2020 University Outreach and Engagement Awards

Professor
College of Social Work

Dr. Dawn Anderson-Butcher co-founded, with the Department of Athletics, Ohio State's LiFEsports Initiative. She is the executive director of teaching/research for that program. The LiFEsports Initiative is a nationally recognized sport-based positive youth development program that leverages the resources of the community and Ohio State to teach social skills to underserved and vulnerable youth in Central Ohio. Launched 10 years ago, LiFEsports is a national model for university-community partnership and community engaged scholarship.

Since 2008 over 10,000 youth have been served each summer in the month-long camp on the Ohio State campus. Youth learn important social skills, such as self-control, effort, teamwork and social responsibility. The program consists of an evidence-based sport curriculum that is designed and researched under Dr. Anderson-Butcher's direction. Additionally, 62 former campers who are now in high school joined a year long LiFEsports Youth Leadership Academy (YLA), ensuring these youth make progress towards college and careers following camp experiences. With its commitment to concurrent rigorous research the program is not just summer camp. It's the science of summer camp.

Additionally, Dr. Anderson-Butcher's community-engaged scholarship extends to her work in school districts in Central Ohio and across the country. She led a team to develop the Community Collaboration Model (CCM), an evidence-based framework to support districts/schools in developing partnerships to meet student needs. This work continues to guide school and district efforts to build stronger systems of support for the most vulnerable students.

Her research agenda focuses on exploring outcomes associated with sports-based youth development, as well as determining the highest impact program activities. Dr. Anderson-Butcher has published over 100 peer reviewed articles in high impact journals. She presents her research at national and international forums and is a highly sought keynote speaker. She has generated over 13 million dollars in funding to support research, teaching, and outreach agendas.

Senior Lecturer
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
College of Arts and Sciences

Dr. Elena Foulis is a passionate educator who has developed several important initiatives, activities, and courses that engage students and the Latina/o community in Ohio. Dr. Foulis continually cultivates lasting relationships with students and community members that lead to meaningful student-community collaborations, understandings, and productions.

She is committed to the advancement of women and underrepresented groups in all areas of her work inside and outside of The Ohio State University. She regularly facilitates opportunities for her students to learn about, engage and work with the Latina/o community and develop meaningful relationships that help them arrive at a deeper understanding concerning different members of our community. She does this every semester through her service-learning course, "Spanish in Ohio." She is committed to pedagogical approaches that are transformative, engaging and grounded in the lived experiences and perspectives of women and Latinas/os. While several aspects of her work have been formally recognized by the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Ohio State, the Office of Academic Affairs, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and the Ohio Hispanic Coalition, she feels most honored when she works collaboratively with her students in publications, conference presentations, and creative and multimedia projects.

Dr. Foulis' commitment to engaged scholarship is evident in her ability to expand the boundaries of traditional publication and pedagogical approaches. For example, her e-books, Latin@ Stories Across Ohio, and Mi idioma, mi comunidad: espanol para bilingues, provide her students key resources for understanding our Latina/o community's rich heritage, and the complexity and diversity, and sometimes, structural and systematic inequalities that this community faces. Her oral history project, Oral Narratives of Latin@s in Ohio, a collection in the Center for Folklore Studies Archives, is also a source of community pride as it gives voice to those who are often excluded or marginalized in mainstream media outlets.

Clinical Professor and Founder, Moms2B
Department of Pediatrics and Obstetrics and Gynecology
College of Medicine

In 2010, motivated by her participation in a statewide leadership group studying why Ohio and Columbus had one of the highest infant mortality rates, and supported by a $48,000 grant from Ohio State, Dr. Pat Gabbe founded Moms2B. This innovative community-based pregnancy program for low-income women was designed to learn from the women living in poverty and to improve the health status of at-risk communities, empower pregnant women to deliver full-term healthy babies, reduce infant mortality, and eliminate racial and economic disparities in infant mortality between non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black babies. With Dr. Gabbe's leadership and through engagement with the community and the university, it has accomplished these goals. A recent in-depth statistical analysis of the program's outcomes for 675 pregnant women attending Moms2B from 2011-2017 has demonstrated a reduction in infant mortality, improved birth outcomes and reduced disparities.

Moms2B began in Weinland Park at the Grace Missionary Baptist Church in September, 2010 with just two moms. Today, Moms2B holds weekly two-hour sessions in eight sites, each identified as having the highest rates of infant mortality in Columbus. Six sites are churches, while the other two are hospital campuses, Mt. Carmel West in Franklinton and Ohio State University East Hospital.

The program has enrolled 2,600 pregnant women. Over 120 women attend each week, as well as their children and partners through the Dads2B program. Each two-hour Moms2B session includes a structured curriculum developed by the Moms2B team based on the needs of the moms to address their social determinants of health.

Since its creation, Moms2B, has included in its mission to "inspire future health care providers to serve with respect and empathy." As a direct result of Dr. Gabbe's leadership, Moms2B has been actively engaged in teaching and research. Students from the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Optometry, Public Health, Dentistry, Social Work and Ohio State undergraduates have participated in Moms2B sessions and research projects.

Senior Associate Dean of Research and Professor
Department of Epidemiolgy
College of Public Health

Dr. William Miller first engaged with people who inject drugs (PWID) in St. Petersburg, Russia in the early 2000s. His team conducted a set of studies there in a setting with a severely punitive legal system for substance use. Working closely with the PWID community, they created a safe space for the PWID. The participants were typically followed every three months, officially, but the participants soon recognized that the study office was a safe, warm, comfortable space. Regularly, the PWID would come to the office, recognizing that they would be treated with respect by the study team. The consequences of Dr. Miller's work in St. Petersburg included changing the Russian regulations for treatment of pregnant women living with HIV infection and their HIV-exposed infants.

The work in Russia led Dr. Miller to an opportunity to lead a large trial focused on PWID in Ukraine, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Elements of the intervention were tailored to the specific needs of the PWID in each community. Ultimately, the intervention was highly successful, reducing mortality by half among those that received the intervention.

Dr. Miller's global experience with PWID led him to respond to the ongoing opioid crisis in Ohio. For the past two and a half years, Dr. Miller has led a study in southern Ohio, focusing on Scioto, Pike, and Jackson Counties. That study has recently expanded to Vinton, Meigs, and Gallia Counties. Over the course of the past two years, Dr. Miller and his team have built close relationships with these communities. Their work has engaged people who are using drugs, health care workers, substance use treatment providers, health departments, members of local coalitions, judges, sheriffs, and police. Through their work, they have identified many challenges facing these communities as they respond to the opioid crisis.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol and John Glenn College of Public Affairs created a Public Safety Leadership Academy to bring innovative, accredited, college-level training to law enforcement officers. Students include senior law enforcement leaders from around the state who are serving in local police departments, county sheriff's offices, and the State Highway Patrol. The Ohio State Highway Patrol Training Academy provides instructional space and room and board for the 11-week program at no cost to academy participants, and the John Glenn College of Public Affairs provides instructional content.

The course curriculum is designed for participants to develop and improve the skills necessary to manage and direct any division within a law enforcement agency. Graduates receive 10 semester hours of academic credit and a certificate in Senior Leadership through the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. The specialized curriculum includes content in the areas of leadership and ethics, interpersonal and organization communication, public management, organizational culture and ethics, human resources management, budgeting, and organizational behavior in law enforcement.

Students also attend enrichment events and executive level development seminars led by distinguished speakers from both the government and private sector. Topics include overcoming the unique mental stressors of possible violence and best practices for managers who deal with employees struggling with addiction issues. Students spend one week in Washington, D.C., attending the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum law enforcement course and visiting historic sites. They also volunteer at a local community service organization, usually focused on youth, as part of a community outreach effort.

To date the Public Safety Leadership Academy has graduated 209 law enforcement officers from 50-plus communities across Ohio - from Goshen to Mentor, and Bryan to Gallipolis. Another 35 students have enrolled in the eighth annual class in 2020.

The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine Student-run Vaccine Clinic provides free core vaccines to the pets of Columbus residents whose household income falls below the federal poverty line. The clinic benefits both the residents of Columbus and the volunteer veterinary students by providing first through third year veterinary students an opportunity to gain hands on experience vaccinating pets, performing physical exams, and communicating with clients. The clinic is located in southeast Columbus where many underserved residents do not have access to veterinary care within their budgets or appropriate education on the importance of vaccinating their pets.

The clinic aims to enhance public health and strengthen the human-animal bond. This supports the concept of One Health by integrating human and animal health and wellbeing. Recently, students from the Ohio State University College of Social Work provided resources to the clients about low cost healthcare, housing, and many other topics. Students that have participated in the clinic have greatly enjoyed the opportunity to help members of their community and practice their clinical skills. The students, faculty, and local Ohio veterinarians have shown amazing support of the clinic thus far. The clinic has received feedback from many volunteer students and veterinarians who greatly appreciate the meaningful impact it has made. An optional survey is provided to the clients as well as volunteer students and veterinarians to assess their overall experience participating in the clinic as well as the impact the clinic has on their knowledge and education. The data being collected from the surveys will be used to publish in a peer-reviewed journal to share the information gathered.

Primary Contact: Melanie Bizzarro

Community Partners

Central Community House; Faithful Forgotten Best Friends

Ohio State Partners

The Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine; The Ohio State University College of Social Work

Age-Friendly Columbus and Franklin County, a program affiliated with the World Health Organization and AARP National, seeks to improve the built and social environments in local communities to allow elders to not only age in place, but thrive as they do so. Working in eight domains, housing, transportation, health, outdoor spaces and buildings, safety and emergency preparedness, social participation, respect and inclusion, employment and civic participation, communication and information, and community support and health services, Age-Friendly works with older adults to determine their needs and then invites the local government, non-profit agencies, and other commercial and corporate agencies into the process to create needed change.

Age-Friendly began in 2016 under the charge of MORPC, where a year of assessment was conducted, followed by another year of strategic planning. In January of 2018, Age-Friendly moved to the College of Social Work to implement strategies and allow for the evaluation and research related to this program. The program has 54 strategies to address through 2020. At that time, they will embark on a new assessment as well as updating their plan. Their focus is leveraging partnerships across the communities driven by the voice of elders. Ultimately, the change that is created will positively impact persons of any and all ages. With a tagline of "Aging is so cool, everybody's doing it!" Age-Friendly seeks to impact the negative stigma around aging as well as solve the issues that prevent the best aging possible.

Primary Contact: Katie White

Community Partners

Franklin County Commissioners; Central Ohio Area Agency on Agency; AARP Ohio; Columbus Recreation and Parks, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission; Clintonville-Beechwold Community Resource Center; Greater Hilltop Area Shalom Zone; Central Community House

Ohio State Partners

College of Social Work

Community issue: Intergenerational (IG) activities aim to improve interactions and communication between different ages through shared experiences. However, IG interactions are often within families, resulting in potentially skewed perceptions of aging among children. In addition, older adults residing in institutionalized settings are often isolated which negatively impacts their quality of life.

Negative attitudes toward elders and aging, along with physical separation of generations, has compelled individuals, families, and communities to pay increasing attention to IG relationships.

Initiative: In the spring of 2018, Ohio State Health Sciences students enrolled in HTHRHSC 4470S Teamwork and Leadership class, created an IG program, the Wellness through Intergenerational Social Engagement - Get WISE program, under the supervision of Lauren Feyh, the activities director at Worthington Christian Village (WCV). Beginning in summer 2018 and continuing today, the Get WISE program participants are WCV assisted living and nursing home residents and young children from a nearby childcare center, Children's Discovery Place. Participants include children ranging from pre-K to 4th grade and WCV assisted living and nursing home residents.

Ohio State students and faculty help Ms. Feyh facilitate the Get WISE program. The Get WISE program consists of evidence-based activities that include: physical activities, games, music, crafts, and food as well as interactive presentations from community organizations. Activities department staff and volunteers facilitate these weekly 45-minute IG activities held at WCV. This ongoing program continues to measure attendance, participant feedback, observations of child-resident interactions, pre-post measures from the children regarding perceptions of older adults, and pre-post measures from the long-term care residents regarding their self-rated health, depressive symptoms, and perceptions of resident-youth interactions. The knowledge gained by this program is shared through many outlets including state and national scientific conferences and local media outlets as well as stakeholders including administration of WCV and Ohio State School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (HRS).

Primary Contact: Jessica Krok-Schoen, Jill Clutter, Lauren Feyh

Community Partners

Lauren Feyh at Worthington Christian Village

Ohio State Partners

Division of Medical Dietetics and Health Sciences; School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences; College of Medicine

SciAccess is an initiative dedicated to sharing innovative approaches to equitable science access. It promotes disability inclusion in science and the STEM fields by connecting disability advocates, students, educators, and STEM professionals. This initiative was started through The Ohio State University President's Prize in 2018.

Disability-based exclusion is a known and pervasive issue in the STEM fields. In the United States, nearly 20 percent of the population has a disability (U.S. Census Bureau Public Information Office, 2012) and yet according to the National Science Foundation, people with disabilities make up only 8.4 percent of the country's employed scientists and engineers (CEOSE 2015-2016 Biennial Report to Congress, 2017).

Furthermore, only 1 percent of U.S. doctorate degrees in science and engineering are held by people with disabilities. In Ohio, it is estimated that 115,000 to 152,000 children have a disability (Goudie OFHS Final Report 2009; 2008 ACS). From an underrepresentation of researchers with disabilities to a deficit of educational materials available for these students, there are a multitude of accessibility barriers that need to be acknowledged and addressed. SciAccess is a community outreach initiative designed to tackle this problem.

Anna Voelker began this initiative because of her passion for sharing the excitement of scientific discovery with all learners. She believes that students of all abilities and backgrounds deserve equal access to science and that by forging long-lasting community partnerships, Ohio State can make this a reality for more students than ever before.

Primary Contact: Anna Voelker

Community Partners

See3D (a local nonprofit); The Ohio State School for the Blind; Nationwide Children's Hospital

Ohio State Partners

Department of Astronomy; CCAPP (The Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics); the Ohio State ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Office

Americans spend $230 billion annually on home energy, which amounts to 22 percent of total annual energy consumption in the U.S. In 2017, the average household energy expenditure was $1,822, which could represent 10-20 percent of household income of low-income families. Also, some homes encounter indoor air quality (IAQ) and moisture problems, causing concerns on occupants' comfort and health. Energy efficient, healthy, green homes are recognized as an effective solution to this challenge, while reducing the financial burden of homeowners with lower home energy costs. Green home technologies that reduce energy consumption and improve indoor environmental quality are much needed for improved health and reduced financial burdens on low-income households.

However, at present, the adoption of green home design and technology faces significant barriers including the lack of education and training on green home principles, materials, and technologies among homeowners and building industry professionals. This Ohio State-community-industry partnership aims to establish a Green Home Technology Center (GHTC) and to develop, demonstrate, and disseminate effective green home technologies for a transformational change in residential energy consumption and environment impact.

Through this partnership, the team assessed community needs using a survey instrument on Ohio homeowners' perceptions, knowledge, attitudes, needs, and barriers related to adoption of green home technologies including renewable energy. They have successfully surveyed 519 homeowners and the survey results have been published in a technical report and a scientific journal article for wider dissemination. To derive solutions for the identified issues, by closely working with community partners, they have jointly developed and offered green home technology demonstration workshops for homeowners, builders, and professionals to raise their awareness, knowledge and skill levels on cutting- edge technologies. Furthermore, the team has developed and offered experiential learning curricula for Ohio State and New Albany High School students, the future professionals, to inspire their career interests in green buildings or related STEM areas. To expand the impact of this partnership, they established an online GHTC clearinghouse (greenhome.osu.edu), which provides dynamic education on green home technologies, virtual tours of emerging green homes in Ohio, and links to useful resources. They also publicized Ohio State research findings, education materials, and outreach educational programs at the online platform. The website also serves as a bridge to reach out additional industry and community partners.

Primary Contacts: Lingying Zhao, Qian Chen, Andrew Cruse, Eric Romich

Community Partners

New Albany High Schools; New Albany-Plain Local School District; The USGBC Central Ohio; Efficiency Smart - American Municipal Power, Inc. (AMP); Buckeye Power, Inc. (BPI); Ohio Energy Office; Habitat for Humanity MidOhio; Green Energy Ohio; Columbus Green Building Forum; Lutron Electronic, Inc.

Ohio State Partners

College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences; College of Engineering; Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering; OSU Extension; Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Knowlton School; Sustainability Institute (formerly Office of Energy and Environment)