Established in 1993 as a response to concerns over global deforestation, FSC is an independent, non-governmental, not-for-profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. FSC certification provides a credible link between responsible production and consumption of forest products, enabling consumers and businesses to make purchasing decisions that benefit people and the environment as well as providing ongoing business value.

“We are very pleased to be taking this step toward providing our customers with such a dynamic and credible certification scheme,” Grossman-Naples said. “FSC Certification is the gold standard of programs designed to promote total transparency in the use of sustainable materials and their processing within the paper and printing industries. This program will blend well with the many other outstanding efforts and programs that promote sustainability within Oregon State University.”

Peer Health Advocate Patric Abi Nader talks to an INTO student about the free smoking cessation program offered through Student Health Services. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

As Oregon State University prepares to become a smoke-free campus in September, efforts are being made to reach out to different populations to both educate them on the policy, and to offer access to the smoking cessation offerings that are available free to students and staff.

Currently, much work is being done to target INTO OSU students with a widespread outreach effort, and language, cultural, and religious considerations are key to the cessation policy’s message. Student Health Services’ newly hired graduate assistant Patrick Abi Nader, a native of Lebanon and a Peer Health Advocate with SHS, is using his own experiences as an international student to reach out to INTO students, and so far, has received a warm welcome.

“Students have been very open to discussing the issue,” he said. “Approaching them has been successful.”

There are a variety of ways in which Abi Nader and Peer Health Advocates have been reaching out to INTO students. Posters and educational materials are being translated into several native languages. Tabling events and workshops are being organized and Abi Nader even uses the old fashion technique of simply approaching students smoking outside the INTO building to chat with them.

So far, no one has been hostile, and in fact, Abi Nader said the fact that he’s a non-native speaker seems to put other international students at ease. It has also helped him as he gives smoking cessation counseling sessions to international students.

“They know they don’t have to speak perfect English to speak with me,” he said.

Abi Nader also tries to be culturally savvy about his approach. For instance, if he sees a group of male students from the Middle East standing together, he knows that one of them is likely the leader, or main influencer, of the group, so he tries to quickly establish which student is taking charge of the conversation, and directs his efforts that way. He is also fluent in Arabic, which can help the situation.

New INTO students arriving at OSU this summer and fall should already be aware of the coming smoke-free policy through INTO recruiters in their home countries. And once here, groups including Peer Health Advocates, University Housing and Dining Services, and Student Health Services will join INTO to make them aware of programs like free nicotine patches, gum and counseling sessions, to help smokers if they’re interested in quitting.

But Stacey Edwards, Smoke Free OSU Project Director and PHA Coordinator, recognizes that smoking isn’t just about addiction. It’s also about a social network that can be especially important to students coming to live in the U.S from other countries.

From right, Peer Health Educators Alex Pearson and Stephanie Liu hand out information about smoking cessation and the upcoming OSU smoke-free campus policy. (photo by Theresa Hogue)

“International students tend to cluster around each other when they arrive,” Edwards said. “Sometimes they’ll even pick up mannerisms, such as going outside to smoke together. Some students who haven’t smoked before pick up the habit when they come here.”

The hope is that the smoke-free policy on campus will actually encourage an environment where those students who want to quit will finally be able to because they won’t have the constant reminder or social pressure of groups smoking near buildings.

“It will become an environment that is supportive of their choice,” Edwards said.

Edwards said INTO OSU and UHDS staff have been important partners during the education process, and she’s encouraged that international students are slowly starting to come into SHS for smoking cessation counseling. Abi Nader has only had a handful of clients during his first two weeks with the program, but as word of mouth spreads, and the smoke-free campus deadline approaches, those numbers are bound to increase.

For more information: http://studenthealth.oregonstate.edu/tobacco-cessation

OSU Libraries was the first unit on campus and the first library faculty in the nation to adopt an Open Access policy. CEOAS followed suit, and recently, Extension and Experiment Station Communications collaborated with ScholarsArchive@OSU to place all EESC publications in the archive, including current and future publications.

What makes Open Access challenging are the agreements that researchers strike with publishers who accept their work for publication. Being published in top ranked peer-reviewed journals is an important part of the tenure and promotion process, but many publishers have restrictions on allowing free access to their work.

The topic of open access continues to be a political one as well. In 2008 the NIH Public Access Policy required that investigators funded by the NIH make their final manuscripts available free, online, within 12 months of publication. This is currently being challenged in Congress by a new bill that would end that policy and prevent other federal agencies from passing similar requirements.

According to Sue Kunda, OSU Digital Scholarship Librarian, a growing number of publishers who aren’t comfortable providing free access to their publications will allow authors to deposit a peer-reviewed final draft, rather than the published piece, into a repository like ScholarsArchive@OSU.

“We’d like publishers to be the ones who make that research freely available to anyone in the world with an Internet access,” Kunda said. “Obviously, not many publishers are on board with that, but some have made concessions in this area.”

Researchers themselves are responsible for negotiating their publishing rights from the peer-reviewed journals where they publish, so they’re on the front line when it comes to getting on-line access of their work approved. Faye Chadwell, Donald and Delpha Campbell University Librarian, said that the library offers author rights sessions for faculty to help them navigate the conversations around open access with publishers.

In 2005, Chadwell said the OSU Faculty Senate was one of the first in the country to pass a resolution that encouraged faculty members to seek publishing alternatives that would allow for open access.

“It was a big deal then, and we’ve been on a path moving toward a campus-wide open access policy,” she said. And open access is an important reflection of the university’s status as a land grant institution, she said, by providing as much public access as possible to the work of its faculty and researchers.

“It means greater visibility for OSU,” she said.

OSU was one of the first American universities to sign onto the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities, which is an international statement in support of open access. Chadwell said open access is not just about making research available to the public.

“It also helps to advance science,” she said. “It uses the powers of the Internet to make more research available to everyone, because that information is not going to be behind a barrier. Sometimes an inter-library loan can be terrific, but sometimes scientists can’t wait two days, they need it now.”

Barbara Lachenbruch, professor with the department of Forest Ecosystems and Society, was instrumental in moving the College of Forestry toward an open access policy. Named as part of the Inaugural Cohort of Faculty, OSU Libraries Open Access Hall of Fame, 2011, Lachenbruch is an advocate for the open sharing of academic research among both colleagues and the general public.

“The sooner you jump on the (open access) bandwagon, the sooner you’ll see your papers cited by other researchers,” she said. “We don’t want to be slow adopters.”

Lachenbruch pays attention to how her research is being used in ScholarsArchive@OSU, and has noticed some startling results. One of her papers, which appeared in a journal with a membership of only 450, has been viewed 206 times in ScholarsArchive@OSU, and has been cited 21 times in the work of other researchers. That kind of reach is not typical when depending on journal publication alone.

Having research be accessible to many is important, especially given her discipline, Lachenbruch said.

“There aren’t that many forestry schools in the country,” she said. “We don’t have a large, built-in group of academics perpetuating information to the public.”

And it’s not just new work that is being added to ScholarsArchive@OSU. Caryn Davis, assistant director for communications with the College of Forestry, has been adding archival articles to the system as well, and she says older journal articles are still being downloaded by users, despite sometimes being a decade older or more.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “We tend to think these research articles have a more limited shelf life, but some of these older articles still contain relevant information and are being downloaded dozens of times.”

When Davis first began working at the College of Forestry 20 years ago, the college  received requests for thousands of print copies of articles by forestry researchers. But as publishing moved onto the Internet, finding ways to disseminate that same information became more difficult.

Davis said she’s relieved that OSU librarians are working with faculty to make more and more of their work accessible through ScholarsArchive@OSU, because it fits in with the mission of research and outreach embraced both at the college and across the university.

“There are so many ways to participate in the fundraiser, from choosing to buy your lunch at one of the department and college lunch events, to donating a little each month out of your paycheck,” said food drive organizer Kate Sanders of University Events. “Every donation counts toward our goal, and makes a difference in the lives of our friends and neighbors who might otherwise go hungry.”

There are a number of ways to participate in this month’s food drive. You can write a check or make a cash donation through your department’s food drive coordinator. You can make a monthly contribution by clicking on the link provided on the food drive home page at http://oregonstate.edu/urm/events/food-drive. You can plan or support a food drive event — there are dozens across campus this year. Or you can bring in canned or dried foods to donate in your office.

The food drive is held in conjunction with the Governor’s State Employees Food Drive. The resources gathered by county Extension offices, Experiment Stations, Cascades Campus and Centers associated with OSU go to their local food banks. Agencies who benefit include local food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, day care centers, shelter homes, and gleaning groups in Linn and Benton counties.

Check out OSU Today for daily updates on food drive events happening on campus. Find out who your department food drive coordinator is and ask them how to help. Or contact organizer Kate Sanders at kate.sanders@oregonstate.edu for more ideas.

Gail Achterman was passionate about water resources, transportation issues, and creating dialogue. (photo: Kelly James)

Oregon lost a dedicated natural resources and environmental problem solver last week when Gail Achterman died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 62. Achterman had recently retired as director of the Institute for Natural Resources (INR) at Oregon State University, and was an adjunct professor in the Department of Forest Resources. She was also a lawyer, and had worked on natural resource issues for more than three decades.

A fourth-generation Oregonian, Achterman was best known for her innovative approach to creating dialogue around natural resource and environmental issues. As director of the Institute for Natural Resources, her approach embodied OSU’s Land Grant mission as she focused on bringing constituents together to talk about science, and on listening to public concerns and connecting them to university experts.

In her own blog, Achterman recalled her first memories of the Willamette River as a child, turned red from the outflow of a beet processing plant. She was forbidden from swimming in the river as a little girl, and the condition of river quality impressed upon her at a young age.

“Now 40 years after graduating from college and 33 years after moving home, I hope I can use all I’ve learned about natural resources, infrastructure and people to help others do what needs to be done to live in harmony with each other and with nature here,” she wrote.

Todd Jarvis, associate director for the Institute of Water and Watersheds and the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at OSU, said Achterman was a remarkable legal scholar in water resources.

“She was one of the few who recognized the direct connection of Oregon’s water to Oregon’s business, always pushing one to think out of the box to invest in water for agriculture, aggregate, forest ecosystems and our silicon forests,” Jarvis said. “The Institute for Water and Watersheds at OSU valued her selfless guidance and assistance with our growth and professional reputation in water scholarship.”

Julie Bain spent six years as Achterman’s assistant with the INR, and was constantly impressed with her dedication.

“The one phrase I heard most from Gail was ‘I know this will be difficult, but we need to make it work.’ This translated to: I know I’m on vacation then, but I’m going to participate anyway or I know I’m committed (two or three) different places but I’ll figure out how to do all of them,” she said. “Her commitment to OSU, OUS, Oregon, and the nation was tireless and knew no bounds.”

“Gail was a terrific bridge builder,” said Hal Salwasser, dean of the OSU College of Forestry, “and a bold leader for sustaining natural resources in ways that benefitted our communities, the economy and the environment.”

With a rich background in the legal groundings of natural resources first honed at the U.S. Department of the Interior, and a lifelong dedication to public service, Achterman was driven to build community among the many differing voices surrounding issues as controversial as watershed restoration and wildland fire management. It was her sense of humor that kept her lighthearted under pressure, said former colleague Sally Duncan, program manager of policy research for the Institute of Natural Resources.

“Gail had an insatiably curious mind, an ability to synthesize disparate ideas at a startlingly rapid pace, and a bone-deep joy in working for Oregon,” Duncan said. “She also had a great sense of humor and of the absurd, and the ability to take criticism and laugh at herself.”

Lisa Gaines, interim director for INR, agreed that Achterman’s ability to connect, and to keep a light heart, made her a true stand out.

“For many of us, Gail was more than a colleague — she was a friend, a mentor, an inspiration,” Gaines said. “Her ability to connect people with place, and to concisely and passionately state her vision for Oregon was brilliant. But there was nothing more wonderful than to see her laugh.”

An avid bicyclist, Achterman also served on the Oregon Transportation Commission and was chair from 2007 to August 2011. She was known for helping move ODOT away from a highway-centric approach, and advocated for support of biking and walking projects.

Thayne Dutson, dean emeritus of the College of Agricultural Sciences, chaired the committee that convinced Achterman to come to OSU. He praised her kindness and her intellect.

“She had a driven work ethic, and the combination of her intelligence and her work ethic made her really productive,” he said. “She also really cared about people, the state and natural resources.”

Achterman also had a rich set of connections across the state, and the ability to remember everyone she’d met and important details about them.

“OSU was extremely fortunate to have her for the time we did,” Dutson said.

The Oregon Legislative Assembly created a resolution honoring Achterman’s legacy of service to the state. Read the resolution here: http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/sites/default/files/osu-today/gail.pdf

A public memorial service for Achterman will be held Feb. 9, 3 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church Sanctuary at 1200 S.W. Alder St., Portland. A reception will follow the Multnomah Athletic Club, 1849 S.W. Salmon St. A campus memorial service will be held at 4 p.m., Feb. 24, in the Construction and Engineering Hall at LaSells Stewart Center.

In this Road Block, Cathi (with husband Bill) must memorize a phrase from Confucius in order to receive the next clue on The Amazing Race. photo: Robert Voets, CBS

When you’re 62 years old and you’ve spent 40 years as a tireless educator, odds are that your wish list consists of nothing more than a desire to sit down and relax for once in your life.

Cathi Alden thinks that philosophy is bogus. The Oregon State professor recently spent her “retirement” on a mission to do the following:

• Teach online classes at a major university
• Convince her husband to audition for a reality TV show
• Compete against former Olympians and other world-class athletes in a contest that clearly was not designed for “grandparents”
• Surprise herself and millions of naysayers by displaying superior know-how on national TV

That’s how Cathi and her husband, Bill, spent their summer. What’d you do?

It’s OK to be in awe of (or feel inferior to) the Aldens. That’s actually the proper response considering that they recently won the hearts of countless viewers of CBS’ hit show, “The Amazing Race.”

Perhaps no one followed Cathi’s TV exploits more excitedly than colleague Sue Helback, who leads the OSU Ecampus online Master of Education program.

“I read in the newspaper that she was on the show, and I thought, ‘I know this lady! She teaches in my online program,’ ” Helback said. “And every Sunday night, I’d be in my office and close my door and say, ‘Nobody bother me; my show is on.’

“I had never said those words before in my life. I don’t have ‘a show,’ but she had me hooked.”

That show – in which 11 teams of two trek around the world and take part in various challenges – has always intrigued Cathi and her husband, so much so that she convinced him to send an audition tape in 2009, and they were accepted last summer.

Before that, the Aldens played the part of armchair analysts to perfection, watching the show from their home on a farm in Albany, Ore., certain that they could endure the physical and mental strain of the challenges.

And then they met their opponents, and all their confidence evaporated.

“Terror. That sums it up. We were absolutely terrified when we saw them,” Cathi admits now. “There was one guy who played in the NFL, two Olympic snowboarders, a 19-year-old kid who had sailed around the world by himself, two people who had won ‘Survivor.’ And all of the teams were 30 years younger than us.

“We thought we might be eliminated in the first round.”

CBS may have thought so, too. They never referred to the Aldens as “teachers” or “educators” – it was always “grandparents” or “farmers” in bold, yellow letters across the TV screen.

It wasn’t the biggest vote of confidence, but Cathi and Bill quickly found their niche, using keen intellect and the skills they obtained years earlier – biking through Europe and navigating subway systems in unfamiliar places – to outpace other teams.

Their No. 1 advantage? Being nice and liking one another.

“We had a lot of success interacting with local people in the various countries, and we were never hesitant to ask for help wherever we were,” said Cathi, who retired as a high school principal in Corvallis in 2005 and immediately began teaching Ecampus courses. “Some teams spent a lot of time and energy arguing, and that gave us some confidence.”

They didn’t win the $1 million grand prize, but they finished in fifth place – better than half of the other teams. Along the way, the Aldens visited eight countries on three continents and took part in a series of bizarre challenges, from a bodybuilding competition to running a bunny through an obstacle course and everything in between.

“Did (Cathi) tell you about the time she had to carry a bedframe in Africa?” Helback asks, sounding more than a little impressed. “So here’s this petite, 60-year-old woman, staring at a huge wooden bedframe in Malawi, and she just loads it on her back and does the rest of the challenge. I was blown away. She just never gave up.”

And that seems to be Cathi’s defining characteristic, a zeal for life that keeps her foot on the accelerator, retirement be damned. Without that passion, she and Bill might have missed out on a significant moment of clarity.

“Every time I meet someone from another culture, it stretches you and enriches you,” she said. “It was a huge boost of confidence in our ability to be with people in other countries and feel so secure that most of the people in the world are very solid, very decent people.

“It was an incredible experience.”

~ Tyler Hansen

A photograph by Betsy Hartley is one of the pieces of staff and faculty art now on display at the LaSells Stewart Center. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

While only a small percentage of Oregon State University faculty and staff can call themselves professional artists, there are myriad hidden talents among the OSU community, and a few of those are now being revealed at the OSU Invitational Staff Art Exhibit, on display through Feb. 17 at the LaSells Stewart Center Galleria.

Photography, painting and drawings reveal a well of artistic skill from faculty and staff, and represent a variety of media, styles and subject matter as varied as the jobs they perform on campus.

Betsy Hartley, director of external relations for the College of Agricultural Sciences, first bought a camera when she was working in South Dakota. She began taking photos of the thousands of geese who were flying by her on a migratory flight path, in order to share the experience with her parents back home.

“I simply picked up a camera to take pictures to show my mom,” Hartley explained.  “She was disabled and not able to travel and get out – but was fascinated with my travels for work.   So I started taking pictures as a way to share my travels/work with her.  It grew from there.”

Hartley was impressed with how a photo could be so much more than a snapshot, and could tell a very distinct and detailed story if done right. She became enamored with photographing tiny details that are often overlooked by most observers.

Faculty and staff artwork is now on display at the LaSells Stewart Center. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Her portrait of a ladybug perched on a bright pink flower is one of the larger pieces in the exhibit.

“I love to put my pictures on large canvases,” she said.  “Especially pictures that lean toward being macro or single-subject.  I like making the little things jump to life and take center stage — ladybugs, spider webs, petals on a flower, drops of water.”

Hartley’s mother passed away almost two years ago, but Hartley still goes out to capture those stories on film.

“I still feel like I’m taking pictures for her sometimes,” she said.

The art show is made possible with the assistance of the Association of Office Professionals and the Professional Faculty Leadership Association.

The regular gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

~Theresa Hogue

The popular comic "PhD," by Jorge Cham, has inspired a movie, which will be screened at OSU.

That series will begin this Thursday, Jan. 19, with a special free screening of the “PhD Movie,” based on a series of popular comics by Jorge Cham. The comics focus on issues in graduate education, employment and life. The screening begins at 7 p.m. in Milam Auditorium. While graduate students are the focus, the public is welcome.

The Graduate School is creating a five-year strategic plan, and administrators want to make sure that the voices of graduate students are included. Courtney Everson, Graduate Liaison for the OSU Graduate School, in collaboration with graduate leadership organizations on campus, is organizing several events to gather student input.

The second event is a series of open forums on Graduate Education at OSU. The forums are designed to gather input, ideas and concerns about graduate education at OSU from graduate students.

“We want to create more collaboration on campus,” Everson said. “It’s hard to get interdisciplinary thinking going, and we want to see more initiatives that span colleges and programs.”

Although all the forums will be open to graduate students, the final forum will be focused on the specific needs of international graduate students, who deal both with the traditional issues of graduates as well as cultural, language and other issues specific to foreign scholars.

The forums take place Jan. 31, Feb. 1, Feb. 6 and Feb. 7. Information from the forums will be complied and presented to the strategic planning committee for the Graduate School, and many of the ideas may be integrated into their final report.

The open forums are sponsored by the OSU Graduate School in collaboration with the Coalition for Graduate Employees, ASOSU, Team Liberation, and Mediators Beyond Borders. All forums will be held in Memorial Union 109. RSVP to one of the scheduled open forum event dates using this survey tool:
https://surveys.bus.oregonstate.edu/main.aspx?SurveyID=4734.

President Ray will discuss the enormous impact OSU is currently having on the state.

Oregon State University President Ed Ray will share some exciting stories about the university’s direct impact on Oregon and beyond when he addresses campus this week. Ray will speak Thursday, Jan. 19, from 3 to 5 p.m. in the LaSells Stewart Center.

From supporting Portland’s signature outdoor and athletic apparel industry and playing a key role in the state’s $4.3 billion agriculture industry, to producing alumni that work in eco-technology, microbrewing and event production, OSU makes a far greater impact on Oregon than many realize.

Ray will discuss a number of specific and measurable examples of the university’s impact, both personal and economic, that have come as a result of OSU’s cutting-edge research, entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to its land grant mission.

He will also talk about the commitment that faculty, students and alumni are making to promote economic growth, strengthen communities and improve the quality of life around the state.

To add this event to your calendar: http://oregonstate.edu/ua/events/sites/default/files/calapp/making_impact_that_counts.vcs

The group Outspoken performed at the event. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

For 30 years, Oregon State University faculty, staff, students and community members have gathered at the university to celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. This year, the annual MLK Peace Breakfast was packed with 300 guests despite a snowy, icy commute.

Emceed by students Anderson DuBoise III and Agustin Vega-Peters, the event honored the achievements of several OSU staff members who have done extraordinary work in the areas of social justice and diversity, and celebrated the memory of King with a rousing call to action by OSU Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Robert Thompson. Thompson talked about the difficulties King faced as a truth-seeker and a man committed to speaking out against social ills, including his opposition of the Vietnam War and the cost to King’s reputation.

President Ed Ray spoke about the theme of this year’s MLK tribute, “Choose in this Crucial Moment.”

“Justice, racial equality, segregation, educational opportunity, economic fairness, poverty, war, respect for our fellow humans – these issues concern each of us and many Americans as we look at the directions we are taking as a nation; at the appalling way we too often treat each other; at the disrespect we have for our leaders and our peers and even for ourselves,” Ray said.

Ray said that we should follow King’s example when faced with the difficult path ahead.

“We need, all of us, to look for the crucial moments when we can consider our privileges and prejudices and elect, as Dr. King did, to do the tough, right thing because our conscience gives us no choice,” Ray said.

Two OSU staff members were honored during the event. Eric Hansen, associate director of University Housing and Dining Services, received the Phyllis S. Lee Award for his tireless work in making OSU a more inclusive environment. Jodi Nelson, executive assistant to the Vice Provost, was honored with the Frances Dancy Hooks Award for her work promoting cultural awareness, diversity and social justice at OSU and in the greater Corvallis community.

Performances by the OSU a cappella group Outspoken and a poem recitation by emcee Anderson DuBoise III completed the event.

The event, which is at LaSells Stewart Center, is a joint effort of the Oregon Hunger Task Force, Partners for a Hunger Free Oregon, Oregon Food Bank and OSU. The organizations have combined efforts to work jointly to battle one of Oregon’s biggest issues, food insecurity.

OSU sociologist Mark Edwards, who is helping organize the event, has focused much of his work over the past several years on food insecurity in Oregon.  He said this summit is unusual in that it brings together not only anti-hunger activists but also students, educators, agency leaders and others who have a stake in food security.

Two years ago, the Oregon Hunger Task Force held a summit to identify the greatest needs in Oregon, and to create a five-year plan, “Ending Hunger Before it Begins: Oregon’s Call to Action.” Those needs included increasing economic security for families, improving the local food system to increase both the accessibility and affordability of local food, and improving the safety net for those Oregonians who face food insecurity

Those three areas serve as a framework to help guide agencies and organizations as they direct their efforts toward combating food insecurity, Edwards said. “It’s meant to be a rubric by which we evaluate our activities,” he noted.

The upcoming summit will be a time to check on how the array of organizations and agencies are collaboratively addressing these issues, which Edwards says will be a slow and ongoing process.

“Some of the obstacles to eliminating hunger are huge economic and social structural processes that are hard to reverse,” Edwards said, which is exactly why the conference was created, to bring people together to create solutions to the problem of hunger.

The summit will be very practical, rather than academic, focusing on presentations from people running state agencies and non-profits, although the importance of university-based research in helping solve hunger issues is also emphasized.

“Our goal is to create an environment where people can ask questions,” Edwards said. “And we hope to gather all the input so we can identify the big ideas that come out of the summit.”

And those ideas will help drive the research agenda of academics interested in Oregon’s food insecurity.

There are a number of groups on campus collaborating on the summit, including the School of Public Policy, the School of Language, Culture and Society, Rural Studies, the Office of Outreach and Engagement, and Extended Campus. College of Business Students in the SIFE program are also working on conference logistics.

Dave King, Associate Provost for OSU Outreach and Engagement, said the summit is one of the first his office has been involved with, and is exactly suited to their mission, which is to share information with the broader community and to hear what people think is truly important.

“We should learn as much as we teach, and listen as much as we talk,” he said. Having multiple points of view at the conference will help broaden the discussion.

Sarah Cline, a graduate in the School of Public Policy, is helping Edwards organize the conference. She previously worked with rural and Native communities in the Northern Plains on issues that included food insecurity. She said the diversity of stakeholders she witnessed working on issues there is reflected in the Oregon summit.

“These venues for interaction are invaluable,” she said. “The partnerships cultivated as a result, the policy recommendations that emerge, and the awareness and engagement of new networks are crucial– particularly for rural contexts, where representation in state and federal policies is scarce, where capacity and investment to enact change is limited.

Cline said she hopes that participants walk away inspired by the partnerships they’ll forge.

“I hope they walk back into their communities empowered and ready to launch local awareness campaigns so that statewide support is truly mobilized in support of a policy agenda seeking to end hunger in Oregon,” she said.

In addition to workshops and breakout sessions, there will be lunchtime roundtables, and two plenary speakers, Max Finberg, director of the USDA’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, and Dr. Deborah Frank, founder and a Principal Investigator of the Children’s Health Watch.

Registration to the event is closed, but visit the website to watch several main sessions streamed live online: http://oregonstate.edu/conferences/event/2012hungersummit/

An orange flowered Globemallow (Sphaeralcea sp.) blooms in contrast to the sage and grass on Slocum Gulch

A new exhibit of landscape photographs will open the weekend of Jan. 20 at the Four Rivers Cultural Center in Ontario, Oregon.  The Exhibit, called “Landscapes: Exploring The Back Country Of Malheur And Owyhee County”, is a collection of brilliant photographs depicting and demonstrating the majestic beauty in our own back yard.  The exhibit will open Friday, Jan. 20 and run through March 20.  Admission is free for all visitors.

Taken over the course of the last 20 years by Clinton and Candace Shock, these photos depict many locations that the pair have researched, studied and relate to Clint’s work at Oregon State University Malheur Experiment Station, and Candace’s work writing water assessments for the Owyhee Watershed Council.

The photos depict fields of wild flowers, dramatic rock formations, the terrain, the wide open sky, and locations that are familiar to us.  But, they also depicts many images that we are not familiar with.  Many of the photos are taken from locations that are not accessible by road or any type of land vehicle.

Leslie Gulch, Succor Creek, the Honey Combs, Pillars of Rome are just a few examples of the locations in which these photographs were shot.  Featuring 44 images in large oversized photographs, the exhibit instantly introduces a burst of color and shape to the eye upon entrance.

“Malheur County Landscapes” will be open daily Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The Four Rivers Cultural Center is located in downtown Ontario at 676 S.W. 5^th Ave.  The museum is easily accessible from I-84, U.S. Hwy 20/26, Hwy 201 and U.S. Hwy 95.

There are dozens of events planned throughout the next two weeks, including the first Spoken Arts Competition, “Speaking Justice: Where do we go from here?” The event will feature students, staff and community members presenting spoken word performances based on the 1967 speech by King of the same name.

It will be followed by a performance by World Poetry Slam champion Joaquin Zihuatanejo and Austin International Poetry Slam champion Natasha Carrizosa. It takes place Jan. 21, 7 to 9 p.m., Memorial Union lounge.

The theme of this year’s MLK celebration is “Choose in this Crucial Moment.” The events are open to the public and most are free. OSU will cancel classes on Monday, Jan. 16, to allow students, faculty and staff to observe the celebration and join the Peace Breakfast, which starts at 9 a.m. in the Memorial Union ballroom.

OSU’s celebration is one of the oldest continuous MLK events in the state. It is organized each year by a group of OSU community members.

Diane Davis, who chairs the 2012 Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration committee, said this year’s planning committee is “an inspiring group of faculty, staff and students, who have created opportunities for our community to participate in an impactful, inclusive, and engaging celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. King. “

The breakfast will feature presentation of the Phyllis S. Lee & Frances Dancy Hooks Coalition Builder Awards (among other honors) and a performance by Outspoken, an OSU men’s a cappella group. Keynote speaker Robert Thompson, OSU associate professor of Ethnic Studies and African American Studies, will address the group.

Tickets for the Peace Breakfast will be available at the door, but organizers advise patrons to buy tickets in advance from the MU business office, as the event regularly sells out. Tickets, which go on sale starting Monday, Jan. 9, are $10 for general admission and $6 for students; children ages 5-and-under will be admitted free. Call 541-737-4381 for more information.

Other highlights of this year’s celebration include a series of service projects and a food drive, a film festival featuring documentaries on nonviolence and race, and a candlelight vigil.

For a full of list of events, see: http://oregonstate.edu/oei/martin-luther-king-jr-celebration

Oregon State volunteers are crucial to the survival of the Corvallis Boys & Girls Club, as are donations from OSU faculty and staff. (contributed photo)

Dollars donated by Oregon State University staff and faculty during the annual Charitable Fund Drive directly impact local non-profits in major ways. Each year, the campus community donates more than $100,000 through the fund drive, benefiting organizations focused on art, the environment, children, health and other causes with personal significance for donors.

This year, donations are still 21 percent behind last year’s total. Organizers are hoping that a last minute spurt of donations starts the new year off right, and helps the campus meet or surpass last year’s total of $118,400. Only 230 OSU employees donated last year, and this year the total has shrunk to 176 so far.

The benefit of supporting a local non-profit goes far beyond the warm, fuzzy feeling of generosity. For the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis, which depends on donations to meet 50 percent of its budget needs, keeping the doors of its organization open means safer streets, better educated kids, and a stronger sense of well-being for working parents around the community.

Founded in 1971 as a sports organization, today’s Boys & Girls Club is far more than a place to play basketball. The club offers after-school youth development programs in every public elementary school in Corvallis, providing a safe space for kids to remain, and to get academic and social support, after school ends each day. Additionally the clubhouse on Circle Boulevard offers drop in and regular after school programming, as well as all-day programs when school is not in session.

Students served range from kindergartners to high schoolers from all socio-economic levels, including some students identified as homeless, and many children of professionals from OSU and elsewhere around Corvallis.

“I’ve heard the perception that this was just a place for poor kids,” said Todd Simmons, Boys & Girls Club board member and associate vice president for University Relations and Marketing at OSU. “But I see OSU colleagues in the parking lot every day when I’m dropping my kids off.”

Serving thousands of local kids each day is not an easy task, but director Helen Higgins says a strong board and a very focused agenda has kept them above water when other Boys & Girls Clubs, including recently one in Eugene, have closed their doors.

“It comes down to good business practices,” Higgins said. Anticipating the downturn in the economy, the board made sure to put plans in place to adjust for the coming financial strain early on. “It’s no super-secret magic. You need to make the adjustments before you must make them. If you wait until you must, it’s already too late.”

According to Higgins, the Corvallis Police Department and Benton County Sheriff’s Office reported a 50 percent drop in the Corvallis crime rate when the club opened its doors, and recognize the group as a way to keep gang activity down and provide a stable environment for at-risk youth.

But the organization doesn’t just keep kids off the streets when their parents are at work. A constantly evolving set of academic offerings includes everything from financial literacy classes to art, choir to a journalism group. Many programs are made possible by a huge crew of volunteers, including a large portion from OSU.

Liz Connor, volunteer coordinator, said 25 interns from OSU have given more than 5,500 hours to the organization in 2010. Additionally, 150 volunteers who claim some affiliation to OSU contributed 1,800 hours in 2010. Connor said not everyone who is associated with OSU makes the connection know, so she estimates the hours are actually much higher.

“There’s no way we could offer the programs we do without thousands of volunteer hours,” Higgins said.

Volunteer activities range from engineering faculty and students participating in Science Friday in after-school elementary programs, to Army ROTC students working as chaperones at one of the clubhouse’s many middle school dances, which each attract between 350 and 500 students.

On the annual Day of Caring event this year in Corvallis, 60 OSU students did cleanup at the Lincoln School “Lion’s Den” which is operated by the Boys & Girls Club, as well as cleaning up the Clubhouse.

“We have a lot of partnerships with OSU,” Connor said. “It makes my job really easy.”

In the coming year, the Club is focusing on a new goal, to dramatically increase the number of high school aged students who regularly come to the Clubhouse. Thanks to two new grants, they’ll be expanding their existing high school space to meet the growing participation of high school members. The teens will be directly involved in the remodel and design of their new space.

A bigger goal set out for the board is to grow an endowment so that the club will continue to thrive well into the future.

“We must get to a place of sustainable funding,” Higgins said. “It’s our biggest priority. We feel that as the year-round youth organization for the community, it is an imperative to grow our funding model in a direction that ensures consistent and reliable revenue to sustain services regardless of the current economic situation. By growing our program endowment to a significant level, this will guarantee that future generations of families and children will have access to the vital services of the Club. This is a legacy that the board and I want to leave for our community.”

The 2011 Charitable Fund Drive at OSU runs through Jan. 30. Donate to your favorite charity by going to http://oregonstate.edu/charitablefunddrive/ or by sending your personalized form to 2011 CFD, 100 LaSells Stewart Center

To find out more about the Corvallis Boys & Girls Club, go to www.bgccorvallis.org or call 541-757-1909.

Cristina Eisenberg (courtesy photo)

Cristina Eisenberg, OSU College of Forestry, will be reviewing “A Sand County Almanac” by Aldo Leopold, on Jan. 11 at noon, as part of the Random Reviews series at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, 645 N.W. Monroe Ave.

This event will take place on the 125^th anniversary of Leopold’s birth. His ethics of the environment and wildlife preservation helped shape the conservation movement in this country, and his book of essays is recognized as one of the finest pieces of nature writing since Thoreau’s “Walden”. Following the seasons, Leopold’s month-to-month observations describe his walks through the Wisconsin landscape where he lived. “A Sand County Almanac” has been in continuous publication since its release in 1949, has had over two million copies printed, and has been translated into nine languages.

Cristina Eisenberg is an Aldo Leopold scholar who was mentored by Nina Leopold, Aldo’s daughter. She will be showing some archival photos of Leopold and images she took at his property. She is especially interested in helping advance his land ethic by fostering an interdisciplinary approach to science. Eisenberg is a conservation biologist in the College of Forestry at OSU and is the research director of the High Lonesome Ranch in Colorado. Her research on wolves was featured in the March 2010 issue of National Geographic and her book, “The Wolf’s Tooth: Keystone Predators, Trophic Cascades, and Biodiversity”, was published in 2010 by Island Press.

The Random Reviews series is sponsored by Friends of the Library. A sign language interpreter can be provided with 48 hours’ notice. Please call 541-766-6928 to arrange this service.

Power Up Challengers try to move planks across the lawn as part of a team-building exercise. Date: May 22, 2010 (photo: Theresa Hogue).

In January 2010, a group of students, staff and faculty embarked on a 19-week fitness and health journey called the Power Up Challenge.

Two teams of challengers faced off during a series of campus events during winter and spring terms of 2010, gathering points as they work toward becoming healthier versions of themselves. They utilized campus resources, learned to rely on each other, and pushed themselves to new limits.

Two years later, we caught up with several of the participants to see how they’ve done since they ended the Challenge.

Teresa Hall

Since completing the Power Up Challenge, OSU graphic designer Teresa Hall has discovered that the lessons she learned about herself, and about healthy living, have made an enormous difference. And it’s extended far beyond keeping fit and active.

Teresa Hall at the beginning of the Power Up Challenge (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Hall originally signed up for the Challenge to recover her strength after surviving cancer. She ended the Challenge in better shape, with a stronger focus on healthy eating and the confidence to continue exercising. But it also taught her how to ask for help, a skill that has become a literal life-saver as she now deals with her husband Tim’s terminal cancer diagnosis.

Married after completing the Challenge, Hall learned of her husband’s prognosis just before their first wedding anniversary. While the news has been devastating, Hall said she’s leaned on tools she gained during the Challenge to help.

“I reached out and have a counselor, and I don’t think I would have thought of that without the Power Up Challenge,” she said. “That helps me keep a lot of balance mentally. Because he has no cure, it’s just about what time we have left. So having that counselor and having the resources and where to find them has kept me as sane as I’ve been. And that all came from the Challenge. It made this journey so much easier.”

Emotional support has been crucial, but Hall has also depended on a new-found love of running. The reason she did well during the Challenge, she says, was because she had a goal. After finishing the Challenge, her determination began to slip away, until she asked herself some hard questions and realized she needed to set some new goals. So she did something that surprised herself – she decided to sign up for her first half-marathon, even before she ran her first mile.

Teresa Hall with her husband Tim, upon completion of her first half-marathon (contributed photo)

“Having that goal is a good thing but I also realized there are other things I needed to do besides just run,” she said. “So I met with a trainer to make sure I had exercises to support all parts of my body with that goal. I wanted to make sure my ankles and knees stayed healthy, and by supporting it in other ways it made the whole journey very positive.”

After her husband’s diagnosis, she also found that running became a source of power and strength.

“Running is very cathartic. I can do all sorts of thinking. It’s just for myself, and has extremely helped me get through this cancer thing. I can’t imagine not running and staying as sane,” she said. “It’s my own rhythmic debrief.”

She successfully ran the Corvallis Half-Marathon in April, and now wants to do several more, including ones at Disney Land and Disney World. And she wants to keep taking care of herself, because in the long run, everyone around her benefits.

“I’ve made sure I’ve physically stayed healthy, nutritionally stayed healthy, emotionally stayed healthy as much as possible,” she said. “I have to be healthy to take care of (Tim), and if I’m not that is going to wear on both of us.”

Joey Jenkins

Joey Jenkins and his daughter Lucy on her first day in the world (contributed photo)

Joey Jenkins may not be getting much sleep these days, but he doesn’t mind. His new baby daughter, Lucy Alexis Jenkins, is a pretty cute reason to feel tired.

But a good night’s sleep is actually something Jenkins credits the Power Up Challenge with. When he signed up for the challenge, his aim was to participate in a 112-mile bike ride. But he discovered that the benefits of the challenge were a lot broader than he’d expected.

“The biggest change I went through in the Power Up Challenge was from changing my sleep habits,” he said. “I had struggled to get six hours of sleep per night for over four years and had made it a goal and never accomplished it.  Taking the Power Up Challenge gave me a team of people supporting my progress and I not only got six hours of sleep, but averaged seven for the entire challenge.  It made huge impacts in my marriage and my work.”

Joey Jenkins at the beginning of the Power Up Challenge (photo: Theresa Hogue)

For Jenkins, staying in shape was never an obstacle. The challenge was much more about work-life balance and self-healing, as well as building a stronger relationship with his wife, Stephanie. She played a crucial role in his life as a strong friend after the death of his girlfriend in a car crash, and the friendship eventually grew into marriage, and now, the birth of their first child in early November.

Having graduated from OSU, Jenkins now works as the fitness manager for a gym in Beaverton, and he and his wife run a non-profit that supports an orphanage in Haiti. Jenkins’ Power Up Challenge certificate hangs up in his home office to remind him to maintain his work-life balance.

“Even though I am very self motivated and personally accountable,” he said, “having a team to support me makes me a much better man, friend, coworker and husband.

Now, he just has to figure out how to get seven hours of sleep again.

Liz Etherington

Liz Etherington and her new daughter, Camas (contributed photo)

When Liz Etherington decided to join the OSU Power Up Challenge in 2010, she was looking to make a positive step towards better health, and put the tragedies of the recent past behind her.

The fitness challenge offered Etherington the motivation and the support she needed to begin improving both her physical and emotional strength after the death of her son during an emergency delivery in 2009. Struggling with post-surgery issues and the busy life of a mom to her daughter, she knew she needed to make some serious changes to her fitness regimen if she wanted to be healthy enough to try pregnancy again.

This summer, Etherington gave birth to a healthy, active baby girl named Camas. She said it was scary to try and have another baby after learning that a genetic condition led to the loss of her son. But being physically fit and active contributed to the success of her new pregnancy, and also kept her calm and focused.

“I tried to stay as healthy and active as possible. I went to Dixon every day, and that helped tremendously,” she said. Close monitoring by her physician, a series of injections to address the blood clotting issues she was suffering, and steady physical activity kept her healthy, and she had a successful planned C-section.

“I knew the healthier I was, the better the pregnancy would be,” she said. “That was always a question in the back of my mind, if keeping up a healthy lifestyle could ward off unforeseeable problems.”

Making the gym a regular habit, and paying closer attention to what she ate, were both skills that Etherington said she gained during the Power Up Challenge.  She also enjoyed the support of teammates, some of whom she kept in contact with after the challenge.

Not only did maintaining her physical activity level help her have a healthier pregnancy, but it also helped her deal with the stress she was facing.

Liz Etherington at the beginning of the Power Up Challenge (photo: Theresa Hogue)

“It was forcing me to take time for myself,” she said. “I would listen to music or read a book while working out, and it was nice to step away from stress.”

She also found that she lost her pregnancy weight a lot faster than her previous pregnancies because she was already in such good shape.

Having a new baby has hampered Etherington’s ability to go to the gym recently, but she’s looking forward to getting back on track. It’s a habit she doesn’t want to ever give up.

“I know it’s important,” she said.

~ Theresa Hogue

Stan Ley, OSU Facilities plumber, is passionate about improving the taste, quality and safety of drinking water on campus.

“Corvallis city water is good water,” Ley said. “It’s as clean as any standard municipality in the US. But as the water goes through older buildings it picks up rust, sediment, you name it.”

While many buildings are rescheduled for re-piping, filters can be a good stop-gap measure to keep water clean and drinkable.

The systems used to filter the water include two filters, a cotton pre-filter that stops particles down to one micron in size, and a solid carbon filter that gets down to a half micron in filtration, often used for scientific or medical purposes to purify water.

“It reduces heavy metals, bad taste, some bacteria,” he said. “It cleans it out much cleaner than it comes out of the pipes.”

The filters, which can be changed out every eight to 12 months, cost $7 for the pre-filter and $23 for the carbon filter.

“That’s very reasonable considering a lot of folks are buying five-gallon water coolers, and then you’ve got a machine you’ve got to rinse,” Ley said.

When water is run through the filters, it’s sweet, Ley said.

“This water is as clean as any bottled water you’d buy anywhere,” he said.

To request a filtration system installation, contact Facilities Services at 541-737-2969.

~ Theresa Hogue

After review and evaluation the Research Council provided this office with a prioritized list of proposals. The Vice President for Research has approved funding for 6 proposals with combined budgets of $56,962.

The following proposals have been selected for funding:

Dhagat, Pallavi (School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, College of Engineering): “Development of Combined Imaging and Focused Hyperthermia System for Cancerous Tumors”

Goyer, Aymeric (Hermiston Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Dept. of Botany and Plant Pathology, College of Agricultural Sciences): “Functional Genomics of Potato Nutritional Value: Identification of Regulatory Genes of Folate Biosynthesis”

Ishmael, Jane (Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy): “Development and Testing of the In Vivo Efficacy of a Synthetic Coibamide A Formulation”

Mendez-Luck, Carolyn (Dept. of Human Development and Family Sciences/Health Management and Policy, College of Public Health and Human Sciences): “Facilitators and Barriers to Healthy Living in Oregon: Perspectives from American Indian and Latino Adults”

Morzillo, Anita (Dept. of Forest Ecosystems and Society, College of Forestry): “Feedback Loops between Residents, Governance, Policy, and Natural Resources in the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area”

Spitsbergen, Jan (Dept. of Microbiology, College of Agricultural Sciences): “Development of a Zebrafish Model for Study of Pathogenesis of Fungal Disease and for Antifungal Drug Discovery”

Faculty Release Time Winter (Spring release) 2011-12:

The Research Office is pleased to announce the following proposals have been selected for funding for the Faculty Release Time (FRT) 2011-12 Winter (Spring 2012 release) solicitation.

·       Cozzi, Elaine (Department of Mathematics, College of Science): “Applications of Harmonic Analysis to Incompressible Fluid Mechanics”

·       Garcia, Kayla (School of Language, Culture and Society, College of Liberal Arts): Latino Heroes”

·       Rao, Sujaya (Department of Crop and Soil Science, College of Agricultural Sciences): “Biological-Based Management for Key Insect Pest in the Willamette Valley”

·       Zwolak, Michael (Department of Physics, College of Science): “Protein Sequencing with Nanoscale Electronics”

Abbott, who is dean of OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, is the fourth recipient of the award since its 2008 inception. It is presented to a nationally recognized researcher who has made outstanding contributions to data-intensive computing.

He will receive the award today (Dec. 5) in Stockholm, Sweden, at a joint meeting of the 2011 Microsoft Research eScience workshop and the annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers conference.

The award is named for Jim Gray, a Microsoft Research innovator, who disappeared at sea in 2007. A video feature focusing on the Gray Award is available on the Microsoft Research homepage.

“The Jim Gray eScience Award recognizes innovators who use computing to advance scientific discovery,” said Tony Hey, corporate vice president, Microsoft Research Connections. “Mark Abbott represents the essence of this award with his outstanding contributions to integrating biological and physical science, data-intensive science and educational leadership.”

Under Abbott’s leadership, OSU’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences has developed an international reputation for its research – especially in the collection, synthesis and distribution of data. The college’s Environmental Computing Center houses one of the most sophisticated marine science computing networks in the country, and OSU researchers are global leaders in data-driven research on climate change, near-shore oceanography, ocean-atmosphere interactions and other fields.

Abbott’s own research has pioneered the use of satellite measurements of ocean productivity, the deployment of an array of biological sensors in the Southern Ocean between New Zealand and Antarctica, and the use of advance computer technology on board ocean gliders and vehicles. All of these projects involved the collection and synthesis of complex data sets through the use of data-intensive information technology.

~ Mark Floyd