Welcome to ROUNDS!
This weekly e-newsletter goes out to all OU-COM and CORE personnel and students.
The ROUNDS archive is here.
NEWS
Academic health center moves ahead
Since university academic deans issued their March 18 proposal, Ohio University administrators have moved ahead on the plan to create an academic health center involving OU-COM, several programs from the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS), and health-related programs from the Colleges of Education, Business and Fine Arts.
A steering committee, composed of faculty and administrators from both OU-COM and CHHS, has met regularly since May to help identify and address issues related to establishing the center (the formal name of which has yet to be determined). Doug Mann, Ph.D., OU-COM executive assistant to the dean and assistant professor of social medicine, and Jennifer Horner of CHHS both co-chair the steering committee.
Committee members are working to gather input from faculty members, draft a mission statement for the center, establish a project timeline, and determine necessary structural changes within both colleges. They will continue their work through summer and fall, and issue a set of recommendations for implementing the center.
Two faculty members cited among university’s top 10 spokespersons
Jay Shubrook, D.O. (’96), associate professor of family medicine, and Lawrence Witmer, Ph.D., professor of biomedical sciences, were among the top 10 most-cited faculty members in U.S. and international media outlets during the first six months of 2009, according to a report issued by Ohio University Communications and Marketing.
The report analyzed the university’s media coverage since January, using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
According to the report, produced by a third-party analysis, the spokespersons made an overall positive impact, whether speaking officially on behalf of the university or offering independent quotations.
Shubrook’s service on the editorial board of the Osteopathic Family Physician, a new peer-reviewed medical journal in partnership with the American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians (ACOFP), and his being named ACOFP “Young Physician of the Year”, garnered much attention, the report said.
Witmer was quoted in many stories relating to a dinosaur research, particularly that concerning the evolution of modern feathers.
www.ohio.edu/outlook/08-09/July/upload/OhioUniversityintheNews.pdf.
Prematriculation students “exceed expectations”
Nineteen first-year students completed the Prematriculation program Friday after four weeks of rigorous classwork.
“You have drunk out of a straw of medicine, and now we’re going feed you out of a fire hose,” Dean Jack Brose, D.O., told the students. “You are a serious and hard working group who has done a wonderful job this summer, and I look forward to working with all of you.”
Colette McLemore, assistant director of multicultural programs, said that the faculty members and students who worked with this year’s program participants reported only positive comments. “You surpassed what most of the professors expected,” she told the students.
Sean Gaines, OMS I, said the program exceeded his own expectations. “The best part of the program was getting a heads-up on the material and getting familiar with the faculty,” he said.
The 19 students return to campus later this month to join the rest of their classmates for the start of the anatomy immersion.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
ARC construction proceeds at furious pace
The Academic & Research Center (ARC) is really shaping up, with all primary utility systems in place and most of its drywall
and laboratory work benches installed. Outside, stately brickwork covers nearly the entire building – more than 85 percent,
according to project manager Dick Planisek.
Relay For Life event exceeds goal
OU-COM staffers helped raise more than $50,000 ($5,000 more than the stated goal) in the 25th annual Athens County Relay for Life event to benefit the American Cancer Society on July 10 and 11.
OU-COM participants included:
Tipton, Pendergast and Smith are all cancer survivors.
Relay for Life is an overnight event during which more than 3.5 million people from 4,900 communities across the country come together in teams and camp out and walk or run local tracks or paths to honor the lives of cancer survivors, remember lost loved ones and help fight cancer by raising money and awareness.
CALENDAR
Gevitz’ retirement reception
Please join us Tuesday to bid farewell to Norman J. Gevitz, Ph.D., chair of social medicine, whose last working day at OU-COM will be July 31.
Dunk Gevitz!
Speaking of Norm, some of you may remember this splash from the past: Norm Gevitz in a dunk tank! This Wednesday, during the fundraising event for the Shannon Berry, D.O. (’98) Endowed Scholarship, will be your final opportunity to dunk Norm.
Two balls cost $5, five balls $10 and for just $100, you can push the lever for a sure dunk. Picnic concessions will be sold.
Donations also can be made to The Ohio University University Foundation: Shannon Berry, D.O. (’98) Scholarship.
SURF closing presentations
The conclusion of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program will feature lunch presentations by SURF fellows.
· Event: Monday, July 27, noon to 3 p.m., Grosvenor and Irvine Halls
Convocation/White Coat Ceremony
Please join us to welcome the Class of 2013 at the annual Convocation and White Coat Ceremony.
· Event: Saturday, Aug. 15, 2 p.m., Memorial Auditorium (NOTE NEW TIME)
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Faculty Development Tidbit: Planning Lectures
A typical lecture presents a systematic, concise summary of the knowledge to be covered in the day’s assignment. Researchers call this approach “conclusion oriented.”
Don’t do it!
The university lecturer should not strive to be an abstractor of encyclopedias, but to teach students to learn and think.
A move from conclusion-oriented lecturing to active-learning teaching involves having students formulate questions, develop and test hypotheses, evaluate alternative solutions, put material in context, debate, diagram, and reflect on prior learning.
Find more “Teaching Tips” at your OU-COM & CORE faculty development Web resources: www.oucom.ohiou.edu/fd/programs.htm or www.ohiocore.org/cf/index.htm. If you have a great strategy that seems to always work, please send it to me, and I’ll include it in a future Faculty Development Tidbit. (Tidbits courtesy of your office of faculty development with Steve Davis, Ph.D.; Robbin Kirkland, Ph.D.; and Olivia Sheehan, Ph.D.)
Wolf to chair Department of Social Medicine
Jackie Wolf, Ph.D., professor of social medicine, will assume the duties of department chair from Norman Gevitz, Ph.D., who is retiring at the end of July. Wolf begins her new duties Aug. 1.
OU-COM IN THE NEWS
WOUB (7-6-09)
“New program for minority OU-COM students”
(Colette McLemore, assistant director of multicultural affairs, appeared live on WOUB’s Newswatch program on Wednesday, July 14, which was recorded for radio newscasts on Thursday, July 15.)
Please send your news/announcements to rounds@oucom.ohiou.edu each week by Wednesday, 3 p.m. for consideration in the following week’s ROUNDS. If you have questions or suggestions, please contact Anita Martin, assistant director of communication, at 593.2199 or martina@oucom.ohiou.edu.