The following meeting has been postponed until December 12, 2014
PRESIDENTIAL SEARCH COMMITTEE MEETING

Thursday, November 20, 2014
Driscoll Alumni Center, Board Room
2:00 p.m.
Upon convening the meeting, the Committee will enter Executive Session
to discuss the employment of a public employee
with Executive Search Firm Witt/Kiefer.

Any questions may be directed to the University Communications Office by calling 419.530.7832 or via email at jonathan.strunk@utoledo.edu.

The University of Toledo campus community, led by the Center for International Studies and Programs, is celebrating International Education Week, Nov. 17-21, with more than 30 events.

What: International Village — International Student Association members will showcase their cultures with free food and performances.

When: Wednesday, Nov. 19, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: Student Union Auditorium

Media Coverage
The Independent Collegian (Nov. 19, 2014)

In an effort to end smoking and raise awareness about the dangers of tobacco use, The University of Toledo will join the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout this week.

Sponsored by the UT Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Prevention Program, the University event will take place Thursday, Nov. 20, in the Student Union from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The goal of the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Prevention Program is to raise awareness about the detrimental effects of smoking, as well as the social and health benefits that occur when a person stops smoking.

“Socially, people don’t want to be around other people that are smoking. I think in today’s culture, people are more aware of the negative health impacts smoking has on them. We also want to show how much money people spend on cigarettes,” said Dr. Will Pescok, associate director and administrator of the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Prevention Program.

Pharmacy students will be on hand to give carbon monoxide tests to smokers so they can measure their lung capacity and also to show the amount of carcinogens that enter their body when they smoke.

The Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Prevention Program is challenging smokers to quit cold turkey for 72 hours. At the event, smokers can exchange a pack of cigarettes for a $5 gift card to purchase a cold turkey sandwich or to use at the Barnes & Noble University Bookstore. T-shirts, prizes and other giveaways also will be part of the challenge.

“Our intent is to make a permanent change; the idea with substance use is that you want people to abstain for a given period of time,” Pescok said. “The longer people abstain, the more likely they are to quit.”

Pescok said that it is important to have an event like this on a college campus because students are at a pivotal point in their lives.

“In my mind, I think we can reach more people at the right time. I think we have a student body that is open and educated and can see some of the problems of smoking. I think this is also a good time over a student’s developmental life cycle to quit smoking,” he said.

Another goal of the events for the Great American Smokeout is to promote the revised tobacco policy that was passed earlier this year.

“We want to stimulate a culture change on campus,” said Antonique Ingraham, a doctoral public health student and graduate assistant for the Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Prevention Program. “For some time now, we have been hearing a lot about quitting smoking and the dangers of tobacco use, but it is important for us to stimulate that environment here.”

The Alcohol Tobacco and Other Drug Prevention Program will be handing out quit kits and other information about smoking and about how to quit. Employees can go through Rocket Wellness if they are interested in quitting.

For more information about the Great American Smokeout, contact Pescok at will.pescok@utoledo.edu.

Media Coverage
13 ABC (Nov. 21, 2014)

The University of Toledo has enhanced safety on campus and in the surrounding area with the introduction of Quinty, UT Police Department’s (UTPD) newest officer.

Quinty is a male Belgian Malinois, with explosive-detection training. He is funded through a grant from Ohio Homeland Security, a division of the Ohio Department of Public Safety. The grant covers his purchase cost, training fees, veterinary care and other equipment that may be needed.

An event to welcome Quinty will be held Tuesday, Nov. 18 in the UT Transportation Center at 2:30 p.m.

Quinty’s breed is commonly used for tasks that include detection of odors such as explosives, accelerants and narcotics; tracking of humans for suspect apprehension; and search and rescue missions. The United States Secret Service uses the breed to guard the grounds of the White House.

After 10 weeks of training, Quinty is ready to patrol UT alongside his handler, UTPD officer Kevin Zimmerman. A 15-year veteran of UTPD, Zimmerman spent five weeks training with Quinty in Columbus. While his primary duty is on UT’s campus, Quinty is available to assist local law enforcement if called upon.

“We are excited to welcome Quinty to the UT campus,” said UT Police Chief Jeff Newton. “Quinty brings a new dimension to our safety efforts and will be protecting the campus for many years to come.”

Media Coverage
The Blade (Nov. 17, 2014)
WTOL 11 and 13 ABC (Nov. 18, 2014)
The Blade (Nov. 19, 2014)

The University of Toledo College of Engineering will announce a substantial multi-year gift from Toledo-based engineering, architectural and construction management firm SSOE Group to further nurture entrepreneurial mindsets among UT engineering graduates.

A gift announcement event will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, in the Thomas & Elizabeth Brady Engineering Innovation Center located just south of Nitschke Auditorium.

“Not only has SSOE greatly contributed to the design and beauty of so many buildings at The University of Toledo, but the firm has long been a great partner of the College of Engineering,” said Dr. Steven LeBlanc, the college’s interim dean.

LeBlanc said the gift will go toward supporting UT’s Engineering Technopreneurship Initiative, a specialized training program designed to assure that engineering graduates develop an entrepreneurial mindset, whether they would choose to pursue their careers within established organizations or in startups.

“SSOE is pleased to continue our long association with the UT College of Engineering with this multi-year commitment to the University and the Engineering Innovation Fund,” said Tony Damon, CEO and president of SSOE.

Bob Howell, SSOE’s CEO-elect, re-emphasized the company’s continued support of the University. “We have relied on the college to provide us with the professional talent we need to deliver world-class projects for our global clients since Al Samborn, ’39, founded the company here in Toledo in 1948. We are confident our contribution will help underwrite the development of young engineering talent with the innovative spirit and skills necessary to continue to produce world-class engineering graduates at UT.”

SSOE’s gift will be used to design, assemble and implement a sustainable framework starting the freshman year while promoting the areas of design, entrepreneurship and technology commercialization. The framework will initially be centered around an enhanced freshman design experience, LeBlanc said.

“SSOE is an international organization headquartered in northwest Ohio, and this leadership gift speaks to its commitment to the future of this community,” said Vern Snyder, UT vice president for institutional advancement.

“I want to thank Tony Damon, Bob Howell and all at SSOE who support The University of Toledo through gifts like this and, just as importantly, through the hiring and career development of UT graduates,” said UT’s Interim President Nagi Naganathan. “This is an example of how two organizations can work together to elevate innovation and entrepreneurship and caliber of the professional work force in our region to the benefit of the entire community.”

Media Coverage
FOX Toledo and NBC 24 (Nov. 18, 2014)
The Blade (Nov. 20, 2014)

In his State of the University address, Interim President Nagi Naganathan announced that he is requesting approval from The University of Toledo Board of Trustees for the establishment of the Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute to provide university-level education, outreach and research to respond to the global challenge of human trafficking.

At its meeting today at 1 p.m. in the Driscoll Alumni Center Schmakel Room, the Board of Trustees will hear from Dr. Celia Williamson, UT professor of social work and a national expert in the fight against human trafficking, about UT’s leadership in confronting this problem.

Also scheduled to be at the meeting to express support for the institute are State Rep. Teresa Fedor, State Sen. Edna Brown and Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates.

UT officials say the institute will bring together faculty from across UT’s colleges, along with collaborators at other institutions, to address the human trafficking and provide a means for public officials, law enforcement agencies, and the public to obtain information about ending this scourge.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Nov. 18, 2014)
Toledo Free Press (Nov. 18, 2014)
The Independent Collegian (Dec. 3, 2014)
Times Leader (Dec. 7, 2014)
Daily Journal (Dec. 7, 2014)
Akron Beacon Journal (Dec. 7, 2014)
The Columbus Dispatch (Dec. 8, 2014)

The University of Toledo Center for Family & Privately Held Business will hold its annual recognition celebration Tuesday, Nov. 18, at the Toledo Club.

The event will celebrate the center’s 22nd anniversary and honors its outgoing advisory board members.

Networking will start at 5:30 p.m. with the program following at 6 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public; however, registration is required and seats are limited. Register online at utfamilybusiness.org, or for more information, email angie.jones@utoledo.edu.

Shawn Riegsecker, CEO and founder of Centro, will be interviewed by Mike Hart, president and CEO of Hart, as part of the program, “Happiness as the New Return on Investment: The New Corporate Manifesto.”

Joseph Zerbey, president and general manager of The Blade and chair of The University of Toledo Board of Trustees, will introduce Riegsecker and Hart.

“We invited Riegsecker because he is a northwest Ohio native who has made remarkable achievements as a young entrepreneur,” said Debbe Skutch, director of the Center for Family & Privately Held Business. “For example, his company, Centro, has been named the best place to work four years in a row by Crain’s, which is unheard of.”

Centro is an ad network and technology company based in Chicago. A privately held company, it was founded on the idea that the happiness of its employees is the best metric of a successful company.

The evening’s discussion will explore the importance of company culture, entrepreneurship, community commitment, the work/life blend and more.

“It’s our hope to reach out to those in the community who are entrepreneurs and to millennials who wish to start their own business and give them a different and fresh perspective to company culture,” Skutch said.

The University of Toledo’s Lake Erie Center will host a Lab Open House Monday, Nov. 17, from 5 to 7 p.m.

The lab will include discussions and demonstrations by Lake Erie Center staff, faculty, students and researchers on their behind-the-scenes environmental work.

Topics that will be covered include the Toledo water crisis, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, invasive species, controlling harmful algae blooms, local fish and fisheries, wetland restoration, and phosphorus runoff.

“In light of recent national media attention regarding the Toledo water crisis, in conjunction with the analyses conducted in our laboratories, we felt compelled to prominently showcase our abilities to measure the well-being of the Great Lakes through an array of different scientific testing mediums,” said Alexander Hughes, communication and technology specialist at the UT Lake Erie Center.

The center, 6200 Bayshore Road in Oregon, is an interdisciplinary research and education site located near the northwestern corner of Ohio’s Maumee Bay State Park. It is dedicated to improving the environmental condition, ecosystems services, natural resources, and sustainability of Lake Erie and its watersheds, as well as enhancing education for students and the public.
Researchers use the center to explore the interaction between the Western Lake Erie Basin and the Maumee River and Maumee Bay, using the results to investigate the link among land use, aquatic resources, water quality, sustainable living and human health.

“In the end, we hope to raise awareness for what can be done individually to help preserve our ecosystem as well as mitigate the anxieties of our community by demonstrating the efforts in motion by our researchers to protect the world’s largest surface fresh water supply,” Hughes said.

For more information about the free, public event, contact Hughes at alexander.hughes@utoledo.edu or 419.530.8361.

Students in the UT College of Business and Innovation class Managerial and Behavioral Processes are participating in Nightingales Noodles, a fundraiser to support Nightingales Harvest, which provides a free food pantry for cancer patients.

The fundraiser will be held Sunday, Nov. 16, from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Resurrection PNCC Church, 1835 West Temperance Road, Temperance, Mich.

Adults can eat for $10, children 9 and younger can eat for $5, and UT students also can eat for $5.

“Financial hardship often accompanies a cancer diagnosis — be it from the cost of the treatment itself or in lost wages when the patient or caregiver has to stop working,” Lisa Kronbach-Eisenbach, Nightingales Harvest founder, said. “Nightingales Harvest helps address this gap in local services by being the only free food bank for cancer patients and their families in the region.”

The class also participated in a fundraising event earlier this year.

“Nightingale’s Harvest appreciates Dr. Laura Williams and her University of Toledo students for their successful fundraiser spaghetti dinner,” Kronbach-Eisenbach said. “Their efforts helped with making over the kitchen and increasing the space so that we can better serve cancer families in the community.”

The University of Toledo’s Black Student Union will be going back to the mid-2000s at its fundraising event this week.

The Black Student Union will host “Wild ‘n Out,” a philanthropy comedy show based on MTV’s “Nick Cannon’s Wild ‘n Out,” Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Union Auditorium.

Tickets are being sold for $2 at the Ask Rocky counter in the Student Union and must be picked up prior to the show. Free refreshments will be included.

All proceeds will be donated to Neighborhood Health Association’s Sickle Cell Project of Northwest Ohio, an organization that provides support, assistance and education to those affected by the disease.

Two teams will perform in five comedy games, similar to the MTV show. Additionally, a student rapper will perform, and there will be a presentation about sickle cell disease, said Tiffany Fulford, vice president of the Black Student Union.

“We chose the Neighborhood Health Association’s Sickle Cell Project of Northwest Ohio because sickle cell is a disease that primarily affects African Americans,” she said. “We wanted to help raise funds for the awareness of this disease that typically affects the black community.”

Sickle cell is an inherited, lifelong blood disease that causes pain and potential damage to the organs due to the presence of abnormal hemoglobin in red blood cells.

For more information, contact Fulford at tiffany.fulford@rockets.utoledo.edu.