Times are changing…

Ah, graduation is upon us. The Ohio University Class of 2010 will be walking across the stage in the Convocation Center tomorrow, and I’ll be flying out of Denver on the red-eye at 1 a.m. tonight to join them.

Much has happened since my last post (probably why my last post was in March!), and I’ve been busy trying to keep afloat in the changing tides that are my life right now. I’m in Boulder, Colo., where I accepted a job as assistant editor at Horse & Rider Magazine. I’ve been here for about two weeks now, and I’m just getting to know my surroundings and myself as a working professional in the magazine industry. I certainly came to know myself as a news reporter at the Athens NEWS, but things are different here. I’ve left behind my budget documents, athletic planning reports and Faculty Senate agendas for feature stories about horse training, economical barn owning and Western fashion. Can you say dramatic change?

But change is good, and I’m learning lots of new things already. I’m in charge of a bit of accounting, something I have little experience in and am learning on the fly. I’m also learning more about photography, and I’m getting to use my good old social media skills from The Barrel Racing Blog to keep a steady online audience at Horse & Rider. All of this is not a bad thing at all, it’s just change.

So, if you’re still interested in what’s going on with me, keep checking back here, and I’ll keep posting, on my down time, about all of the things going on in this girl’s life.

Naughty at Grizzle Ridge

So I’ve been busy with the horses and work lately and haven’t had too much time to update this, so I just wanted to throw up a quick video for everyone to see what I’ve been doing.

R.I.P. Images Candy

At 35, “Candy” decided it was her time to go. She had taught nearly all of us at West 66 & Co. how to whip and ride and so much more. She spent her last years with the Snyder family where she helped Melissa step up to faster horses and 1D competition. Throughout her life, though, Candy won more than most horses could ever imagine, and she made lots of dreams come true. Last year, I wrote this story for a journalism class, and I think right now it’s a fitting tribute to our old girl.

Chelsea Toy on top of Image's Candy at the 2001 Canadian Nationals with trainer Ginny Bowman by their side. Candy placed in every single one of the 15 classes she entered that week, and Ginny won All-Around Cattle Horse of the show, along with Oldest Horse at the show at 25.

By Chelsea E. Toy

Ears pinned, the old mare bangs at her stall door as she watches the horses in the stalls around her jump on to the horse trailer early on a Saturday morning. She quickly paces a circle and kicks at the back wall of her stall. Candy’s owners are leaving for a horse show, and 34-year-old Image’s Candy wants to go, too. Her owner looks over and says “not this time, Candy,” but that fails to satisfy the horse’s desire to run, as she bites at the air and screams an old, shrill cry as the trailer pulls out of the drive way without her.

She was never the fastest, and certainly never the prettiest, but most of the time she was the best. As a two-time world champion roping horse that has also competed and won in nearly every other Appaloosa performance event, the horse deserves her retirement but resents it each day.

Though the horse’s looks leave much to be desired, Candy’s attitude has set her apart throughout her life. As Appaloosa contest events are run horse-against-horse, Candy rarely could allow another animal to cross the finish line before she did. She didn’t need her riders to do too much – with her, all that was necessary was to kick hard and stay out of her way. She was a teacher – a tough, bossy one at that – but her students learned to ride hard and fast. Teaching generations of kids the ins and outs of barrel racing, pole bending, roping and more, Candy did it with every bit of heart and intensity she had.

Candy has spent the second half of her life in the hills of western Pennsylvania teaching children how to ride hard and win, while bringing to each barn a presence of a wise western woman who isn’t ready to be put out to pasture. After her move to the East Coast, Candy soon taught each owner what true attitude was all about, while continuing to win titles on a national level.

Ginny and Paul Bowman purchased 16-year-old Candy at the Appaloosa World Show in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1991. Ginny happened to be showing there, and she and Paul stopped to see the auction of top horses at the World Sale. They noticed Candy enter the arena, advertised as a two-time world champion roping horse and a top youth horse. She was as unimposing as she could possibly look – a bay with a sparse black main and even sparser tail that she felt the need to rub out from time-to-time. She had flakes of white through her coat and around her nose, with a common head and constantly pinned ears. A 1975 mare that had moved from Oregon to California to Texas in her life while winning accolade after accolade, Candy strangely attracted little attention at the sale. Her then-owners declared no-sale, and Candy left the arena. Though Ginny hadn’t come to the Worlds to buy another horse, she knew they would soon need a horse for their son, Beau, who was ready to move from walk-trot to 18 and under youth classes.

The couple followed Candy’s owners to the stall barn after the sale. Candy’s owner, O.J. Martin, said he would rather put her out in the field for the rest of her life before he let her go for any less than $2000, and Ginny and Paul decided they couldn’t leave Fort Worth without her. Given everything that the horse had already won and what they thought she could teach Beau about riding, they met Martin’s $2,000 price. When the World Show was over, Candy jumped on the Bowman’s six-horse trailer and headed to her new home in western Pennsylvania.

She came home to a barn full of western pleasure and halter horses. Candy had no cattle to chase, but she did have a boy in his early teens to tote around. Beau began showing Candy the summer after he got her on the Appaloosa circuit in their versions of pole bending and barrel racing – the Nez Perce Stake Race and the Camas Prairie Stump Race. “If I did everything right, she would win,” Beau said. “She wasn’t the fastest, but in head-to-head competition, she couldn’t stand to let anyone out run her.”

While Candy was push-button in the poles and the barrels, her true talents lay in the Appaloosa’s rough and tumble version of musical chairs on horseback, the Rope Race. In this event, all of the horses entered in the class line up behind a starting line at the bottom of the arena. Hanging from the ceiling at the other end of the arena are enough ropes for all but one of the horse and rider pairs. When a whistle sounds, each horse and rider team charges down to the end of the arena and fights for one rope.

Though the run down and subsequent battle for a rope is always exciting, it’s behind the starting line that Candy really made her mark. Beau soon learned that he could use Candy’s attitude to his advantage to push other horses over the starting line, effectively disqualifying that horse and rider. Beau consistently placed in the top three in the nation in Rope Race on Candy, and he won a Canadian National title in the event on her in 1997. He also won the youth steer dobbing and the pole bending. Soon, though, Beau turned 18 and was ready to move on to bull riding and other dangerous rodeo events. “Candy taught me everything I know about riding hard,” Beau remembered, which has carried over into his bull-riding career.

At the time, Candy was aging but still not slowing down. Ginny decided that the horse would stay on at her farm and work as a lesson horse. Ginny knew Candy could be counted on never to jump or buck, and, being an old roping horse, Candy always stood where she was told and did not move unless specifically asked. These characteristics made her a perfect choice to teach young children the fundamentals of western riding.

Every day, Candy would tote children around in circles in Ginny’s small arena. She was a quick judge of how much each rider knew, and then she would perform accordingly, going slow for the beginners and having more energy for the more experienced rider. She’d never go faster than what was asked of her, and sometimes she would go even slower. She forced kids to learn how to make a horse do what they asked, because if they didn’t, she would refuse to move for them. To compensate for Candy’s lazy attitude, Ginny would have to pick up a whip to make her go so smaller children could learn how to ride a jog and a lope. Each time Ginny picked up the whip, though, Candy would pin her ears and snake her neck at Ginny, and then continue on. From time to time, though, an older kid would have to get on Candy to make sure she didn’t actually come in after Ginny when she picked up the whip.

As Beau began to date, he brought girlfriends home who wanted to learn to ride and even to barrel race. Candy again came out of retirement to run and to win at local shows with these beginners on her back. In 2000, Ginny again took Candy to the Canadian National Show, where she rode the horse to Top Cattle Horse honors after winning both the Open Rope Race and the Open Steer Dobbing classes. A youth rode Candy in the 13 and under classes, placing in every class she entered. Candy even placed third in the youth reining class, something Candy had never competed in before. At the age of 24, Candy was awarded the Oldest Horse at the Show prize as well.

After her Canadian National performance, Candy spent another four years enduring children bouncing on her back as they learned to ride. She stood in her stall miserably as younger horses loaded onto the trailer every weekend to go to the shows that she loved, kicking and pounding at her door as she watched. As Candy turned 28, though, Ginny’s barn became over-horsed and feed prices were getting high. At the same time, Sue Snyder was looking for a starter horse for her eager six-year-old daughter, Melissa. Melissa had ridden ponies and was always very aggressive, and she needed something fast enough to compete in local shows.

With few options left, Ginny called Sue and asked her if she wanted her daughter to win. Sue said yes, and Ginny offered her Candy to make that happen. Though Sue worried about Candy’s age, the horse’s record with children solidified the deal. Ginny took Melissa into her outdoor arena to try Candy out around her barrel pattern. Candy strutted up to the starting gate with Ginny holding onto her, and Melissa was afraid. When Candy took off at full-blast, Melissa simply held on and let the horse do the work.

“When Candy ran to the third barrel, I let go of the reins and Candy turned the barrel and ran home by herself,” Melissa said. Soon, Melissa was taking Candy to shows and winning. The first time Melissa took Candy through the poles, Sue led Melissa into the arena, and Candy’s excitement had Melissa near tears. By the time Melissa got to the first end pole, the six-year-old was all smiles.

Melissa was named the Hi-Point Pee Wee at Circle D Saddle Club in Vandergrift, Pa., on Candy in 2003, but Melissa’s use of the old horse was not limited to barrels and poles. Sue would take Melissa to team pennings where Candy would cut and sort cattle while Melissa held on tight. Melissa also trail rode Candy regularly to keep the horse in shape to perform on the weekends.

Now retired for two years, Candy was Melissa’s stepping stone that got the her used to a hot horse, Snyder said, as now Melissa runs another Appaloosa mare named Roxy, and the pair places in the first division of the youth at large barrel races. “She taught me a lot, like how to ride,” Melissa said, giggling. “She’s still cranky, and she still really wants to get out and run and show.”

As Sue and Melissa pull down the driveway on to a horse show four hours away, Candy makes her last efforts to get someone to take her along. She throws her back legs into the air, almost as to show Sue and Melissa that she can do it. Still pounding at the stall door with her hoof, she calls out a cry that’s gotten raspier with age. “We’re going to have to take her to a show soon just to walk around to keep her happy,” Sue sighed.

What I’ve Been Up To

I’ve had a very busy start to winter quarter at Ohio University. My amazing thesis advisor and great friend, Cary Frith, recently gave birth to a beautiful daughter, Grace, but while she is on maternity leave she has still been helping me with content for The Barrel Racing Blog. On top of my thesis work, I am taking two classes this quarter, classes that I need to graduate. I have to admit, that hasn’t been fun. I’m taking a course in environmental economics, and having never taken an economics course before, this is tough. I really enjoy the class and seem to understand the concepts, but switching those concepts over to algebraic equations is a whole other story!

On top of my coursework and The Barrel Racing Blog, I’ve been super busy at the Athens NEWS. With OU’s plans to cut the budget by what will probably at least be $15 million dollars for the next year, there are way more stories than I can write in a week’s time. I’ve been writing at a pace of about 2-3 stories per issue, which is a good bit of journalistic production for one student reporter. I haven’t gotten to produce any videos for the Web site lately, mainly because I’ve been too busy with other things. I need to do some more video work this quarter, though, to up my skills for the job search.

Ahhh the job search – that’s another topic. I have been spending about an hour each day browsing job sites, filling out online applications and tweaking my resume. And, I’ve been helping plan this great event for next weekend – the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism’s Senior Saturday – which will hopefully connect me with some more OU alumns who can help with this job hunt of mine.

As for jobs right now, I’ve been doing some work that kind of accidentally fell into my lap. I’ve turned into a web designer who can’t actually design Web sites. In my free time I’ve been putting together a WordPress site for Karr Farms, a horse farm owned by my friend Whitney. Putting together sites about horses is way more fun than anything else, so that’s been a good break from other stresses in my life.

And of course, I’ve been busy with my own horses. Naughty and I went on a jaunt to a show at Grizzle Ridge Arena last weekend, which didn’t go as well as planned but gave us something to work with. It was good getting out and running after the holiday break, even if it didn’t go as well as planned. Rena, my wonderful dog, has been enjoying the warmer weather outside, and she’s been getting completely covered in mud and sawdust and tracking it everywhere.

Three of Rena's feet after a day at the barn

Opinions mixed on merits of big games’ cost to OU

A huge “hot-button” issue among faculty and students at Ohio University is the cost of the university’s Division I Intercollegiate Athletics program. Every year, the department runs a multi-million dollar deficit, and money is taken out of other areas, like Housing and Dining Services (see related story under “Investigative Work”), to make up for it. Meanwhile, as the argument goes, academic departments have been experiencing cuts for 10 years and have lost faculty lines in the process. So when OU’s football team made it to the MAC  Championship for the first time in a few years and then to the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl, the university cheered, but quivered when they heard how much those trips cost. Granted, the total cost was about half what OU spent last time it sent the football team to a bowl game. The epic university debate ensued – was the exposure worth the cost? Of course, this story first appeared in the Athens NEWS, and received a great deal of comments on the debate at www.AthensNEWS.com.

Opinions mixed on merits of big games’ cost to OU

The Ohio University Bobcat football team’s two trips to Detroit for the MAC Championship and theLittle Caesar’s Pizza Bowl cost the university a total of $270,000 minus revenues, according to Jim Schaus, OU’s director of athletics.

While OU officials touted the games as bringing in unprecedented exposure to the university, some faculty questionhow the university can justify this spending when cutting budgets university-wide.

The bowl game, which cost the university $218,000, generated at least $98,000 in ticket revenue for OU, putting the total expenses for that game at $120,000. The university spent $52,000 to send the football team to the MAC Championship in Detroit, though an athletics spokesperson, as of our print deadline, didn’t have figures on any revenues that might have offset that amount.

“It is always our mindset to be as cost efficient in all activities,” Schaus said. “We cut the pre-bowl practice time that the team had to be housed and fed on (OU’s) campus before traveling to the game basically in half.”

For the GMAC Bowl in 2007, the university spent $533,000 and brought in $346,000 to the university in revenue, according to Athletics Department figures. The university received a $300,000 bowl subsidy for the GMAC Bowl but received no subsidy for the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl.

The football team lost the MAC Championship to Central Michigan 20-10 on Dec. 5 and the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl to Marshall 21-17 on Dec. 26.

“Obviously, this is a period of great financial anxiety for our university and higher education in general,” said Joe McLaughlin, chair of Faculty Senate and professor of English. “We now have unanticipated and unbudgeted expenses due to the MAC Championship and bowl games… Faculty and staff will rightly argue that we shouldn’t have to cut our budgets if we can afford to take on extra football games.”

The university’s administration could get caught up in the football team’s success and further invest in already questionable investments, McLaughlin added.

THE UNIVERSITY SPENT $24,999 on rings, according to Schaus.

Money for the MAC Championship and the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl came from Intercollegiate Athletics’ (ICA) championship account, Schaus said.

OU spent $3,840 to keep 48 football players in OU dorms for four days before the MAC Championship game and $8,864 for hotel rooms in Detroit for the game. For the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl, the university spent $5,420 to keep 95 players in OU dorms and $41,524 for lodging in Detroit. The bowl game required players to be on site Tuesday for the Saturday game for bowl luncheons, practices and events, Schaus said.

“Since we are required to practice three times in Detroit (for the bowl game), we needed to have our practice-size squad (95 players) so that we can run practices properly,” Schaus said. “We are able to travel a smaller game squad (65), like we do for all regular season away games, for the MAC Championship game.”

Schaus noted that the football team’s MAC Championship game and the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl brought in national exposure for OU that will positively affect recruiting, enrollment, alumni relations, fundraising, university image and football program building.

The university’s multiple ESPN appearances can also be looked at from a university advertising perspective, said Jason Corriher, director of media relations for Intercollegiate Athletics at OU.

“According to ESPN Marketing Coordinator Stephanie Burton, ‘Ad rates vary drastically between network, time of day and programming. I only handle college sports but I can tell you a 30-second commercial airing on ESPN Networks (not ABC) during a daytime college football game on a Saturday would be between $10,000 and $75,000,’” Corriher said. “To give you an idea how that might equate, both the MAC Championship Game (ESPN2) and the bowl game (ESPN) lasted three hours and 14 minutes. In total, we have been on the ESPN ‘Family of Networks’ (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPN360) 23 times since Frank Solich became head coach for the 2005 season.”

The Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl drew in 3.8 million viewers and a 2.6 Nielsen rating, Corriher added.

BUT FACULTY MEMBERS WARNED that putting too much emphasis on this success and exposure could be misplaced.

“I don’t know if further success for our football team will change the criticism, and it could exacerbate the situation,” McLaughlin said. “Obviously, it will give the school more exposure, although one can’t be sure that a reputation as a football school will lead to improvements in our academic reputation.”

Other faculty senators agreed that whether or not the football team wins games will not change faculty’s criticism of the expenses.

“The problem with OU Intercollegiate Athletics (ICA) is not the teams, the players, or the coaches: It’s the money — big money,” said Steve Hays, senator from the College of Arts and Science and associate professor of classics and world religions. “Over the next two years we face cuts in the range of $25 million to $35 million. If the president is determined to cut academic programs, yet to continue to subsidize spectator sports by more than $15 million a year, he needs to offer a reasoned and persuasive explanation to all constituencies of this institution of higher learning, particularly the students who pay the bills, as to why.”

The Marching 110′s trip to the bowl game is not included in the $270,000 cost. Schaus estimated this cost for the band going to the Pizza Bowl at $35,201. The university spent $61,900 to send the Marching 110 to the GMAC Bowl in 2007.

The Marching 110 also participated in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 1. Those costs have not been released.

What ever Happened To…

Former OU Executive VP and Provost Kathy Krendl left OU while the university struggled with a looming budget crisis and faculty discontent in her wake. I thought last week I should check up on how Krendl is fairing at Otterbein College as the president, and stumbled upon a story in the school’s newspaper on Krendl’s inauguration costs. I thought some people in Athens would find the story interesting, so I used it for Monday’s paper’s “What ever Happened to…” section.

What ever happened to…Former OU Provost Kathy Krendl

Former Ohio University Executive Vice President and Provost Kathy Krendl was welcomed as president of Otterbein College in an October inauguration ceremony to the tune of at least $20,000, according to figures obtained by Otterbein’s school newspaper.

Some Otterbein students and faculty felt that the college spent too much on Krendl’s inauguration, according to Fallon Forbush, news editor for Otterbein’s student newspaper, the Tan & Cardinal. Other faculty and students felt that the expense was necessary for welcoming the new president, Forbush added.
“Some students and faculty did feel it was unreasonable,” Forbush said. “People felt it was ridiculous, while others thought it necessary because it’s an important event.”

While Fallon and the Tan & Cardinal were unable to obtain figures on the total cost of the Oct. 23 inauguration, $20,000 is what the university paid the production company, Colortone Staging and Rentals, to put the event together, Fallon said.

The inauguration came at a time when Otterbein College’s administration was also discussing 3 percent reductions to retirement contributions and 3.5 percent cuts to discretionary expenses college-wide, according to an article in the Tan & Cardinal. The college is facing a $1.1 million shortfall, the article reported.

This was the first inauguration at Otterbein College in 25 years. Otterbein College officials quoted in a Tan & Cardinal article said the money went to pay for the staging of the event, set-up of the equipment and labor.

“I suppose we could have not done an inauguration, but I thought it was important and… the trustees from the very first time they talked with me said they had planned an inauguration and it was to be Homecoming weekend,” Krendl told the Tan & Cardinal.

Krendl was not involved in planning the inauguration, Fallon added. He said the Board of Trustees and other parts of the university wanted to put on the ceremony to welcome Krendl.

“Krendl is not the cause of our budget woes,” Forbush emphasized. “She came into (an) institution having financial problems.”

He added that in Krendl’s short tenure, transparency has improved at Otterbein. With tough budget cuts being made, Krendl’s honesty has been appreciated, he said.

Krendl is the first female president of Otterbein College. She took office in June.

Former dean of the College of Communication at OU, Krendl was appointed interim provost in July 2004, and then took on the permanent position the following year. At the time, she replaced Steve Kopp as OU provost.

And more budget…

As Ohio University looks to cut its budget, the Budget Planning Council sent recommendations to President Roderick McDavis about the university’s upcoming budget priorities. In the past, McDavis has gone against BPC on some budgeting recommendations, so this does not mean that the university will for sure follow through with all of BPC’s recommendations.

OU budget committee projects $15.7M budget gap

Ohio University’s Budget Planning Council (BPC) laid out a set of budget assumptions last Friday for the upcoming year that includes plans for $750,000 in faculty raises and 3.5 percent tuition and general fee increases.

The BPC reviewed the university’s key revenue and expenditure drivers all fall quarter and prepared the assumptions to recommend to OU’s President Roderick McDavis. McDavis will decide upon the final assumptions sometime this winter, taking into consideration BPC’s recommendations, said Rebecca Watts, chief of staff for McDavis.

If these assumptions are approved, the university will be looking at a $15.7 million funding gap that must be resolved through budget reductions and/or revenue enhancements, according to Rebecca Vazquez-Skillings, OU’s assistant vice president for budget planning and analysis.

“In general, I think what BPC tried to do with this is to balance things,” Watts said. “President McDavis has not rendered a decision based on these assumptions yet, though.”

As for university revenue, the submitted budget assumptions plan for no enrollment increase for fall 2010, a 3.5 percent tuition and fee increase, no change to graduate instructional fee or non-resident surcharge, a loss of $9.5 million in federal stimulus money, and a loss of $10.4 million in state share of instruction, Vazquez-Skillings said.

“What we know is that the number of high-school graduates in Ohio is on the decline,” Watts said. “But the flat enrollment does mean matching the highest enrollment ever in the history of this institution.”

Though the plans project the 3.5 percent increase in tuition and fees for fiscal year 2011, the BPC continues to review the ratio of tuition to general-fee increases. While general-fee money can be used for university operations such as Student Health Services and Intercollegiate Athletics, tuition money is restricted to mainly academic functions of the university. The university’s Board of Trustees must approve any increases to tuition and fees.

On the expenditure side, BPC planned for $750,000 in additional Vision Ohio investments in faculty salaries contingent upon meeting the fall 2010 enrollment estimates. The body also projected up to $1.2 million to support additional faculty lines based on instructional capacity needs caused by enrollment growth, Vazquez-Skillings said. This year, OU’s Athens campus enrollment grew by 681 students.

BPC also budgeted for $1 million in targeted Vision Ohio investments.

On top of the $750,000 for investments in faculty salaries, BPC recommended a 2 percent merit increase pool for faculty and administrators, 2 percent increases for classified non-bargaining unit employees and a 2 percent increase to support graduate, research and teaching assistants.

The body also planned for a 9 percent increase in the cost of health benefits, but opted not to pass that increase along to OU employees. Last year, McDavis approved a controversial $2.1 million cut to employee health-care benefits that went against the recommendations of Faculty Senate.

OU Academic Restructuring

Over winter break I’ve taken the chance to do more feature writing work and spent a lot of time on the community beat. BUT, all good things must come to an end, and with OU getting ready to get back in session, I’ve been hit by a tidal wave of breaking news on the university front. With the budget in crisis and OU officials scrambling to cut anywhere they can, the university is ripe with stories. The first longer budget story of the new term has to do with the way the university is shuffling the College of Health and Human Services around to form a new college, splitting off some of the college’s old programs to other schools across the university.

OU to rename Health & Human Services, create health center

Ohio University Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit announced the first set ofmajor changes that will restructure parts of the university, beginning fall 2010, renaming the College of Health and Human Services and creating a new Academic Health Center.

The College of Health and Human Services will be called the College of Health Sciences and Professions, and some of its consumer sciences programs will be scattered across the university into other areas where the EVPP said they will increase efficiencies.
The moves will not cost anybody their jobs, and it is not yet known how much money these shifts will save, said Ann Fidler, interim associate provost for strategic initiatives.

“It (the College of Health Sciences and Professions) will become a major academic driver in the Academic Health Center and is expected to become a leader in the state for high demand health programs and innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to teaching, student success, and research in the health sciences and professions,” Benoit wrote in an email to faculty and staff Thursday. “My expectation is that this refocused college also will become a major recipient of grant and contract funding.”

The Early Childhood Education Program and the Child Development Center will move to the College of Education, which will change its name to better reflect its widened mission, according to Benoit. Physical Education, Recreation Studies and Coaching Education will also move to the College of Education, creating the Department of Recreation and Sports Pedagogy.

The Restaurant, Hotel and Tourism, Retail Merchandising and Family and Consumer Sciences Education will also join the College of Education, a move that College of Education Dean Renee Middleton said is not uncommon for other colleges of education.

“If you look at other models out there, this is not inconsistent,” Middleton said. “We are happy to receive those programs and their faculty.”

While nobody has decided on a new name for the College of Education yet, Middleton said some possibilities are the College of Education and Human Development and the College of Human Sciences.

“Faculty are beginning to think about (the name change),” Middleton said. “We are trying to get as much feedback as possible from faculty…We must change the name so we can capture what will be a changed mission.”

On top of the programs moving to the College of Education, two other former College of Health and Human Services will transition to other colleges next fall. The Interior Architecture Program will move to the School of Art in the College of Fine Arts, and Sports Administration and the Center for Sports Administration will move to the College of Business, under the new name of the Department of Sports Administration.

Students will see very little change in their programs, though, insisted College of Health and Human Services Interim Dean Randy Leite.

“It is important to acknowledge that these moves are about pursuing new long-term opportunities,” Leite said. “In the short-term, students will not experience any major differences.”

All programs will include the same requirements, and the same faculty will teach in the same locations, Leite said.

“The only short-term difference will be that students in the programs that will move to different colleges who graduate after this summer will have their degrees conferred by those new colleges,” Leite said.

Faculty and staff will feel more immediate impacts of the moves, Leite said. None of them will immediately move from Grover Center, but they will be part of new academic units.

“In talking to the deans of the colleges that are proposed to receive programs currently housed in the College of Health and Human Services, I have been struck by how committed they are to making sure faculty in the relocating programs are fully and positively integrated into their new homes,” Leite said.

THE NEW ACADEMIC HEALTH CENTER will join together parts of the College of Health Sciences and Professions and the College of Osteopathic Medicine, to provide a better chance for collaboration and learning across the university’s health-related programs, according to Benoit.

The Academic Health Center, though still a concept, will help the university “facilitate greater integration of academic, research and clinical endeavors in ways that enhance the prepation of health professionals, and, ultimately, the care and service that those professionals provide,” said Leite.

The formation of the Academic Health Center will also help the university pursue new grant and research opportunities and help the university be better positioned to develop new programs to respond to current areas of need in health fields, Leite said.

“The work of the Academic Health Center Steering Committee and my own knowledge of the advantages that these centers carry for educational opportunities, quality health care provision, and research convinced me that this was a necessary and appropriate entity to establish,” Benoit wrote in Thursday’s email. Benoit’s former university and one ofOU’s Peer Institutions, the University of Missouri – Columbia, had an academic health center.

Nationwide, there are more than 100 academic health centers, according to the Association of Academic Health Centers. Academic health centers “are essential to the nation’s higher education system as they educate tomorrow’s health care providers and pioneers,” and consist of “an allopathic or osteopathic medical school, one or more other health profession schools or programs (such as allied health, dentistry, graduate studies, nursing, pharmacy, public health, veterinary medicine), and one or more owned or affiliated teaching hospitals, health systems, or other organized health care services.”

Although the restructuring initially was suggested by the administration, both the formation of the Academic Health Center and the moving of programs from the College of Health and Human Services happened with the input of faculty, Fidler and Leite both said.

Several dozen faculty and staff in affected areas submitted feedback to Benoit before she made her final decisions on the restructuring, Leite said.

“I can personally attest to how much time and effort faculty and staff in the College of Health and Human Services put into developing input to the Provost,” Leite said. “This has been a process that was extensively drawn out because of the desire to have those involved in the proposed changes explore the various dimensions of the move.”

Now that the changes have been announced, Benoit laid out a timeline on her website for how the process will move forward. Deans are to meet and submit a list of matters to be resolved and who will resolve them by Jan. 7, and deans are to form transition teams and submit the details of those teams to the EVPP by Jan. 15.

Because the university will be switching to PeopleSoft in the coming year, the university must decide on much of the final details of the restructuring process by March 10, so that the Board of Trustees and the University Curriculum Council can approve the changes to dovetail with the PeopleSoft switch.

Planning for the Academic Health Center is not expected to be submitted for EVPP approval until Dec. 1, 2010. Academic health centers “are essential to the nation’s higher education system as they educate tomorrow’s health care providers and pioneers,” and consist of “an allopathic or osteopathic medical school, one or more other health profession schools or programs (such as allied health, dentistry, graduate studies, nursing, pharmacy, public health, veterinary medicine), and one or more owned or affiliated teaching hospitals, health systems, or other organized health care services,” according to the AAH’s Web site.

Although the restructuring initially was suggested by the administration, both the formation of the Academic Health Center and the moving of programs from the College of Health and Human Services happened with the input of faculty, Fidler and Leite both said.

Several dozen faculty and staff in affected areas submitted feedback to Benoit before she made her final decisions on the restructuring, Leite said.

“I can personally attest to how much time and effort faculty and staff in the College of Health and Human Services put into developing input to the Provost,” Leite said. “This has been a process that was extensively drawn out because of the desire to have those involved in the proposed changes explore the various dimensions of the move.”

Now that the changes have been announced, Benoit laid out a timeline on her website for how the process will move forward. Deans are to meet and submit a list of matters to be resolved and who will resolve them by Jan. 7, and deans are to form transition teams and submit the details of those teams to the EVPP by Jan. 15.

Because the university will be switching to PeopleSoft in the coming year, the university must decide on much of the final details of the restructuring process by March 10, so that the Board of Trustees and the University Curriculum Council can approve the changes to dovetail with the PeopleSoft switch.

Planning for the Academic Health Center is not expected to be submitted for EVPP approval until Dec. 1, 2010.

Nelsonville Community Center provides safe haven for citizens

With all of the bad in the world, I find myself really needing to meet someone or see something to restore my faith in humanity and remind me what good people can do. This week, I had the opportunity to visit and report on the Nelsonville Community Center, and there I met Rhonda Bentley, who gave up her job at Children Services to keep the community center alive when government funding ran out. The programs Rhonda organizes keep kids out of trouble and help families that find themselves at the end of the road. The print version of the story has a ton of great photos from Athens NEWS photographer Ed Venrick. For a tour of the center, head over to  my YouTube site and watch the video!

Nelsonville Community Center provides safe haven for citizens

When the Athens County Children Services ran out of funding for prevention programs in Nelsonville that funded the original Nelsonville Community Center this summer, Rhonda Bentley had a tough decision to make. As a seven-year employee of Children Services, Bentley chose to set off on her own to start her own nonprofit, the Nelsonville Community Center, to provide a safe place for community members of all ages to “just be.”

Since July 31, Bentley and her team of volunteers have been relying the community’s resources to run the community center, which provides free lunches on Fridays, a “free store,” computers with Internet access and much more programming to aid community members.
“I knew when the money wasn’t there for the center that it was either going to be closed or gone,” Bentley said. “We provided a real service to the community. I decided that I could do this…There have been a few days where I’ve been in a panic, but for the most part it has been great.”

So far, Bentley has counted on grants and community donations to pay the community center’s bills. The food for the Friday free lunch also comes from community donations.

Just last week, the center was able to purchase a 15-passenger van because of a $5,000-grant from the Baird Brothers Company Foundation. The van helps bring children and families to the center who otherwise would not have a ride there.

“If we can’t bring the kids here for programming, they just can’t come,” Bentley said.

Bentley also relies on used furniture sales to help pay the bills at the center. Community members donate unwanted furniture to the community center, and volunteers clean up the furniture and resell it for a small profit that helps cover the building’s rent, electricity and other expenses. Tuesday, the center was full of office furniture like desks, chairs and filing cabinets as well household furniture like tables and comfortable chairs.

Located at 77 West Washington Street, the community center has weekly programming for girls and boys, space for small children to play and learn, and support groups for families. The center also provides a place for people in the Ohio’s Work Experience Program (WEP) to gain work hours doing tasks they are good at, Bentley said.

“They feed people and give a lot of kids in the community something to do,” said Arlene Boals, one of the center’s WEP workers who also brings her 2-year-old son, Hunter, to play at the center. “If they didn’t have stuff to do, who knows what they’d get into.”

“Girl Power,” the group for girls 8 to 18, recently hosted a Hula Hoop for the Cure, which raised $500 for cancer research, Bentley said. Regularly, 22 girls participate in “Girl Power.”

Bentley looks to her children’s programs as major successes of the community center. Children who come to the center for programming avoid legal trouble and find a safe place to gain knowledge and interact with others their age in a safe environment, Bentley said.

Offering something for children of every age, the center will bring in Santa Claus this Friday from 5-7 p.m. and will provide gifts for all children from birth to 12 years old.

This Thursday at 4:30 p.m., the community center will host its first session of “Celebrating Families,” a new program funded through a grant from Athens County Children Services, that looks to help families struggling with alcohol or drug problems heal and build healthy living skills, Bentley said. Families without drug or alcohol problems are also welcome to join the group, Bentley added, because the skills taught will help families regardless of their problems.

“When you’re trying as a family to deal with your basic needs, and those needs aren’t there, everything else becomes a major issue,” Bentley said. “At the center, we try to provide those basic needs.”

The Friday free lunches bring in at least 50 to 60 individuals each week. The center never asks questions as to why someone comes to eat, Bentley said. They also provide food boxes to anyone who comes to the center if they need it.

The back half of the community center is overflowing with donations to the free store – everything from winter coats, wedding dresses and encyclopedias are there for the taking. The shelves upon shelves of books and clothing were all donated by community members and organizations like the Nelsonville Public Library. Everything in the store is free to anybody who needs it.

“We had two full racks of winter coats, but since it started getting cold, the coats flew,” Bentley said. She added that they center is receiving more hats and coats from an organization in Columbus this week.

Volunteer Christy Hine comes to the center every day to help organize the clothes in the free store.

“I come here every day because I enjoy it,” Hine said. “I enjoy helping people find clothes for their family and helping me find clothes, too. I get to meet lots of different people.”

The free store, though, is chillingly cold as the center does not currently have enough money to properly heat that part of the building. For Bentley, heating the free store is just one of her goals for the center’s future.

“I would love to be able to be able to do what we do on a larger basis,” Bentley said. “I want to expand to have more programing for the general population.”

To get involved at the Nelsonville Community Center, call 740-753-4100 or just stop by Monday-Thursday 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Friday 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Every once and a while, my interests combine

Last week, I had the chance to work on a story about the local racetrack’s history for the Athens NEWS Reflections of the Past Edition. This is the second time this year at the A-NEWS that I’ve gotten to write about the local horse culture, and both time’s I’ve really enjoyed using journalism to spread the word about the equine industry. This story took me out in the cold to the Athens County Fairgrounds, as I watched a Charlie Schoonover exercise his trotters and pacers despite the swirling wind and light snowfall. It also took me to the home of Gussie Barnhart, an Athens native who has been a staple at the fairgrounds since 1945. Below is the story that appeared in today’s (Monday’s) Athens NEWS. If you are in town, check out the print edition that features some great photos of the horses and the track.

Though the early winter frost covers the grassy infield, the same pounding of hooves on the rock-dust track that has been heard for over 100 years at the Athens County Fairgrounds jolts through the brisk morning air. With the temperature barely reaching 20 degrees Fahrenheit, Charlie Schoonover sits in a cart whizzing around the track behind one of his horses, just as he has for the last 20 years.

On a map of Athens dated 1875, the Athens County Fairgrounds and racetrack sit on West Union Street in the same spot they do today. The fair itself celebrated its 158th anniversary this year, and the fair’s horse-racing has been a featured event held right before the fair begins for as long as all living Athenians can remember. While the track itself has not changed dramatically over the years, that’s not the case with the horse-racing industry and the fans who flock to the grandstands in August to watch the races.

Gussie Barnhart, 79, has called the racetrack at the Fairgrounds home for the better half of the last century. In 1945, Barnhart began coming to the fairgrounds to take care of her pony, when she was one of the only women in the local horse business. She became one of the first women harness drivers in the area, and trained her horses mainly out of the county fairgrounds. In 1950, she started racing 2- and 3-year-old trotting and pacing horses, training every morning through the heat and the cold at the racetrack, just as Schoonover does today.

“It always has been about the best track in the (Southern Valley Colt) Circuit, or at least that’s what other horsemen say,” Barnhart said.

The Southern Valley Colt Circuit is a summer series of races at 11 fairgrounds across southern Ohio, according to the organization’s Web site.

Throughout the early part of her career, Barnhart remembers the crowds of people packing the grandstands to catch a glimpse of the horses and their drivers decked out in their stables’ bright colors.

“Our grandstands were full and running over,” Barnhart remembered.

But as times have changed, so have the crowds at the fairgrounds. While neighboring states West Virginia and Pennsylvania have legalized gambling at their racetracks, the Ohio horse-racing industry has suffered, according to Ross Bateman, 92, who has had horses racing at the fairgrounds since 1960.

“There’s a certain number of people that want to gamble,” Bateman said. “If we had a place to gamble, people would stay here to watch the races.”

Gambling has affected more than just the crowds, though. Without gambling, the amount of the purses offered for the winning horses is much less than in other states, Bateman said. Many would-be racers now take their horses to Pennsylvania, West Virginia or Indiana for breeding and racing, dropping the number of entries in the local races.

“In the early 1990s, we were racing for more money than now,” Schoonover recalled. He holds the record for the fastest finish at the Athens County Fairgrounds, which he set in 1993. “Then, we were racing for $3,500. Now, it’s $2,000,” he added.

With less money to be made racing and the price of grain, hay and veterinary care skyrocketing, fewer and fewer horses call the Athens County Fairgrounds barns home. When Barnhart started racing in 1950, stall rent at the fairgrounds was $5 per horse per month, and horses filled the various barns at the Fairgrounds. Today, stall rent is $30 per horse per month. While this $30 cost is still far cheaper than any other boarding facility in the area, fewer than 10 horses are kept on the grounds during the winter, Barnhart said. In the hey-day of the fair’s horse racing, 12 horses and drivers entered each race. Recently, though, numbers have dropped, and only seven or eight horses compete in each of the various divisions.

Still, the horses that are racing in the Southern Valley Colt Circuit are much faster than in the early years of the fair.

“These horses are faster and come to 2-year-old speed pretty early,” Schoonover said. Early on in his career, he recalled that he would struggle to get a pacer to finish a race in under two minutes, but today drivers look to finish in 1:55.

Doping has also entered the sport of horse racing on a local level, Barnhart confirmed.

“They have quite the escapade out there,” she said. While those who stall their horses at the track year-round do not use drugs to speed up their horses, Barnhart said, others who come in to race during the fair do.