Dear Colleagues,

As President Drake announced, the Bucks for Charity drive is underway! Through November 13, you can give to your favorite charity – conveniently one-time or online through payroll deduction.

David Davisson and Gwen Wolford will be the Bucks for Charity coordinators for CFAES. Watch your email for an opportunity to celebrate your giving near the end of the campaign.

Bucks for Charity is one way all of us can come together to help transform our community and the lives of others. Our goal this year is to have 14% of our faculty and staff donate to raise $29,000. Last year, 12 % of our faculty and staff participated and we raised $23,470.

The annual drive encourages faculty and staff to donate to local organizations of their choice. There are many charities you can give to through Bucks for Charity that provide programs and services for education, health, environment, hunger, social justice or other community needs. If you’re already giving to a local organization, you can donate to the same organization through Bucks for Charity.

Please reach out to us if you have any questions. We also have paper forms if you’d prefer a one-time gift via check or cash. Printed resource guides are also available if you’d like to consider any of the participating charities.

For more information, visit bucksforcharity.osu.edu and view this video from the Bucks for Charity Chairs, Miechelle Willis, Athletics Deputy Director, and Mike Michael Hofherr, Vice President and Chief Information Officer.

If each of us gives a little – even the price of one cup of coffee – we can help someone in need and make a meaningful difference in our community.

Gwen Wolford & Dave Davisson

Time grows short for you to complete the steps to ensure that you have a full range of choices – and financial benefit through credits toward your premiums – in your 2016 OSU Medical Plan. Follow these two steps to ensure you have options during the upcoming open enrollment period:

Earn up to a $480 Premium Credit & 2016 Medical Plan Choice in 2 easy steps.

Step 1: Complete a Biometric Screening. Obtain required health values including; height, weight, blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL and a blood sugar value (either glucose or A1C) from your Primary Care Provider (PCP) or at a free on-campus screening.

Step 2: Complete the Personal Health & Well-Being Assessment. The PHA is a confidential online questionnaire that assesses factors that are critical to your health, well-being and your ability to improve or maintain both. It should take 15-20 minutes to complete.

Make sure to complete these steps by the September 30 deadline!

If you are looking to confirm you have completed all the requirements for earning plan choice and premium credit Visit yp4h.osu.edu for a step-by step verificationFaculty

Please see the attached news release Turkson regarding the upcoming visit by Cardinal Peter Turkson who will be speaking on The Ohio State University campus on November 2.

Sponsored in part by the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and the School of Environment and Natural Resources.

To review the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology weekly news. Website

Visitors to the 2015 Farm Science Review will have the interact with hundreds of vendors, hear from faculty and staff experts and sample great food prepared by local organizations and/or our student organizations.  This year, visitors will also see, more visibly the presenting sponsors for the 2015 Farm Science Review.  Thanks to Beck’s Hybrids, JD Equipment Inc., John Deere, and Trimble for their support of the 2015 event.  To learn more about this years event, check out the FSR website.

Responding to user behavior on the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences website, there has been a change in the top-level navigation.  Site visitors may now more readily find “Departments” and the “Faculty and Staff” resource link has been moved to the “About Us” section.

Our monthly data shows that individuals visiting department sites are very interested in contact information for faculty and staff.  Typically, the faculty or staff contact link is one of the top two pages visited on department sites.

The College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences is hosting a number of events and activities during the 2015 Homecoming week.  Please review the activities on our site.

Reminder – Vice President & Dean Bruce McPheron will deliver his annual State of the College address on Friday October 9th.  More information will be sent to all faculty and staff on how to access the presentation that will begin at 9:00am.

As you know, Vice President & Dean, Bruce McPheron is hosting two luncheons at the 2015 Farm Science Review.  Both events are by invitation and we would ask that you please review the invitation(s) that you received to ensure you attend the day that you registered.

Celebration of Ohio Agriculture Lunch – Tuesday, September 22

Celebration of CFAES Lunch – Thursday, September 24

You are invited to join us for a special employer/faculty/staff networking lunch before the Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Career Expo. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet with Industry recruiters who are interested in hiring our students and meeting with our faculty and staff in the College.

The lunch will take place from 11am- 12pm
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Nationwide & Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H Center

If you could RSVP by Monday, September 21st at Career Expo Lunch Registration , we would greatly appreciate it!

Mary E. McLaughlin
Career Development Coordinator
The Ohio State University
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences
100 Ag. Administration Bldg, 2120 Fyffe Road, Columbus, OH 43210
(614) 247-7603 Office
mclaughlin.154@osu.edu osu.edu

View the weekly “Friday Notes” from the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology, here.

Donate blood at the Agricultural Admin Building on Wednesday, September 9 and receive a BOGO ticket offer from the Blue Jackets Game!

Blood Drive

Wednesday, September 9

Agricultural Administration Building
10am to 4pm

Sponsored by: Towers Agricultural Honorary

If you donated on or before July 15 you may be eligible to donate at this drive.

Please schedule an appointment at: www.redcrossblood.org search sponsor code: buckeyes or call 1-800-RED CROSS.

Helpful Links:

Eligibility: http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements

Why donate blood?: http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/why-donate-blood

Tips for a Successful Donation:
http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/tips-successful-donation

To foster a dynamic and interactive community of data analytics research, teaching, and innovation at The Ohio State University, Translational Data Analytics @ Ohio State – TDA@OhioState – is launching a seed grant program focusing on the area Learning Analytics. In this context, learning analytics refers broadly to “the use of analytic techniques to help target instructional, curricular, and support resources to support the achievement of specific learning goals.”[1] This investment is directed toward ensuring Ohio State excels in the retention and timely graduation of its students and optimization of their educational trajectories.

TDA@OhioState is seeking proposals from transdisciplinary teams that wish to curate, analyze, report upon, and share novel data sets and predictive methods. The primary objective of the seed grant is to catalyze the formation of new, interdisciplinary teams that can generate preliminary technologies, data, and findings on learning analytics.

These technologies, data, and findings should be applicable to subsequent applications for extramural funding. These proposals will address fundamental issues related to the use of analytic techniques to help target instructional, curricular, and support resources that support achievement of specific learning goals.

For full details and grant application, please visit www.go.osu.edu/LearningAnalytics.

2015_01_09 Learning Analytics FAQ

2015_09_01 Learning Analytics grant

Please send completed applications to tda@osu.edu by October 14, 2015.

Questions? Please contact tda@osu.edu.

Dear Colleagues,

As we begin the academic year, I write to revisit important university policies and considerations with all faculty and instructional staff. Welcome back, and I hope you have a rewarding year.

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

FERPA governs release of records maintained by an educational institution and access to those records. Please revisit the guidelines.

Academic Integrity and Student Academic Misconduct

Please review our Code of Student Conduct and Ten Suggestions for Preserving Academic Integrity with your students, emphasizing that unawareness of policies is never considered an excuse for academic misconduct. Perhaps the most powerful tool for preventing academic misconduct is the content that you share with your students in your course syllabus. Clearly define your expectations for the completion of coursework in your syllabus.

If an instructor believes that a student has committed academic misconduct, the instructor is obligated by University Rules to report the student to the Committee on Academic Misconduct (COAM) within one month of the alleged misconduct.

Students Called to Active Military Duty

When students who are reservists or members of the National Guard are called to active duty, please be aware of the university’s policies: http://registrar.osu.edu/policies/militarycall.asp

Religious Holy Days

Our inclusive environment should allow for religious expression. Please do your best this academic year to accommodate students’ religious obligations and observances. For information on religious holidays, visit the Interfaith Calendar website.

Autumn Semester Break

There are no classes on Thursday and Friday, October 15 and 16. University offices are open.

RECENT APPOINTMENTS

In case you were away during the summer, I call your attention to three recent appointments:

M. Scott Herness, interim vice provost for graduate studies and interim dean of the Graduate School

Rustin M. Moore, dean, College of Veterinary Medicine

Lorraine Silver Wallace, director, Undergraduate Research Office

Hypoxia is a pervasive problem globally, but is well known in the US with its effects in the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay. Tulane University has put up $1 million no strings attached prize to the individual or team that can help reduce hypoxia. Now, because hypoxia is a very broad topic and has a potential multiple avenues to tackle the issue, Tulane has created a couple of focus points. Firstly the prize is focused on nitrogen reduction, as the primary driving element of hypoxia. Secondly, the prize is focused in agriculture, and specifically towards in-field sensor technologies to be able to increase nitrogen efficiencies, maximize crop yields, and thus sustainably intensifying agriculture to the benefit of the environment.

Currently the registration / application window for potential competitors to compete in the Tulane University Nitrogen Reduction Challenge for $1 million dollars, no strings attached prize is open! But it will soon close. The registration window closes September the 15th. You have to register to be eligible to submit a full application to compete.

You can find the exact structure and information about the specifics associated with the challenge here:
http://tulane.edu/tulaneprize/waterprize/upload/Tulane-Nitrogen-Reduction-Challenge-Rules.pdf

Here is the link to register:
https://challenge.tulane.edu/Team/Preregistration/register/1

If you have any questions about the Prize and/or application please don’t hesitate to contact Robbie Kroger (robbie@ccellc.us) or Leah Berger (leah@berger.com)

Look forward to receiving your applications!

And Good Luck!

Robbie

Robert Kröger, Ph.D., PWS, CWB®
Chief Scientific Officer
2510 14th Street, Ste 1010 | Gulfport, MS 39501
Office 228-396-0486
Mobile 662-801-5114
robbie@ccellc.us

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology provides a weekly summary of news and information.  Please see last weeks news, here.