The Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs would like to thank all who have registered to volunteer during Welcome Week. Your assistance is vital to the success of the events and programs during this important transition in our students lives. All volunteer shifts for registration and convocation have been filled, but volunteers are needed for wayfinding—assisting students with locating buildings on campus as they go to classes. Shifts are available Monday, Aug. 23, and Tuesday, Aug. 24. Register as a wayfinding volunteer by clicking here. Questions? Call (405) 744-5328 or e-mail debbie.stump@okstate.edu.

The Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs would like to thank all who have registered to volunteer during Welcome Week. Your assistance is vital to the success of the events and programs during this important transition in our students lives. All volunteer shifts for registration and convocation have been filled, but volunteers are needed for wayfinding—assisting students with locating buildings on campus as they go to classes. Shifts are available Monday, Aug. 23, and Tuesday, Aug. 24. Register as a wayfinding volunteer by clicking here. Questions? Call (405) 744-5328 or e-mail debbie.stump@okstate.edu.

New iPhone application launched to help promote health and wellness across the university

The Oklahoma State University Seretean Wellness Center has partnered with Fitterlife to release a new iPhone application for Cowboys on the Move. The app allows users to track their exercise minutes on the go and automatically syncs with the Cowboys on the Move website.  The app is free, easy to use and is taking OSU one step closer to being AmericaAmerica reviews’s Healthiest Campus.

Cowboys on the Move is an interactive, comprehensive website developed exclusively for OSU. The program encourages the OSU community to become more active in their lifestyles and strive to live healthier. It offers many tools, including an exercise tracker, a nutrition tracker and fittercise videos, which demonstrate various work out routines.

Incentives are provided to OSU-Stillwater faculty and staff, 75 percent full-time employed and above. Participants receive a Cowboys on the Move moisture management T-shirt at sign up.  The more minutes logged the more incentives received. Incentives include a gym bag, paper weight and OSU watch.

“OSU is striving to be America’s HEALTHIEST campus, and this is just one component of that overall goal,” Robin Purdie, Director of OSU Seretean Wellness Center, said. “We have partnered with Fitterlife to provide the technical expertise while staff at the OSU Seretean Wellness Center provides the health and wellness expertise.  Information and applications are science based and additional applications are being developed in other areas of health and wellness.  It is the perfect partnership of education and industry, and we look forward to developing additional programs to move toward our goal of becoming America’s HEALTHIEST campus”

Cowboys on the Move has about 1200 users who have accumulated nearly three million minutes of activity since 2009. Users are encouraged to perform 150 minutes of physical activity each week, based on guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine.

Seretean Wellness Center’s mission is to help people achieve a balance of physical and mental health. The Center has 21 full-time employees, graduate assistants, interns and part-time student employees. The center houses the O-Zone Fitness Center, employee health clinic and a demonstration kitchen. For more information about the Seretean Wellness Center and its programs visit wellness.okstate.edu or call 405.744.9355

Oklahoma State University will pilot an AppleApple reviews iPad initiative during the Fall 2010 semester with select courses in the School of Media and Strategic CommunicationsStrategic Communications reviews and the Spears School of Business at both the Stillwater and Tulsa campuses, announced OSU President Burns Hargis.

“This pilot initiative will provide valuable insight into the research benefits of the Apple iPad in the classroom,” said Hargis.  “The iPad has had an amazing impact since it was introduced last April and we are excited to be able to put this powerful and creative tool in the hands of students and faculty and see what happens.”

Bill Handy, visiting assistant professor in the School of Media and Strategic Communications, and Tracy Suter, associate professor of marketing in the Spears School of Business, will lead the initiative.  Each class will integrate the iPad differently but will focus on specific measurable outcomes.

The iPad pilot will be launched this fall with approximately 125 students in five different courses.

“This limited pilot will be focused on fields of study where we believe we can best determine the higher education value of the iPad,” said Handy.  “We will evaluate the academic enhancement to the courses, how the iPad and its specific apps and web-based tools can be integrated in this capacity, and perhaps most importantly, how the integration of these mobile tools can expand the tactical abilities of students as they enter the workforce.”

The iPad and other mobile tools are already integrated into daily business use.  In both schools, the iPad will be used for academic purposes and to explore innovative uses and tactical uses specific to each school's industry needs.

“In addition to mobility, the iPad will allow us to work in real-time,” said Suter. “For example, data collection and analysis in a research context can be a multi-day to multi-week process.  By using the iPad, we can replace paper-and-pencil research with the immediate process of data collection, review and summary over a Web interface. 

“I certainly have ideas of how I would like to use an iPad.” Suter said.  “But collectively we will discover new uses a single individual might not have conceived independently.  Putting the newest technology in the hands of students allows them to stretch the limits of how it can be used.”

Cost savings for students will also be evaluated.  In one case, students using the iPad in a single course will save more than $100 on a single textbook, which can be downloaded in an ePub format.

OSU is leading the way in the integration of technology in the classroom. It is already using a variety of tools such as iTunesU and YouTubeYouTube, along with other collaborative tools. OSU is also exploring the development of mobile applications to integrate current publications into an online and app platform, offering expense savings and enhanced distribution.

The College of Human Environmental Sciences (CHES) at Oklahoma State University and the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service have announced the appointment of Jorge H. Atiles as the new Associate Dean for Extension and Engagement beginning July 1.  The appointment was approved at FridayFriday reviews’s OSU/A&M Board of Regents meeting in Oklahoma City.

Most recently Atiles has served as the Associate Dean for Outreach and Extension in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Georgia. He was also the Family and Consumer Sciences State Program Leader for Cooperative Extension and he was a leader in Latino outreach for UGA Extension.

“We are extremely pleased to have Jorge Atiles join the college and the cooperative extension service,” said CHES Dean Stephan Wilson. “Jorge will provide leadership and vitality for our extension faculty. However, he will also work to increase the collaboration and teamwork across all departments and all types of faculty, whether they are teaching, doing research or working in extension. Further, he will facilitate the vital flow of information and ideas into OSU from communities and citizens from around the state.”

In his new role, Atiles will work with faculty members to create connections across research and outreach, across teaching and preparing community sensitive professionals to keep the meaning and importance of the larger land-grant mission alive. His efforts are expected to increase the journal publications and translation of information into sources that will be more widely used by practitioners and extension programs available to the public.

Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service Associate Director James Trapp said Atiles will raise the profile of the family and consumer sciences extension program in a number of ways. “Dr. Atiles has a national reputation and is well respected around the country for the work he has done as a FCS program administrator,” Trapp said.

“He has a passion to deliver the knowledge base contained in CHES to the people of Oklahoma and the nation when necessary. He will integrate current extension programs into the newly expanded program.”

CHES Dean Wilson said, “We want to continue both receiving input from and using the extension program to translate knowledge from the university to communities; we need to find ways to better allocate that knowledge and our resources to meet the needs of people and communities in today’s society.  It is crucial in our constantly changing world that our work in extension and outreach remains up-to-date and relevant to the current lifestyles.”

Atiles received his doctorate degree in housing, interior design and resource management and master‘s degree in urban and regional planning from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He earned a bachelor of architecture degree from the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Ureña, Dominican Republic.

Affordable housing education programs, natural gas education for consumers, water quality and energy conservation, weatherization and education have been the focus of Atiles' areas of extension and outreach work.  He has also conducted research in workforce housing, energy conservation and literacy, community and housing development and housing finance.

"I am looking forward to working with such great faculty at CHES and the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service. OSU has a great reputation for being committed to its land-grant mission and for the value it places on extension, outreach and public service,” Atiles said.  “The college's new vision and goal of engagement of its faculty and students can only multiply the impact of this university and extension in the state, the nation and the world. I am greatly honored to have been selected to launch and execute this vision"

Atiles was selected for the newly defined role by a search committee led by Christine Johnson, CHES associate dean for research and graduate studies.  The committee took into consideration what the future would hold for the college.

“Jorge has established himself as a leader who can set a vision and inspire those around him to not only adopt a shared vision, but also actively engage in actions to achieve desired outcomes,” Johnson said. “He will provide vision and state-wide leadership for Family and Consumer Sciences Extension programs, as well as vision and leadership for coordinating and integrating the engagement activities of faculty in the college.”

In 2005, Atiles received the Walter Barnard Hill Award from the Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach at UGA. He has also been recognized with awards from the Environmental Protection Agency and several professional organizations.

Before his tenured position at UGA, Atiles worked as an architect and planner with the National Housing Bank of the Dominican Republic, as a Housing Manager of federal housing programs in Athens-Clarke County and as adjunct faculty in the College of Architecturearchitecture at the UNPHU, Dominican Republic.

Wilson also noted Atiles’ future plans to lead the extension work and to facilitate team building among the faculty, staff and students in the college’s four departments.

“Our goal for the future is to meld our extension faculty and all of the outreach and engagement responsibilities of other faculty and students,” Wilson said.  “We will continue to support the work of our faculty and encourage interaction and collaboration throughout the departments.”

Johnson said she believes Atiles’ appointment will help build the college’s reputation among its peer institutions, as well as to the general public.

“I look forward to opportunities to integrate research and outreach activities in CHES and increase the college's profile as being a responsive, active agent in solving human problems and enhancing human lives,” she said.

Don Herrmann, associate professor and Arthur Andersen professor of accounting in the Oklahoma State University Spears School of Business, has been appointed head of the OSU School of Accounting. The appointment was approved today at the regular meeting of the OSU/A&M Board of Regents in Oklahoma City. The appointment also carries with it the title of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Chair and is effective July 1. 

“In many ways, Don represents the ‘next generation’ of School of Accounting faculty – one who is research engaged throughout his entire career and who recognizes the value of research in defining our regional and national reputation,” said Larry Crosby, Spears School dean. “Don’s strong academic record can serve as an inspiration to incoming and existing faculty within accounting and across the entire Spears School.”

Herrmann joined the OSU accounting faculty in 2005. He earned his doctorate degree in accounting from Oklahoma State University in 1995, his master’s degree from Kansas State University in 1987 and his bachelor’s degree from John Brown University in 1985. Herrmann previously served on the faculties of Oregon State University and Baylor University and worked as an auditor for Deloitte in Colorado Springs.

Widely known as an international accounting scholar, Herrmann has published 24 research articles and a financial accounting textbook with McGraw-Hill. He has served as the president of the International Accounting Section of the American Accounting Association. Not only is Herrmann well-regarded for his scholarship, but also he is recognized as an accomplished teacher and has received numerous teaching awards.

Herrmann replaces Don Hansen, who served as OSU School of Accounting head since 2004. Hansen will return to the Spears School faculty as Arthur Anderson Professor of Accounting and Regents Service Professor.

In Hansen’s 6 years as department chair, he helped re-establish the OSU School of Accounting as one of the premier accounting programs in the nation. As a result of his accomplishments, he recently was recognized as a Regents Service Professor.

“Don Hansen articulated a clear direction for the School of Accounting, held faculty accountable for excellence in all aspects of their careers, enacted policies and provided the resources necessary to be successful,” Crosby said. “Don Hansen put Accounting on the right path and I’m totally confident that Don Herrmann will continue to build on the positive momentum.”

New budget enables OSU to maintain and enhance high-priority education, research, outreach programs

The Oklahoma State University/A&M Board of Regents today approved an operating budget that will allow the OSU System to effectively fulfill its land-grant mission of education, research and outreach through its five campuses and statewide operations. 

The total FY 2011 budget is $1.016 billion and includes state allocations totaling $249.9 million, a decrease of $4.5 million, or 1.77 percent from the current year budget. 

“Like many states, Oklahoma has faced significant budgetary challenges this past year.” said OSU/A&M Board of Regents Chair Calvin Anthony.  “We certainly respect how the Governor and legislative leaders fashioned a budget to minimize the impact of reduced state revenues on higher education.

“The overall budget will allow Oklahoma State to maintain and enhance some high-priority academic and research programs,” Anthony said. “Moreover, the budget will enable us to keep tuition increases to a minimum as part of our desire as Regents to make a quality higher education accessible to as many students as possible.”

OSU President Burns Hargis said, “State leaders faced difficult budget decisions and we applaud their continued commitment to higher education. This budget provides OSU the resources to serve more than 33,000 students, conduct life-changing research and offer our expertise to the citizens of Oklahoma.  We are committed to exercising fiscal discipline in order to focus our precious resources on our core activities of teaching, research, scholarship and outreach.”

After no increase a year ago, tuition and mandatory fees will increase 4.4 percent for in-state OSU undergraduate students.  Even with a tuition increase, the budget will not allow for a salary increase for OSU employees. 

“We do not take tuition and compensation decisions lightly, and today’s challenging economic conditions make those decisions even tougher,” said Hargis.  “In order to continue to offer students the education, services and support that will properly prepare them for success, the increase in tuition and mandatory fees was necessary.”

Hargis said the university, like other agencies and employers across the state, regretted being unable to provide pay increases to employees.  “Our regents and administration appreciate our faculty and staff employees for their hard work and their dedication to their jobs, our students and the university,” he said.

Under this budget, an undergraduate student who is a resident of Oklahoma would pay $225.95 per credit hour beginning in the fall of 2010, an increase of $9.50.  Despite this year’s tuition and mandatory fee increase, OSU remains one of the best buys in higher education in the country.  In fact, the cost for in-state students is less at OSU than any other school in the Big 12.

OSU has taken many steps to curtail costs in the face of current economic challenges.  Hargis praised OSU’s energy conservation program that is saving millions of dollars each year.  In fact, the initiative with Energy Education has enabled the university to open five new buildings on the Stillwater campus without increasing the overall maintenance and operation budget.  The new buildings are the North Classroom Building, the Multimodal Facility, Murray Hall, Old Central and the Henry Bellmon Research Center.

The OSU budget must now receive approval from the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education.  If approved, it will take effect July 1.

Other June 2010 Board Actions:
Personnel
Promotions

Other June 2010 Board Actions:
Promotions
Budget

Several personnel actions were approved during the Oklahoma State University/A&M Board of Regents meeting FridayFriday reviews on the OSU-Oklahoma City campus.

Dr. Jorge H. Atiles was appointed associate dean and professor for extension and engagement in the College of Human Environmental Sciences. Atiles has served as associate dean for outreach and extension in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Georgia, where he also had served as the Family and Consumer Sciences State Program Leader for Cooperative Extension and was a leader in Latino outreach for UGA Extension.

He received his bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Universidad Nacional Pedro Henriquez Urena in the Dominican Republic, his master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and his Ph.D. in housing, interior design and resource management.

Dr. Donald R. Herrmann, associate professor and Arthur Andersen Professor of Accounting, has been named head of the School of Accounting and Anadarko Petroleum Chair in Accounting. He joined the OSU accounting faculty in 2005 after serving on faculties at Oregon State University and Baylor University. He received his B.S. in business administration from John Brown, his master’s degree in accounting from Kansas State University, and his Ph.D. in finance accounting from OSU.

APPOINTMENTS: John L. Abernathy, assistant professor, accounting; Rubindhiran Pillay, Daniel White Jordan Clinical Professor in Entrepreneurship and Creativity, entrepreneurship;  Mihyun Kang, assistant professor, design, housing and merchandising; Julia T. Atiles, associate professor, human development and family science; Kevin R. Fite, associate athletic director, NCAA compliance; Troy A. Levings, director, physical plant administration.

TITLE CHANGES: Don R. Hansen, Regents Service Professor, accounting, adds title of Arthur Andersen Professor; Mark Weiser, associate dean, professor, Fleming Professor and director, management science and information systems, to professor, Fleming Professor and director; James G. Hromas, associate professor, marketing, returning to faculty position, removing director title, appointment to Lawrence L. Boger Chair; Sue C. Jacobs, associate professor, applied health and educational psychology, appointment to Ledbetter Lemon Endowed Diversity Professorship. 

SABBATICALS: Guolong Zhang, animal science, 50 percent sabbatical to study the host immune response to infections with influenza viruses using genomic, protemic and lipidomic techniques at the Washington National Primate Research Center in Seattle, Wash., from Sept. 1, 2010, to Aug. 31, 2011; Ramamurthy Mahalingam, biochemistry and molecular biology; 100 percent sabbatical to collaborate with Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., on the genetic mechanisms of dehydration and drought tolerance, particularly stress signaling mechanisms, from July 1-Dec. 31;  Xiang Fang, marketing, 100 percent sabbatical to serve as a visiting scholar at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics to collaborate on research of consumer responses to cross-border brand acquisitions, Jan. 1-June 30, 2011.

RETIREMENTS: Kim B. Anderson and Joseph E. Williams, both agricultural economics, June 30; Glenn E. Selk, animal science, June 30; Ronald L. Elliott, Michael A. Kizer, Michael D. Smolen, all biosystems and agricultural engineering, June 30; John B. Solie, biosystems and agricultural engineering, June 10; Kenneth E. Conway and Jim T. Criswell, both entomology and plant pathology, June 30; John C. Banks, Bjorn Martin and Thomas F. Peeper, all plant and soil sciences, June 30; Linda C. Leavell, English, Aug. 1; Robert B. Garner, journalism and broadcasting, June 1; Pat D. Brock, engineering technology, Aug. 31; Jim L. Hanson, engineering technology, July 1; Patricia M. Knaub, human development and family science, June 30.

For OSU-Oklahoma City, appointments were approved for Jennifer R. Poynter, instructor and head, arts and sciences; and for RebeccaRebecca reviews J. Pruitt, department head, early care education. Scott C. Lovett, instructor of health sciences, was named head of health sciences. A title change was approved for Sally Henderson, veterinary technology, from professor and head to professor; and for David A. Morales, veterinary technology, from assistant professor to assistant professor and head.

For the OSU Center for Health Sciences, appointments were approved for KatherineKatherine reviews D. CookCook reviews and David M. Wilkett, clinical assistant professors, medicine; Mark H. Thai, clinical assistant professor, osteopathic manipulative medicine; and Travis Campbell and William A. See III, clinical assistant professors, pediatrics. A title change was approved for Sarah M. Hall from clinical assistant professor to assistant professor, family medicine; and for HarrietHarriet reviews A. Shaw, from clinical professor to professor, osteopathic manipulative medicine.

For the OSU Institute of Technology, the retirement of Mary A. Dickson, visual communications, July 2, was accepted.

Other June 2010 Board Actions:
Personnel
Budget

The Oklahoma State University/A&M Board of Regents approved promotions in academic rank for faculty members on the campuses in Stillwater, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, effective July 1, during its meeting today at OSU-Oklahoma City.

On the Stillwater campus, receiving promotions from professor to the honorary title of Regents Professor were Janet Cole, horticulture and landscape architecture; Subhash Kak, computer science; Ibrahim Ahmad, statistics; Loren Smith, zoology; Lowell Caneday, applied health and educational psychology; Laura Hubbs-Tait, human development and family science; and Robert Fulton, pathobiology.

Receiving promotions from associate professor to professor were Peter Muriana, animal science; Jose Soulages, biochemistry and molecular biology; Nathan Walker, entomology and plant pathology; William McGlynn, horticulture and landscape architecture; Edward Jones, English; Carol Moder, English; Laura Belmonte, history; Jason Lavery, history; Anthony Kable, mathematics; Rebekah Herrick, political science; Douglas Hershey, psychology; Melanie Page, psychology; Margaret White, management; Carrie Winterowd, applied health and educational psychology; William Ryan, hotel and restaurant administration; David Oberhelman, library; Tanya Finchum, library; Douglas Step, veterinary clinical sciences. Robert Larzelere, human development and family science, was promoted to professor, action granting tenure.

Faculty receiving reappointments as associate professor, action granting tenure, were Rodney Will Jr., natural resource ecology and management; Tony Kang, accounting; David Barney, applied health and educational psychology; Jeffrey Hawkins, teaching and curriculum leadership; Imadeddine Abouzahr, engineering technology; Murat Hancer, hotel and restaurant administration; Karen Neurohr, library; and Victor Baeza, library.

Faculty receiving promotions from assistant professor to associate professor, action granting tenure, were Cindy Blackwell, agricultural education, communication and leadership; Tracy Boyer, agricultural economics; Deborah Van Overbeke, animal science; Patricia Ayoubi, biochemistry and molecular biology; Ning Wang, biosystems and agricultural engineering; Michael Holmes, horticulture and landscape architecture; Charles Weinert, chemistry; Cheryl Giddens, communication sciences and disorders; Xiaolin Li, computer science; Brian Price, English; Tonia Nash, history; Mahdi Asgari, mathematics; Douglas Droste, music; Laura Talbott, music; Flera Rizatdinova, physics; Mark Wolfgram, political science; Tamara Mix, sociology; Lloyd Caldwell, theatre; W. Matthew Bowler, management; Bridget Miller, applied health and educational psychology; Matthew O’Brien, applied health and educational psychology; Bernita Krumm, educational studies; Paolo Sanza, architecture; Heather Yates, engineering technology; Brandt Gardner, human development and family science; Mary Leech, library; Robin Allison, pathobiology; Diane McFarlane, physiological sciences. Dan Chaney, library, received a promotion to associate professor.

On the OSU-Oklahoma City campus, Teri Ferguson, general studies, was promoted from associate professor to professor.

Faculty receiving promotions from assistant professor to associate professor, actions granting tenure, were Diana Wolfe, computer information systems/technology communications; Tracy Edwards, Saundra Medrano, Anna Nguyen, health sciences; Karen Jobe, humanities; Larry Robinson, public safety; and Dean Scherer, science.

Receiving promotions from instructor to assistant professor were Petra Hutchison, early care education; Michael Goldman, fire protection; Nada Cain, Dawn Hemphill, Nicole Pascher and Lora Winchester, health sciences; Haldor Howard, horticulture; Kent Studnicka, human services; Jerald Rice and Jason Stone, humanities; Gary Davis, interpreter training; and Bob Linville, management studies.

For the OSU Center for Health Sciences, Kayse Donnelley received a promotion from associate professor to professor and chair, pediatrics; and Randall Davis was promoted from assistant professor to associate professor, action granting tenure.