2012 Ohio State University Finalist and Top 5

2012 Awards

Ohio State's 2012 nominee for the regional Outreach Scholarship W.K. Kellogg Foundation Engagement Award and the C. Peter Magrath University Community Engagement Award helps ensure the safety and health of a worldwide workforce. Burn Injury Assessment, Treatment and Recovery Education: A Worldwide Partnership brings together the Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University's Burn Center, American Electric Power and AES Corporation to address the on-site needs of health and safety personnel through 11 countries.

Additionally, the remaining programs that ranked in this year's Top 5 represent the scope and quality of the broad spectrum of Ohio State's partnerships with communities and industry.

Finalist

Burn Injury Assessment, Treatment and Recovery Education: A Worldwide Partnership

Principal Investigator - Sidney Miller

Department(s) Involved Ohio State University Burn Center, Ohio State University Critical Care Center

College(s)/Unit(s) Involved - Medicine

Partners Involved - AES Corporation, American Electric Power

Countries Involved - U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Columbia, Dominican Republic, India, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Turkey, Vietnam

The Wexner Medical Center at the Ohio State University's Burn Center partnered with American Electric Power to present the concept of an Electric Power Research, Education and Prevention program to representatives of the public power community (generators and regulators). The presentation focused on a concept to develop a program to link research with constituent needs.

Following this presentation, AES Corporation contacted the Burn Center and identified their immediate need for proposed education for their health and safety employees at multiple sites. AES acts as a community outreach and engagement partner by building needed medical centers and community infrastructures for economic development, thus, the safety and health of its workforce is critical to its operations. In these remote sites, assessment and treatment of burn injuries is a top priority.

A course was developed to address the on-site needs of the health and safety personnel throughout the world, simultaneously via the webcast. There were 18 sites with 53 participants in 11 countries. The final product was a successful program, but the real success was the process of developing an education program that met the needs of the partners.

Further discussions are underway to develop and implement telemedicine service for their world-wide operation, and further develop an education delivery mechanism for more, diverse subject matter.

Top 5

Ohio State University Endeavor Center Business Incubator Partnership

Principal Investigator - Thomas Worley

Department(s) Involved - OARDC, Ohio State University Extension, Ohio State University South Centers

College(s)/Unit(s) Involved - Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Partners Involved - Wastren Corporation, InSolves Incorporated, Southern Ohio Diversification Initiative, Southern Ohio Agricultural and Community Development Foundation, U.S .Department of Agriculture-Rural Development, Shawnee State University, U.S. Department of Commerce-Economic Development Administration, Fluor/BW Inc., several additional private business partners

The Ohio State University Endeavor Center Business Incubation Partnership is a vibrant example of Ohio State and community partners collaborating to make a shared vision a reality in an economically distressed Appalachian community. The Endeavor Center business incubator and training center became a reality in 2005, after 15 years of community commitment and collaboration and has resulted in:

  • More than $4 million raised via federal and state partners to design, build, and equip the center
  • In excess of $50 million of increased economic impact for the area created by business partners occupying the center
  • More than 600 new high-skill, high-wage, high-tech jobs created by business partners housed in the center
  • Twelve business partners who have graduated to build facilities of their own or lease space outside the center, which has improved the economic vitality of the local commercial real estate market
  • Enhanced partnership and collaboration with universities, especially Shawnee State and President Rita Rice Morris, who serves as head of the Endeavor Center Advisory committee

The Endeavor Center is a shining example of collaboration between The Ohio State University, private businesses, other institutions of higher learning and governmental agencies at the State and Federal level.

International Poverty Solutions Collaborative (IPSC)

Principal Investigator - Melissa Briggs-Phillips

Department(s) Involved - Multiple departments in all colleges represented

College(s)/Unit(s) Involved - Undergraduate Education, Medicine, Social Work, Health Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, Public Health, Nursing, Dentistry, Law, Business, Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Research

Partners Involved - Columbus Public Schools, United Way, Godman Guild, Campus Partners, Wagonbrenner Development Corporation, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, Neighborhood Design Center, local civic associations, Community Properties of Ohio, and several others

Internationally, IPSC has an MOU with Universidad Nacional Autonoma De Nicaragua (UNAN) in Leon and has agreed to collaborate on work in the El Sauce region of Nicaragua with the Centro De Investigacion En Demografia Y Salud at UNAN. Teams have also been researching and investigating rural poverty in Appalachia, Ohio.

The International Poverty Solutions Collaborative (IPSC) is a Center for Innovation at The Ohio State University, committed to building interdisciplinary teams of faculty striving to identify holistic solutions for individuals, families, and communities facing poverty and its consequences; cultivating students to become global citizens; creating opportunities for the co-investigation of poverty issues across social class lines; and identifying a core set of metrics across a broad range of domains to aid in replication of interventions across multiple communities.

IPSC supports teams of Ohio State faculty partnering with community agencies, service providers, and residents in our communities of focus to identify strategies for community revitalization. Teams are built around projects, programs, and initiatives in four signature areas of focus: Health and Wellness, Physical Design and Environment, School, Family and Community Supports, and Economic and Business Development.

Experiences range from taking our sponsored course - Investigating Poverty through Leadership and Civic Engagement - and summer research internships, to engaging in projects over the course of several months.

Students from multiple disciplines share experiences and are offered the opportunity to work with community partners in sustained, long-term relationships. Community engagement is fully realized at IPSC, where community members are offered the opportunity to evaluate their own experiences, and are empowered to serve as advocates for their own lives via a class experience supported by IPSC.

Learning in Fitness and Education through Sports (LiFE Sports)

Principal Investigator - Dawn Anderson-Butcher, Jerry Davis, Rebecca Wade-Mdivanian, and Allie Riley

Department(s) Involved - Athletics, Recreational Sports, Undergraduate Admission, First Year Experience, Economic Access Initiative, Student Life

College(s)/Unit(s) Involved - Social Work, Education and Human Ecology, Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Partners Involved Boys and Girls Clubs of Columbus, Cardinal Health, Columbus Crew, Academic Acceleration Academy, Columbus City Schools, Purdue University, Illinois State University, Northmor Local Schools

The Learning in Fitness and Education through Sports (LiFE Sports) Initiative is an innovative youth development project developed through a partnership between the Department of Athletics, the College of Social Work (CSW), and other on-campus and community partners. The initiative aims to enhance the quality of youth development, sport, and recreational programs through service and outreach, teaching and learning, and research, thereby increasing positive developmental outcomes for youth.

As part of LiFE Sports service and outreach focus, youth from economically disadvantaged circumstances (ages 9-15) are offered sport and social skill instruction during a one-month summer camp.

From 2009-2011, LiFE Sports provided a summer camp for 1,435 youth, a youth leadership camp for 81 youth ages 16-18, 734 health physicals, 12 sports clinics attended by 311 youth participants, and two college access and career days attended by 1,090 youth.

Regular attendees at LiFE Sports reported improvements in their perceptions of teamwork and perceptions of sport specific competence. LiFE Sports also reached out to the families of these youth; over 300 parents volunteered or attended LiFE Sports' events. In addition to its service mission, LiFE Sports aims to provide the university and community with teaching, learning, and research opportunities.

LiFE Sports' impact is widespread, and the mission of LiFE Sports is achieved through true collaboration between the university and its community.

The Generation Rx Initiative

Principal Investigator - Kenneth M. Hale

College(s)/Unit(s) Involved - Pharmacy

Partners Involved Cardinal Health Foundation, American Pharmacists Association Academy of Student Pharmacists (APhA-ASP), Academy of Pharmacy of Central Ohio, Drug-Free Action Alliance, National Council on Patient Information and Education, Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Pharmacists Association, Ohio State University Extension, WOSU@COSI, and additional colleges and universities

Unintentional drug poisoning, primarily involving prescription medications, is now the leading cause of accidental death in the country. On average, four people die in Ohio and 100 across the U.S. from these drug overdoses every day. Prescription drug abuse is a significant problem, but The Generation Rx Initiative (GRxI) was created to help fight this growing issue.

As a partnership between The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy and the Cardinal Health Foundation, the goal of GRxI is to enhance the public's understanding of medication safety issues in general, and those relating to prescription drug abuse in particular.

A variety of resources are available on the program's web site, including specific toolkits for use with teens, college students, adults and seniors. These toolkits have been designed to provide presentation materials, handouts, activities, and other materials necessary to offer programming for prescription drug abuse prevention. GRxI has swelled from a small, localized program in 2007 to one that is being used across the nation today.

Through our partnership with Cardinal Health, the community-based toolkit has now been used in every state in the country, and the GRxI web site has been accessed over 11,000 times since 2009. The Generation Rx Initiative is a leader in prescription drug abuse prevention across the nation.

The College of Pharmacy and its partners have embraced this work, creating a model of excellence. Through the generous support of Cardinal Health and the College of Pharmacy's investment in personnel and resources, this learning community now involves approximately 400 students, faculty and staff members. Additional national association partnerships are emerging, and new innovations for outreach to various populations are being developed.