ACADAOS Mansfield Trip

Hello ACADAOS Members and Friends,
On December 5, 2014, the folks at the Mansfield campus were gracious enough to host a group of ACADAOS members. I have been asked to blog about my experience. This is my first attempt at a blog, so here goes:

Our journey started on a very nice OSU shuttle. There were about 20 of us in total, which was enough to feel like a big group, but still give us an opportunity to chat with one another. I made the mistake of telling one ACADAOS member that I never have, never plan to, nor have any interest in ever visiting Disney World or Land. After she picking up the pieces of what appeared to be her broken heart, she then proceeded to tell me what is, I am assuming, everything any human being will ever need to know about the park.

When we arrived on campus, we met with Dr. Terri Fisher, Asst. Dean, and Rick Stewart, Academic Advisor and Program Planner. Rick and Terri took us through some of the exciting new things that the campus is working on. The Mansfield campus is really pushing their students to get involved in undergraduate research. They have had a lot of success getting undergraduate students involved in research with faculty members. They have created a great site which can direct students on how to get involved with research, and how to apply for a research grant: http://mansfield.osu.edu/research/student-research/

We also learned about the Haiti Empowerment Project. This is an initiative developed by Dr. Terri Bucci, in which students can travel to Haiti and work on projects designed to help the local community. Students work to develop education programs, engineering projects, and assist with entrepreneurship ventures. It’s a great opportunity for students to help others, immerse themselves in another country, and continue to develop career-related skills. You can find a video about the project here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjrC4GmapEk

We were also given a tour of the campus by some of the student leaders. We have some pictures from the tour below:

 

The brand new open study space in the Bromfield Library:

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The Eisenhower Student Union:

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Steven Mousetes creeping out some stagehands in the Founders Auditorium:

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We were also shown the Pearl Conrad Art Gallery. They were holding a Biotic exhibit, which featured organic works such as the history and significance of ginseng. You can find out more information on their website: http://u.osu.edu/pcagallery/

Finally, Professors Phil Mazzocco and Amy Brunell put us through an implicit bias workshop. The purpose was to get us to understand that we all have biases based on our experiences and sociocultural conditioning. This is a workshop that Professors Mazzocco and Brunell have given to local and campus groups with great success, and we had a great conversation among the advisors about our own biases.

We had an outstanding time, and we cannot thank our colleagues on the Mansfield campus for opening their doors to us, and creating such a fantastic program. Thank you to everyone involved, and we hope you can join us next time!

Barry Tolchin, President-Elect