Fingerhut to honor Choose Ohio First scholars in Dayton

By Dave Larsen | Friday, November 6, 2009, 03:35 PM

Eric D. Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, will provide congratulatory remarks on Sunday, Nov. 8, at a reception honoring nearly 600 local scholars of the Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program. The event will be held at 2 p.m. at the Dayton Convention Center.

U.S. Air Force Col. Bradley D. Spacy, commander of the 88th Air Base Wing and Installation at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, will give the keynote address.

The scholars, from the eight institutions that make up the Dayton Regional Collaborative, represent some of Ohio’s most promising students studying in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine (STEM) and STEM education programs, according to the Board of Regents.

“Our future workforce depends on our ability to retain our best and brightest students in Ohio,” Fingerhut said. “This next class of STEM scholars will become the competitive advantage our businesses need in a global marketplace.”

Students chosen to participate in the two-year, $100 million Choose Ohio First Scholarship Program are Ohio residents studying in STEM disciplines, the health care professions or STEM teacher education. Scholarships are awarded in varying amounts, from $1,500 to $4,700 annually, to promising undergraduate and graduate students at Ohio institutions.

Eight area colleges and universities joined together to form the Dayton Regional STEM Collaborative, which was awarded a $3.9 million grant from the Board of Regents for their proposal, “Growing the STEM Pipeline in the Dayton Region — Becoming an International Center of Excellence for Human Effectiveness/Human Performance.”

Wright State University is the lead institution in the Dayton Regional Collaborative. The other schools are Central State University, the University of Dayton, Wittenberg University, and Clark State, Edison, Sinclair and Southern State Community Colleges.

For more information about Choose Ohio First, click here.

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Local extreme makeover to air Sunday

By Kelly Mori | Friday, November 6, 2009, 01:45 PM

ABC TV’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition , featuring a Beavercreek family, is expected to air this Sunday at 8 p.m.

Wittenberg University is among dozens of local organizations and businesses that donated time and money to the project to construct a new home for the James Terpenning family.

During the Aug. 6 unveiling of the new house, Wittenberg officials presented four tuition waivers to the family’s children -Josselyn, 6, Jacob and Justin, 2 and Joshua,1. The scholarhips, with a current value of $540,000, were the largest educational gifts awarded to date on the program.

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Cedarville geology prof presents controversial findings

By Kelly Mori | Friday, November 6, 2009, 09:43 AM

The Coconio Sandstone at the Grand Canyon was formed in a water, not desert environment, according to research conducted by Cedarville University’s Associate Professor of Geology.

Professor John Whitmore, presented the results of his 10 years of research during last month’s annual meeting of the Geological Society of America.

The Coconino Sandstone is a rock layer near the top of the Grand Canyon. Many geologists believe it was formed in a wind-blown desert environment and the formation’s large sloping cross beds are the remains of ancient desert sand dunes.

Whitmore collected samples of this sandstone for microscopic examination of the sand grains. He found the sandstone contained dolomite ooliths, small ball-like structures that are only formed in marine settings. Other features such as grains of very soft mica were also evident under the microscope.

“We would not expect to see these minerals if this sandstone was formed in a desert,” Whitmore stated in a university release. “The blowing action of sand would quickly destroy these minerals; however they might survive if carried and deposited by water.”

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Central State to open $9.8 million Natural Sciences Department

By Dave Larsen | Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 12:04 PM

Central State University will hold a ribbon-cutting on Thursday, Nov. 5, to open its Natural Sciences Department in the newly completed Center for Education and Natural Sciences.

The event will take place at 11 a.m. on the Central State campus in Wilberforce, Greene County.

The Center for Education and Natural Sciences (CENS) is the first new academic building on the Central State campus in more than 20 years, according to university officials.

Phase I of the project, which houses the 60,000-square-foot College of Education, was completed in the fall of 2006 at a cost of $13.9 million.

Phase II is the Natural Sciences Department, a 40,000-square-foot facility that houses the university’s biology, chemistry and physics areas, as well as a greenhouse. The cost of the new addition was $9.8 million, according to Central State officials.

“The completion of this state of the art Center for Education and Natural Sciences represents continued growth and advancement for the university,” said John W. Garland, Central State president. “Students and faculty have the opportunity to work and learn in one of the premier educational facilities in the state.”

Central State is Ohio’s only public, historically black university. It has record enrollment this fall of 2,436 students, according to university officials.

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UD to hold H1N1 flu clinic for students on Nov. 5

By Dave Larsen | Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 05:26 PM

The University of Dayton Health Center has received its first supply of H1N1 flu vaccine for UD students, according to university officials.

This limited supply of vaccine will only be made available on Thursday, Nov. 5, to UD students age 24 and younger who have underlying medical conditions that might put them at high risk for complications from H1N1, also known as swine flu.

Those conditions include asthma, diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease, as well as pregnancy.

An immunization clinic for UD students with underlying medical conditions will be held from 4-6 p.m. Thursday in the MAC gym at the RecPlex.

Students who wish to receive the H1N1 flu vaccine must bring their UD student IDs and wear clothing that allows the upper arm to be easily exposed, according to university officials. Those without a student ID will not be allowed to receive the vaccine.

Students who receive the vaccine will be required to complete a registration form.

The Health Center expects to receive additional doses of the H1N1 vaccine in the near future, and all UD students age 24 and younger will be encouraged to get the vaccine at that time.

UD faculty and staff are instructed to contact their doctors regarding the H1N1 vaccine.

For UD H1N1 flu updates, click here.

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UD to hold ‘Kristallnacht’ vigil on Nov. 9

By Dave Larsen | Tuesday, November 3, 2009, 04:45 PM

The University of Dayton will hold a candlelight vigil on Monday, Nov. 9, to remember the night that many historians view as the beginning of the Holocaust.

The public is invited to join UD faculty, staff and students at 9 p.m. Monday at Humanities Plaza for a ceremony to commemorate Kristallnacht — the “Night of Broken Glass.”

On Nov. 9, 1938, the Nazis launched a wave of pogroms — state-sanctioned, anti-Jewish riots — against Germany’s Jews.

Using the pretext of the assassination of a German diplomat in Paris, Joseph Goebbels urged Storm Troopers to stage violent reprisals. The night of rampages resulted in 91 Jewish dead, hundreds injured, and 7,500 businesses and 177 synagogues gutted, according to the Columbia Encyclopedia.

The name Kristallnacht is a reference to the broken glass that resulted from the riots, as countless windows in synagogues and Jewish-owned businesses were shattered.

The riots marked an intensification of Nazi anti-Jewish policy that would culminate in the Holocaust — the systematic, state-sponsored murder of Jews.

“We live in a world where ethnic and racial violence still exists, in places like Darfur, for example,” said Sister Laura Leming, a UD sociology professor.

“As a Catholic university that celebrates diversity and community and commemorates the martyrdom of Marianist priest Jakob Gapp in the Holocaust, it is fitting for us to stand together and say ‘never again,’ ” Leming said.

In the event of heavy rain, the vigil will be held in the Immaculate Conception Chapel on UD’s campus.

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Ohio First Lady to visit innovative Wright State class

By Dave Larsen | Monday, November 2, 2009, 01:26 PM

Ohio First Lady Frances Strickland will visit Wright State University on Thursday, Nov. 5, to observe the pilot class of a program on teaching science and math through music and art.

The class, “Teaching Science through Music and Art,” is the cornerstone of Wright State’s STEAM3 (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Music, Math and Medicine) program for a limited number of art education, music education and math/science education majors.

The program’s 12 students are learning how to teach science and math classes in Dayton area elementary and secondary schools using music or art as the methodology, according to Wright State officials. The course is taught by a team of instructors from the university’s art, music and math disciplines.

The students also work with area elementary and secondary school teachers, and the lessons they design are presented in the actual classrooms of these teachers.

Frances Strickland, the wife of Gov. Ted Strickland, is an educational psychologist with an interest in education issues, according to Wright State officials.

The STEAM3 program is funded by the late Edgar Hardy, a Wright State founder, chemist and former director of research for the Monsanto Company in Dayton. Hardy reportedly funded STEAM3 to demonstrate his interest in developing a program combining the visual arts, music and science.

Also on Thursday, a lecture on “Art in the Science Institution” will be presented at Wright State by JD Talasek, director of cultural programs for the National Academy of Sciences in Washington D.C. The lecture will be held at 7 p.m. in Wright State’s Schuster Concert Hall. Sponsors of the event include the STEAM3 program.

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