that really only pertains to a small number of students, but I think for that small number of students itâs really important to their daily life and their level of comfort here,â Dixon said.
Discussion centered on the issue of how Ohio Wesleyan portrays its message to prospective students at the Monday faculty meeting.
President Rock Jones announced that MindPower Consulting, based in Atlanta, will visit campus next week to meet with faculty and tour the university.
âMindPower is a sharp, clean, forward-thinking firm,â said Susan Dileno, vice president for enrollment.
The goal in bringing in the consulting company is to better present the message of Ohio Wesleyan to prospective students, especially the OWU Connection. Such programs include Theory-to-Practice grants, Travel-Learning courses, Course Connections and student individualized projects.
Jones said this campaign should focus on developing a comprehensive message of what we [the university] are promising students. He said they need to find a way to better present the opportunities in the OWU Connection, especially the student individualized projects (SIPs) because they are more compelling.
Amidst concerns from faculty members about the effectiveness of hiring an outside firm to better tell the message of OWU, Jones said this company will provide expertise and creative thinking and it is not unusual for universities to pursue this route.
He added it has been 10 years since such a comprehensive look from a consulting firm has happened at OWU.
Professor of English David Caplan brought up the concern of cost for hiring MindPower.
Jones said outside of the normally printed publications and yearbooks, the range would be around $200,000.
âI appreciate the candor and depth of thought,â Jones said at the end of his report.
Changes to classes
The Humanities-Classics department split into the comparative literature department and classics program at the end of the spring semester last year, but the course designations stayed the same.
The Academic Policy Committee approved the transitions of formally addressed HMCL classes to the new designation of CMLT and CLAS at the faculty meeting.
Anne Sokolsky, associate professor of comparative literature and head of the department, added that the previously labeled HMCL 124 Love and Sexuality classes will now be four separate course numbers, which allows students to receive credit for taking the class with different professors.
She said each class is completely different from the other and focuses on different locations and literature.
Previously cross-listed courses between botany/microbiology and zoology, such as ZOOL/BOMI 120, will now be addressed as biology courses, BIOL 120. These classes will still count as both botany/microbiology and zoology classes in terms of distribution, according to Paula White, professor of education and chairperson of the Academic Policy Committee.
The faculty also approved the addition of four new permanent additions to the curriculum.
Memorials
Three deceased members of the OWU community were remembered through memorial resolutions.
Verne Edwards died in November 2014. He taught journalism at Ohio Wesleyan for 34 years and was the advisor for The Transcript and had an impressive resume of journalism work in the field.
Chaplain Jon Powers honored Reverend James Leslie who died in October 2014. Leslie was the first full-time chaplain and director of religious life at OWU for 28 years and helped support numerous clubs and organizations at OWU, such as founding the Student Union on Black Awareness (SUBA).
Catherine Schlichting was an honorary alumna who died in July 2014. She worked her way up from a reference librarian at Slocum Library to being the curator for the Ohio Historical Collection. Catherine Cardwell, who read her memorial, commented that she was a source of knowledge for anything about OWU, and the phrase âask Cayâ was often used.
House of Thought. Photo courtesy of the OWU website.
Gathered in the tiny living room inside House of Thought (HoT), all 10 Small Living Unit (SLU) residents got together to express their grievances.
The subject at hand: HoTâs application for renewal was denied, and as a result, the SLU will not be returning.
Senior Todd Zucker, a resident of HoT, said they were told by Residential Life (ResLife) staff that there were several problems with their application.
âWe felt that the house has struggled to meet occupancy and complete house projects this year, which indicate their lack of sustainability as a community,â said Wendy Piper, director of ResLife at OWU.
These occupancy concerns, according to the residents of HoT, are unfair.
âWe had all of our spaces filled,â said senior Felicia Rose, the house moderator. âTwo of our new members had not officially âchecked-outâ of their old dorms, so they werenât âofficiallyâ residents of HoT when we submitted the application for renewal.â
Rose added that the two new members had tried to contact their Resident Assistants (RAs) to check out of their dorms, but their RAs had not responded to them.
Zucker said the house had seven people last semester.
âWe have 10 people living here this semester, and 10 people were lined up to live here next semester,â said Zucker. âDespite all new members knowing that this house was going to be razed, and we wouldn’t have a house.â
Levi Harrel, a residential life coordinator (RLC) and a member of the SLU selection committee, said all SLUs are required to have 100 percent occupancy throughout the entire year.
HoT had only completed two of the required 11 house projects at the end of last semester.
âIt was expected that they complete at least half of the required house projects by the end of the first semester,â Harrel said.
Rose says ResLife told her that the house had the entire year to complete their house projects.
Rose said it is hard to know the rules or what ResLife expects from them when there are no written guidelines or rules for SLU members.
Harrel said every member of the SLU community is required to perform one house project per year. House moderators are required to complete two.
Junior Sarah Richmond, a resident of HoT, brought up the point that SLUs are the only non-dorm living option for women.
âMen get to live in a fraternity or a SLU, but women are not allowed to live in the sorority houses, so this is the only place I can live if I donât want to live in a dorm,â Richmond said.
Replacement SLU?
âEach year, Small Living Units must submit a proposal for renewal and be selected as a SLU for the following year,â said Piper. âStudents also have the opportunity to propose new SLUs each year.â
In addition to the HoTâs denial of renewal, a proposal for a new SLU was accepted by ResLife for next year.
The House of Spiritual Athletes (HSA) will be joining the OWU community in the fall, Piper said.
Freshman Conner Brown, one of the founders of HSA, said they will be one of the first SLUs to be completely substance free.
âWe will strive for a high standard of maturity and morality, and, as a group, we believe that a substance-free environment is the best way to help us achieve that goal,â said Brown.
The last time a SLUâs application for renewal was denied, according to Piper, was the Creative Arts House in 2010.
âIn 2010, the Creative Arts House submitted an application that we initially did not renew on account of our concerns for their physical structures that were located at 110 and 114 Rowland Ave.,â Piper said in an email. âUltimately, we worked to keep Creative Arts House open amidst certain plans to raze the structures in 2011. The Creative Arts House submitted an application in 2011 but was not renewed. Coincidentally, the last time that we had a SLU that was not renewed and a new SLU that was accepted in its place was when the House of Thought replaced the House of Spirituality in 2003.â
Duplexes on Rowland Ave.
In June of this year, Piper said the university has plans to raze the structure at 118 Rowland Ave.
âWe are currently surveying the property and working with a team of architects to determine what the best location will be for newly constructed SLUs,â said Piper. âWe hope to have a confirmed site very soon so that we can make plans for construction to commence over the summer.â
Many SLUs are in poor physical condition, according Zucker.
âIt usually takes the school about a month to fix something in the house when it is broken,â Zucker said.
Harrel agrees the structures are in poor physical condition.
âIt is just time to update the structures, they need it desperately,â Harrel said.
Harrell said the university plans on building a series of duplexes over the next several years to which the SLUs on Rowland Avenue would be relocated.
âIt makes sense to start building at 118 Rowland Ave.,â said Harrel, âAs it will be the first building to be demolished.â
Ohio Wesleyanâs digital infrastructure, studentsâ financial obligations and ice cream all made it onto the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) agenda Monday, Feb. 23.
Junior Emma Drongowski, vice president of WCSA, began her report to the full senate on an economic matter. Due to the fact that âenrollment [is] going down, [but] clubs stay the same,â the administration is beginning talks to increase the student activity fee, a component of OWUâs general tuition statement. This money would go towards supporting the many clubs funded by WCSA.
From money matters, Drongowski moved on to soft-serve ice cream. Requests for ice cream machines have been common over the past few years. Now the potential for an ice cream machine in one or more of the OWU dining facilities is being discussed by executive members of WCSA, something they are âreally passionate about.â
The campus relations report focused on a hashtag competition that is currently being organized. The winning prize for the competition, an Amazon gift card, was also announced. A date for the beginning of the competition has not been set.
The campus relations committee made clear their intention of setting up a table in the Hamilton-Williams Atrium. The WCSA senators who man the table will receive feedback from students about proposed changes to the academic calendar. The responses from the Thursday, Feb. 19 tabling were too varied for a consensus to emerge.
Testing is underway for an information technology hotline, aimed at documenting internet outages and dead zones across campus. The number will be distributed after WCSA senators use the service this week on a trial basis. Text messages to the number will be sent to the Information Systems office in an attempt to reduce the wait time on internet-outage repairs.
The final announcement before the full senate adjourned was made by Dean of Students Kimberlie Goldsberry. She reported that the last week to complete a survey on sexual assault began today (Feb. 23). Participation in the survey is now at 24 percent, four percent higher than last Mondayâs (Feb. 16) rate.
