Each new academic year brings energy and renewal — students flooding the Oval, the fresh line-up of events and, don't forget, the excitement of football season — homecoming is right around the corner!
It is an exciting time on campus, but it is also a time for reflection. Looking back over the past year, we are amazed by what has been achieved — take a look in our newest annual report, featuring a sampling of our high points and stand-out faculty, students and staff and their accomplishments from the past year.
And once you've taken a look back, scroll down and take a look at some of the outstanding things our alumni, students and faculty are doing now.
Have a fantastic fall ... and Go Bucks!
A couple of years ago, Angela Hatke (communication, '07) landed her dream job at the Cincinnati Zoo. When Fiona, the premature baby hippo — and internet sensation — was born in January 2017, Angela was with her every step of the way, sharing her journey with the world on the zoo's Baby Hippo blog and social media.
Two STEM researchers each received a five-year, 2017 DOE Early Career Award, to advance their high-impact energy research. Hannah Shafaat, assistant professor, chemistry and biochemistry; and Kelly Wrighton, assistant professor, microbiology; were chosen from a nationwide pool of more than 700 applicants. Wrighton’s $797,000 award “targets knowledge gaps” in microbial methane processes in soil to improve carbon-cycling transport models across terrestrial-aquatic environments. Shafaat aims to “bring inorganic carbon to life.” Her $750,000 grant will support the development and characterization of model nickel enzymes that can efficiently convert carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide into liquid fuels.
Astronomer Scott Gaudi, Thomas Jefferson Professor for Discovery and Space Exploration, co-led an international team that has discovered the hottest planet on record. The team has been tracking the distinctly odd planet, named KELT-9b, since mid-2014. The star that the planet orbits is called KELT-9. It is found about 650 light years away from Earth in the Cygnus constellation.
According to Gaudi, it is so hot that it stretches the definition of the word ‘planet.’ It’s a planet by any of the typical definitions based on mass, but its atmosphere is almost certainly unlike any other known. Its day-side temperature, more than 7,800 degrees, is hotter than most stars, and only 2,000 degrees or so cooler than our Sun.
“Whenever we find systems like KELT-9, systems that stretch the boundaries of what we consider extreme, typically we always learn something new about planets, the relationship to their host stars, and the atmospheres of giant planets,” Gaudi said.
Just in time for the new academic year, Ellen Peters, professor of psychology and director of Ohio State’s Decision Sciences Collaborative, has developed a psychological intervention — values affirmation — to help students improve their math literacy, or numeracy. Turns out that confidence and core values have a lot to do with learning numbers.
“You want to get students to step back in a sense, to think more about what’s important to them in life so that ultimately you shore up their sense of self so they’re more resilient to threats that come in the classroom and the classroom materials.”
Isaac Weiner, associate professor of comparative studies, is co-director of the American Religious Sounds Project, a collaborative project of Ohio State and Michigan State University, documenting religious sounds in the U.S. Researchers have amassed nearly 400 recorded clips of religious expression ranging from a Spanish Catholic procession for Our Lady of Guadalupe in Columbus to an Asatru (German Norse) midsummer ritual in rural Ohio. Housed in the Center for the Study of Religion, the project will create a digital archive of religious sounds and an interactive website, which will be a resource for scholars, educators and the public.
This summer, Arts and Sciences students travelled the world — interning, studying and volunteering. They were dancing through Denmark, underwater studying coral reefs, designing in Milan and everywhere in between. Along the way, they were creating and innovating, challenging themselves, and extending their ASC experience beyond the classroom.
The College of Arts and Sciences has set a new record by raising more than $37 million in FY17.
We are the academic heart of the university and thanks to the generosity of our more than 200,000 arts and sciences alumni and friends, as well as our own faculty and staff, the Arts and Sciences continues to set a national standard for excellence in teaching, research and service.
We are continually amazed by the generosity of our community of faculty, staff, alumni and friends. Your support makes a tangible difference in the lives of our students and faculty. Here are just a few examples of the ways in which an investment in the College of Arts and Sciences reshapes and transforms our disciplines and the lives our students and faculty.
We are fortunate in the Arts and Sciences. Our departments, centers and institutes enjoy outstanding reputations, due, in large part, to the dedication and commitment of our deans, chairs and directors to our mission to be a leader in teaching, learning, research and creative activity, and outreach and engagement. The following are new appointments and reinstatements.
Arts and Sciences faculty performs at the highest levels in teaching, research and service – the three tenets of the great land-grant institutions. We work hard to identify, recruit and retain the most gifted scholars, artists and researchers from around the country and across the world. Together they form a formidable faculty who drive the success of our programs and educate our students for leadership.
The College of Arts and Sciences has an amazing depth of talented, dedicated and respected faculty. They are leaders in Ohio State’s research and scholarly enterprises — in discovery, in global collaboration, and in teaching and training the next generation of scientists, scholars and artists. They have won every major honor and award in their field and have been selected for membership in the country’s top learned societies.
The Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professorship honors a select few of these faculty members — full professor colleagues — who have excelled in teaching, service and research/creative activity, and whose work has demonstrated significant impact on their fields, students, college and university, and/or the public. This honorific title is reserved for the most distinguished faculty; no more than ten percent of the total number of full professors in the College of Arts and Sciences may hold this title at any one time.
The 2017 Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professors:
See the complete list of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professors and their academic departments.
The 2017-2018 academic year brings a fresh batch of programs to the college. New master’s programs, minors and study abroad trips and highlight both the power and the relevance of an arts and sciences education, giving our students the opportunity to pursue any possibility.
At the College of Arts and Sciences, if you can think of it, chances are we have a course (or six) that covers it, uncovers it and dives deeper into every facet of it, so you can show the world what’s possible. Here is just a sampling of the amazing courses available this academic year.
Today's graduates will spend their careers in a global environment that demands the ability to be nimble and responsive.
Arts and Sciences is in the position, with your support, to provide the ideal education to take on such a future.