An Ohio Wesleyan chemistry professor has accepted a job at the Ohio State University where he will serve as an assistant professor focusing on antimicrobial drug discovery.
Mark Mitton-Fry has taught several chemistry classes and labs at OWU for the past four years. After this semester, he will work in the division of medicinal chemistry and pharmacognosy at OSU’s College of Pharmacy.
Mitton-Fry’s new position will be much more heavily focused on research with collaborators from the College of Pharmacy, the College of Medicine and elsewhere at OSU.
“I will supervise graduate students pursuing their Ph.D.s, and I will also likely hire postdoctoral researchers for my group,” Mitton-Fry said. “Building a team with diverse expertise will give us the opportunity to investigate complex but critically important problems in infectious disease.”
Mitton-Fry said he is thrilled about the opportunity to lead a research program in the area of infectious disease and is excited about the new challenges.
Before starting his academic career, he worked as a medicinal chemist in the pharmaceutical industry, with a portion of his career being devoted to antibacterial research.
“Multidrug-resistant bacterial infections constitute a significant threat to human health, and this position will hopefully give me an opportunity to have an impact on that problem,” Mitton-Fry said. “The process of trying to invent new medicines is an exhilarating one, and I look forward to the dynamic research environment at Ohio State.”
Junior Rebecca Manning, who is a chemistry and biology double major, said she is sad to see him go and that he will be missed by many.
“Dr. Mitton-Fry is so kind and helpful,” Manning said. “I have learned a great deal from him during my time here at OWU. He is an exemplary mentor and professor. He is known for his many achievements and will continue to achieve greatness wherever he goes.”
Mitton-Fry added, “I have loved my time at Ohio Wesleyan, and I will certainly miss my students. My colleagues in the chemistry department have been very supportive during my time here, and they have been excellent mentors. I will miss seeing them everyday.”
Some of his students from his very first class at OWU (Chem 110 in Fall 2012) are graduating this May and he looks forward to celebrating their accomplishments with them.
Amy Butcher, assistant professor of English at Ohio Wesleyan, uncovered the difficulty of assigning an emoji via text message to her friend in her most recently published article in The New York Times.
The article, “Emoji Feminism,” does not only showcase the arduous task of deciding what emoji to give her friend, but how the options of emojis for women are limited.
Within the article, Butcher writes that there are in fact emojis for women, but not any for women “engaged in activity or a profession.”
“There [are] only archetypes: the flamenco dancer in her red gown, the bride in her flowing veil, the princess in her gold tiara,” Butcher wrote. “There was a set of ballet dancers complete with bunny ears and black leotards, their smiles indicating that, gosh, they were so grateful to God and everyone, really, for this opportunity to pose for Playboy.”
Butcher was looking for empowering depictions of women to assign to her friend.
“Where was the fierce professor working her way to tenure?” Butcher wrote. “Where was the lawyer? The accountant? The surgeon?”
“How was there space for both a bento box and a single fried coconut shrimp, and yet women were restricted to a smattering of tired, beauty-centric roles?”
Image courtesy of emojibase.com
When unable to find exactly what they were looking for, Butcher and her friend decided on a penguin.
The anonymous friend of Butcher featured in the article is Ellen Arnold, an associate professor of history at OWU.
“I was proud to have been part of the genesis of this article, although it was a bit odd to be featured (anonymously) in such a major news source,” Arnold said. “One thing that I love about the article, though I’m anonymous, [is that] Amy did a really nice ‘capsule’ version of me.”
“What I enjoyed most was going on Twitter after the article was published and seeing happy and congratulatory penguins everywhere. It shows how much Amy’s voice and concerns resonated.”
Butcher said she truly enjoyed writing the article that raised the question of why there is imminent disparity between men and women, even on the “small screen.”
“I really love comedic writing, and certainly the subject of women in academia,” Butcher said. “The place of professional women within our culture more generally is of great personal interest to me.”
Butcher had both supportive and dismissive responses to her essay in the comments section of the publication.
“Although I had great support from male friends and colleagues, a lot of male commenters predictably complained about the trivialness of the issue, minimizing the larger argument altogether,” Butcher said.
“Some even argued that an adult and professor of English shouldn’t be using emojis in the first place, but I find that argument boring, agist and classist.”
Butcher explained that getting written work into The New York Times is not easy.
“My submission went through what we call the ‘slush pile,’ which is the default email address where thousands of pieces are sent monthly,” Butcher said. “Most often, submissions sent in this way are rejected, but this piece was different.”
The opinion page editor liked Butcher’s article and reached out to her the day after her submission to accept the piece.
“The editor really enjoyed my work and sense of humor and has invited me to send new work to her as I write it,” Butcher said. “I have two pieces I’m in the process of drafting for her, and I’ll send them to her in time, but I have no idea if these new essays will be of any interest to her or not.”
Butcher said that those who are not official writers for the publication do not get re-published for another 3 months. As a professor, that time span is somewhat beneficial.
Butcher has taken after her mentor, John D’Agata, when it comes to being a professor and a writer.
“[He considers] himself exclusively a teacher from September to May and exclusively a writer in the months in-between,” Butcher said.
Being a professor requires a lot of commitment inside and outside of the classroom, which Butcher finds makes it hard to write during the academic year.
“Not only lesson planning, reading and grading, but writing letters of recommendation for past and current students,” Butcher added. “And helping students secure internships and polish off graduate school applications, serving on campus committees, attending readings and plays and recitals, and moreover, just being a helpful presence in a student’s life.”
Senior Adelle Brodbeck, who is currently taking Butcher’s magazine writing class, said it’s great having her as a professor.
“It is so refreshing to have an educator that is close to college age,” Brodbeck said. “It’s much easier to relate to her. Also, it’s nice to have a female professor for once. Out of my four years, the vast majority of my classes have been taught by men.”
Brodbeck enjoyed reading “Emoji Feminism,” as well.
“I thought it was light-hearted and fun, but also had an important message,” Brodbeck said. “In this new age of communication, what are the ways in which we can support each other? Especially how can we support and empower women when the majority of today’s tools are created to favor men.”
As Butcher addresses in her article, sexism has long existed before emojis.
“Emoji diversity is a very small issue plaguing women and our culture more generally,” Butcher said. “But it’s representative of an overwhelming cultural and daily accumulation of grievances.”
“Emojis are the least of it.”
To read Butcher’s piece in The New York Times click here.
Dale J. Brugh, professor of Chemistry has been appointed as the university’s first Associate Dean of Innovation.
According to a press release sent by Cole Hatcher, director of media and community relations, “Brugh will research and evaluate the impact of potential new academic programs, advise the university on ways to streamline academic policies and practices, promote the use of new time-saving technologies, and contribute to institutional research.”
Provost Chuck Stinemetz in his message to the campus said, “Dale brings a unique combination of creativity, reasoning, and experience to the position. His recent work as chair of the Faculty Personnel Committee also highlights his ability to both implement policy revision and apply technology to allow for more efficient processes.”
Brugh said, “I look forward to helping faculty translate their ideas into changes that make Ohio Wesleyan University better able to serve current and future students,” according to the press release.
Trent Williams in the Hamilton-Williams dining hall. Photos by Courtney Dunne.
Courtney Dunne, Copy Editor
Sitting at the lunch table chatting with friends, eating Chartwells and talking about weekend activities makes for a normal day at Ohio Wesleyan.
On Wednesday, Feb. 17, that routine was broken as many OWU students walked into Ham-Will and held an unexpected demonstration to raise awareness for Black Lives Matter.
Students were subtle, but their voices were strong as they held signs that said, “Stop police brutality,” “Unapologetically black… Deal with it,” “Queer black lives matter” and “Black disabled lives matter.”
Students were spread throughout the dining hall, the Bakery, the Ham-Will Atrium, the Bishop Cafe and Beeghly Library.
Junior Caitlin Burton-Dooley stood up in the Zook Nook and asked if everyone could stand in solidarity with senior Reilly Reynolds, who silently held a sign to raise awareness for black lives. Everyone in Zook Nook fell silent.
The Student Union on Black Awareness (SUBA) organized the demonstration to educate the campus on the intersectionality within the African-American community.
Hayden Knisley participating in the demonstration.
Throughout the demonstration, students were seen having different reactions.
Some ignored it and kept on with their daily routine, some gave a nod in acknowledgment while others others, like Burton-Dooley, were vocal of their support.
“It was nice to see people taking it from Facebook into real life [and] doing what they say they want to do,” said senior Cecilia Smith.
Senior Mili Green said, “It’s good to see people taking action. They planned it well to coincide with the Butler A. Jones lecture on Race and Society.”
Junior Trent Williams said, “My sign “Stop police brutality” was as simple as it could get. Police brutality of any kind against any human being is unacceptable in general and should not be tolerated from any police district at all.”
Fourteen empty chairs sat in the front row as President Rock Jones stood behind the birch plywood podium and addressed the room filled with Ohio Wesleyan faculty during their Monday, Feb. 29 meeting, the second official meeting of the semester.
The faculty discussed options to increase enrollment, but Jones began by thanking everyone who was involved with the I³ 30-minute lecture and the production of “Artifice.” He was impressed by the diverse crowd of the lectures and called the production a “terrific, major production.”
Jones then asked a popular question: What’s the right size of OWU and “what strategies will achieve that size?”
A long list of ways to reach the goal of 2,020 students by the year 2020 was presented. A couple of those items to improve upon were career services, athletics, international admission strategies, regional recruiters and the physical campus, which Jones talked about and said “we’ve made strides, but there’s more to be done.” He also specifically brought up the improvement of first-year housing.
Chris Wolverton, professor of botany-microbiology and the chair of the Committee on University Governance, began with a PowerPoint to highlight student recruitment, student experience, program initiative and physical campus.
He reiterated the importance in finding the right students when recruiting.
“Identify students who are able to pay so we can continue to offer heavily discounted tuitions to those who need it.”
When talking about student experience, Wolverton said he wanted to get the point across to potential students.
“What are we about?” he said. “We could be about 50,000 things, but if [students] don’t see themselves here, they won’t come.”
The equation “630 + 85% = 2,026” was left on the screen. Wolverton explained that 630 represents the number of students and the percent represents retention rate.
When talking about the retention rate, which is currently at 81 percent, Wolverton said there’s a lot of work behind the number.
“It’s arguable this number is doable,” he said. “Redesigning the entire student life side of campus.”
When Wolverton pointed out the bold new strategy of the Board of Trustees, Michael Flamm, a faculty member, said, “We invest in the future because the faculty don’t take salary increases.”
Ellen Arnold, Andrew Brandt, Glenn Bryan, Susan Gunasti and David Councilman were awarded tenure and a neuroscience major with behavioral/cognitive and cellular/molecular tracks was approved by unanimous vote.
Anticipation filled the air Friday afternoon Feb. 26 as the Campus Programming Board (CPB) announced this year’s Bishop Bash performer.
CPB, the organization set up to fill the need for fun and excitement, brings to campus some kind of larger scale entertainment every year.
This spring, CPB is ramping things up and bringing Bo Burnham to campus. Burnham is a musically inclined comedian that went from being a YouTube sensation to being featured on MTV and Comedy Central.
As CPB announced that Burnham would be this year’s Bishop Bash performer, balloons fell from the lofts of the Ham-Will atrium and students screamed with excitement.
“I have been following Bo Burnham on YouTube since I was in middle school,” said sophomore Zoe Rosenthal. “His performance has changed a lot since then and his stage presence is ridiculous.”
As students popped balloons and ate brownies, courtesy of CPB, after the announcement, they discovered that there were free tickets in the balloons. Five students were able to get free tickets to this year’s Bishop Bash.
“I was so excited that I got a free ticket and it is actually a performer that everyone can enjoy,” said junior Jess Sanford.
President of CPB, sophomore Catie Kocian, told the Transcript that CPB had a ranked list of performers that they wanted to bring and Bo Burnham was at the top of their list.
“The mission of CPB is to bring high quality entertainment that will appeal to campus,” Kocian said. The reactions in the atrium after the announcement made it clear that many students were pleased with CPB’s choice to bring Burnham to campus.
On March 24, Burnham will be performing in Grey Chapel. Tickets are on sale now. They are $10 for OWU students, $15 for non-OWU students and $20 for general public.
Tickets are only available to OWU students until Monday, Feb. 29, which is when they will go on sale to the general public.
It’s official. Gender inclusive housing is coming to Ohio Wesleyan starting this fall, but the new policy does not apply to everyone.
Gender inclusive housing is a form of housing that allows students to live together in rooms and suites regardless of their gender identities.
Gender neutral symbol courtesy of allpix.club
Wendy Piper, director of Residential Life, said gender inclusive housing “aims to create an environment that acknowledges, appreciates and respects the diverse nature of the OWU student body, and supports the various needs of students who feel that they would be more compatible with a roommate of a different biological sex or gender identity.”
Piper said the ResLife staff has been talking with students about creating a gender inclusive housing policy since the fall of 2012 when some students came to them with “a vision for gender inclusive housing.”
The first proposed policy was drafted in February 2013. However, inquiries from students reach as far back as 2004. Piper said those inquiries went undeveloped mostly because the interested students graduated.
According to Piper, ResLife did not feel a gender inclusive housing policy should be developed with a “top-down administrative approach.”
All-gender bathrooms are on the rise. Image courtesy of mydoorsign.com
“It did not make sense to impose it upon students who were not requesting it,” she said. “As OWU students recognized an increasing need for gender inclusive housing options, we invited them to contribute to the introduction of a policy that would apply specifically to their needs.”
Junior Lissette Gonzalez, Sexuality and Gender Equality House (SAGE) moderator, said she understood this reasoning, but wished a gender inclusive housing policy existed before students became vocal about their discomfort with the current policy, instead of after.
Piper said the new housing policy does not apply everywhere on campus.
Hayes will remain women-only housing in order to accommodate female students who do not want to participate in a gender inclusive housing environment.
The policy also will not impact students living in fraternity houses because those fraternities are men-only organizations.
Bashford Hall, Thomson Hall and 4 Williams will also not be gender inclusive because they have common bathrooms on each floor.
Unlike other students, first-year and transfer students will have to specifically request to be included in the new policy, and requests will be handled on a case-by-case basis, said Piper.
“I think that’s a little bit hard and isolating just because there are a lot of first-year students who actually would benefit from this,” Gonzalez said. “But I guess it’s just to see how next year is going to go.”
Piper said she does not anticipate many complications.
“The only change that we have made to our online housing application is to ask students if they prefer a gender inclusive housing environment,” she said. “Residential Life will make gender inclusive housing assignments prior to the various housing selection events at which students come and select their room.”
Julie Duhigg, Spectrum Resource Center co-adviser, said this policy change means OWU is joining the 21st century.
“This means a healthy shift toward greater inclusivity for our students, and particularly for students that have historically been marginalized and not recognized,” she said.
Gonzalez said without gender inclusive housing, the transgender and non-binary students in SAGE can live in a single, but if they want to be with a roommate, they won’t necessarily be allowed.
“I think it’s important because there are a lot of different gender identities, and people should really be allowed to live in a space where they feel safe and live with people they feel safe with.”
Chris Mickens, a Public Safety officer, discovered his passion for designing jewelry on an Ohio Wesleyan mission trip to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
As an activity to pass time, Mickens and the attending students started making traditional Lakota beadwork. But it wasn’t until the summer of 2013 that Mickens began producing jewelry.
During that summer, Mickens’ mother passed away. His mother had a vast collection of earrings.
“If I didn’t know what to get [my mother], I knew I could always get her earrings,” Mickens said.
Initially, it was a coping mechanism and that fostered his passion for designing jewelry, especially earrings.
For more than 20 years, OWU has had a relationship with the Rosebud Reservation, which is the home of the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.
“OWU has been sending mission teams for many years now. It was Chaplin Powers’ brainchild basically,” Mickens said.
Creating jewelry also helps him with deal with his mild obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). He said designing jewelry helps prevent his OCD from occurring in other places in his life and he can use it as an advantage when creating pieces of work that require fine detail.
Public Safety Officer Chris Mickens.
As of now, Mickens has only designed some basic necklaces and bracelets and noted he is planning to create some that are more complicated.
Other creations include beading guitar strings and some medallions, specifically ones in Lakota style that are made in a circular piece of leather where beads could be sewed on to make a variety of patterns.
Mickens uses a large assortment of materials in his work. When he does “beading,” it particularly relates to the Lakota style. The beads he used are called seed beads.
“They are very small and made of glass, Mickens said. “And the colors of them span the spectrum.”
One of Mickens’ best pieces is untitled, but it has a larger glass rainbow bead in the middle, surrounded by wire that has smaller beads around it.
He started out with very little supplies: beads, headpins and ear wire. “This is the pair [of earrings] that kind of told me I knew what I was doing,” he said.
Mickens’ jewelry is mainly sold on his Facebook page to friends and family. One of his goals is to use the revenue he generates through his sales to help the Cuba mission team who has some financial struggles.
But he said his ultimate goal is to open a nonprofit organization, where all proceeds would be used for either purchasing school supplies for elementary school kids or provide a scholarship.
His mother helped out the community by donating school supplies to elementary school students, so starting a nonprofit organization honors his mother, he said.
Mickens would not consider labeling himself an artist or someone who comes from an artistic background.
He studied physical education and recreation of dance briefly in college, but came home after his second year when he had a child.
Senior Zak Davis goes for the shot. Photo by Leia Miza.
Areena Arora, Managing Editor
On Tuesday, Ohio Wesleyan hosted the quarter final match-up for the North Coast Atlantic Conference tournament at the Branch Rickey Arena, and defeated visiting Wabash College.
With a minute and half remaining, amidst a crowd of over 300 in attendance, the score was 97- 75 in favor of OWU, ultimately ending with a 100-80 win for the Bishops.
Head Men’s Basketball Coach Mike Dewitt said, “It’s a really good win for us…it’s nice to be able to still play this weekend.”
Wabash began with a 11-4 lead but toward the end of first half, OWU had a lead of 57-42.
“It’s one of the best seasons in school history and we just hope we can continue that as long as we can,” Dewitt said.
Kyle Brumett, head basketball coach at Wabash said, “(OWU) is really good. We’ve had success at times against them because they haven’t shot it as well as they have shot tonight. (OWU’s) game plan is out of the window, definitely and that’s why they are 1st place and we’re 8th.”
Sophomore Shooting Guard William Orr said, “This is the best group of players I’ve played with. We know the rules, we know what we need to know to win and that’s what we did tonight.”
According to the Battling Bishops website, the NCAC tournament semifinals and championship game will be held at OWU on Friday and Saturday. In the first semifinal, Hiram College will play against College of Wooster, followed by the second semifinal between Denison University and OWU.
Music filled Sanborn Hall as senior Billie Paulus began her senior recital on Feb. 14 at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Paulus had selected a variety of music to sing, which emphasized and showcased her wide range of vocal ability. The songs centered around love’s plight and anguish.
She performed works by Mozart, Schubert and Fauré, creating a mix of emotions as she sang about lovers’ sweet embrace.
Her mother said Paulus’ appreciation toward music began at a young a age. “[Paulus] loved music as a child [and] played piano by ear.”
She added that her daughter’s “love for choir really fueled her passion for music.”
Paulus said she had never expected to major in music, but she knows that she would’ve regretted it if she hadn’t.
Photo by Sam Ripper.
Since Paulus is a senior, this recital was her last time performing at OWU.
“She looks, walks, talks like her grandmother… to see her up on that stage meant the world to me,” Paulus’ mother said.
Paulus reflected on what it felt like to sing at OWU one last time, “[It was an] opportunity to share what I’ve been given, but mostly it just feels like I was able to give a gift I really love,” she said.
After graduation, Paulus said she plans on staying in Columbus, Ohio. She also said she wants to attend a postgraduate school for English after she works at her local church.
