The family medicine physician behind the effort to increase the minimum legal age to buy tobacco products in cities across Ohio will give a free public talk 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 22 in the auditorium at St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee.

Dr. Rob Crane, president and founder of Preventing Tobacco Addiction, will discuss the importance of raising the minimum smoking age from 18 to 21.

Crane, who also serves as clinical professor of family medicine at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, will discuss how to advocate with city councils and persuade members that banning tobacco sales to people under 21 is important for the health of young people. He plans to explain how other Ohio communities have passed new laws. Across the country, more than 100 cities and the state of Hawaii have already passed similar legislation.

The event is sponsored by The University of Toledo Center for Health and Successful Living, the Northwest Ohio Tobacco Prevention Coalition, St. Luke’s Hospital and the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department.

Media Coverage
The Blade (April 4, 2016)
13 ABC (April 15, 2016)

It seems only fitting that the Toledo Rockets would select an aerospace engineer to lead its academic enterprise in the years ahead.

And with a rich research background and a passion for helping first-generation students enroll and succeed in higher education, it was clear to UT President Sharon L. Gaber that Dr. Andrew Hsu, dean of the College of Engineering at San Jose State University, was the right fit to be UT’s next provost and executive vice president for academic affairs.

Hsu

Hsu’s appointment, which is slated for July 1, is contingent upon approval by the UT Board of Trustees.

“Andrew Hsu will be an incredible advocate for students and faculty, and a tremendous leader who will play a crucial role in elevating The University of Toledo on the national stage,” Gaber said.

Hsu’s arrival at UT will return him to a familiar state. Earlier in his career, he served as a research engineer at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. He also was associate vice president for research and dean of the graduate school at Wright State University, and he spent a year at Ohio State University as an American Council on Education Fellow.

“I am excited by the opportunities The University of Toledo has to offer its students, its employees and its community,” Hsu said, “and I’m excited to help further the momentum President Sharon Gaber has already created in such a short period of time.”

During the interview process, Hsu spoke to the campus community about his passion for helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds succeed.

“As we push our academics and our research to new levels of excellence, it is the students for whom college was not a foregone conclusion that add so much to our campus community and remind us of why we have chosen higher education as a profession.”

Hsu also was a staff scientist at Rolls-Royce North America and a faculty member at the University of Miami and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He received his PhD in aerospace engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Gaber also took a minute to thank Interim Provost John Barrett for his service.

“John has spent countless hours during the last 18 months leading the academic arm of The University of Toledo and creating an opportunity for a seamless transition upon Andrew’s arrival. I want to join so many across UT in thanking him for his efforts.”

Click here to download photo of Hsu.

Media Coverage
The Blade (March 17, 2016)
The Blade (March 18, 2016)
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (March 18, 2016)
13 ABC (March 18, 2016)

As The University of Toledo continues to strengthen its efforts to fight sexual assault and unlawful harassment, it announced today the appointment of a campus administrator who will lead the prevention, education and response efforts regarding Title IX matters at UT.

Donald Kamm, associate director and Title IX deputy coordinator at the University of Illinois at Chicago Office for Access and Equity, will join The University of Toledo as director of Title IX and compliance and Title IX coordinator May 2.

“Donald brings a wealth of relevant experience to the role,” said David Cutri, UT director of the Office of Internal Audit and chief compliance officer.  “He is a legal professional and university administrator with more than 15 years of experience in partnering with senior executives, administrators, faculty, staff and students in areas of Title IX, Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Clery Act, the Violence Against Women Act, and the Americans With Disabilities Act.”

Cutri said Kamm is well-versed in related areas of state and local law and with state and federal agencies, including the Department of Education and its Office of Civil Rights, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“Donald will be a terrific ambassador for the University, and will propel the University to a leadership role in ensuring an inclusive, diverse and safe learning environment,” Cutri said.

At UT, Kamm will lead a recently restructured Title IX office. Three deputy coordinators each responsible for students, faculty and staff Title IX issues will report to Kamm, who also will work closely with the Division of Student Affairs, the UT Police Department and other divisions across the University.

“I am looking forward to my return to The University of Toledo,” said Kamm, who earned his juris doctorate from UT’s College of Law. “Colleges and universities across the nation are facing Title IX challenges, and I am excited to partner with UT students, faculty, staff and the community to help the University become a national leader in Title IX.”

Media Coverage
13 ABC (March 16, 2016)
The Blade (March 17, 2016)

A family medicine physician who recently recovered from Ebola contracted during medical mission work in Liberia, a neonatal pediatric specialist with a focus on improving the health of mothers and babies in Pakistan, and an orthopedic surgeon working to correct spinal defects for people in Africa are members of the 14th class to be inducted into The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences’ Medical Mission Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremony recognizing Dr. Richard Sacra, Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta and Dr. Oheneba Boachie-Adjei will be held 7 p.m. Saturday, March 19 in Collier Building Room 1000 on UT’s Health Science Campus. 

For more than two decades, Dr. Richard Sacra has worked with Serving in Mission, an international Christian organization, as a medical missionary in Liberia, West Africa. He is a family medicine faculty physician at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and divides his time between Massachusetts and Liberia.

In September 2014, he contracted Ebola virus disease in Liberia, even though he was not treating known Ebola patients. He was evacuated by air ambulance to the University of Nebraska’s Biocontainment Unit in Omaha. Along with ICU-level care, he was given an experimental drug and blood serum from a colleague who was infected first. Sacra was released after 20 days when his blood tested negative for the virus and full recovery took several months. He returned to his work in Liberia in January 2015.

He began his career in Liberia in 1995 in the midst of the civil war. After he and his family evacuated during an outbreak of fighting in Monrovia in 1996, he returned in 1997 to help re-open Eternal Love Winning Africa Hospital, which had been looted and vandalized. From 1998 to 2010, Sacra lived and worked in Liberia full time with his wife and three sons, directed the medical staff at the hospital, and taught medical students at the University of Liberia Medical School. When they began to see patients with HIV and AIDS, he initiated a program at the hospital to provide treatment, education and support to those who were living with HIV.

When Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta launched his career, neonatal pediatrics was barely a concept in his home country of Pakistan. Today, he is credited as a major force in putting the health of mothers and their babies on the development agenda not just in Pakistan, but around the world.

He is founding director of the Centre of Excellence in Women & Child Health at the Aga Khan University, with campuses in South-Central Asia, East Africa and the United Kingdom; the Robert Harding Chair in Global Child Health and Policy; co-director of SickKids Centre for Global Child Health; senior scientist at the Research Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children; and professor in the departments of Pediatrics, Nutritional Sciences and Public Health at the University of Toronto.

He is a leading researcher in newborn and child survival, maternal and child under-nutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies. In Pakistan, he has been a driving force in improving maternal and child health through his efforts with the Lady Health Workers program and in advocating for changes to national and provincial health and nutrition policies.

Dr. Oheneba Boachie-Adjei has dedicated his life to correcting incidents of pervasive spinal defects found among many of his African countrymen. As founder and president of the Foundation of Orthopedics and Complex Spine, he has helped provide orthopedic medical care to underserved populations in West Africa and other developing nations since 1998. 

Born in Kumasi, Ghana, one of the poorest areas of Africa, Boachie-Adjei and his family immigrated to the United States in 1972. His career has included serving as assistant professor of orthopedic surgery at the University of Minnesota; clinical assistant professor at the University of Southern California and assistant clinical professor at the University of California College of Medicine in Irvine; and associate medical director at the Southern California Complex Spine and Scoliosis Center.

In 2014, Boachie-Adjei said he left the Hospital for Spinal Surgery in New York to devote his time and talents on one of the most debilitating medical conditions in Ghana. He holds several patents for devices used in spine surgery.

In addition to inducting these hall of fame members, Dr. Daniel M. Johnson, UT president emeritus, will receive the Lawrence V. Conway Distinguished Lifetime Service Award, and the UT College of Medicine and Life Sciences Alumni Community Award will be given to Dr. Pamela J. Oatis.

Johnson became president of UT in 2001 and in 2006 helped lead the merger with the Medical University of Ohio. While serving in higher education leadership positions for more than 30 years, he developed collaborations and partnerships among public universities, government entities, industrial corporations and international organizations. Johnson has been an ardent promoter of the Global Medical Missions Hall of Fame Foundation.

A 1981 graduate of the Medical College of Ohio, Oatis is a pediatrician who has worked with children and families at St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center Family Care Center in Toledo for almost 35 years. She heads the Mercy Family Care Team, which connects families to a medical provider to care for them and their child, palliative care for children who are chronically ill, and family counseling. Oatis also is a clinical faculty member at UT’s College of Medicine and Life Sciences. 

The Medical Mission Hall of Fame was founded in 2004 by Dr. Lawrence V. Conway, UT professor emeritus of finance, to honor individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to advancing the medical well-being of people around the world. In 2006, the Medical Mission Hall of Fame became affiliated with the UT College of Medicine and Life Sciences. The hall of fame can be seen in the lobby of the Jacobs Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center.

RSVPs are requested for the free, public event: Call 419.530.2586 or 1.800.235.6766, or email medmissionhof@utoledo.edu.

Click here to download photographs of the individuals being honored.

Media Coverage
13 ABC (March 21, 2016)
The Blade (March 16, 2016)

The University of Toledo and Toledo Public Schools have partnered together to create a new degree initiative called Teach Toledo to recruit and prepare Toledo’s citizens to become Toledo’s teachers.

“The new degree initiative allows us to build on research on what teachers need to be successful in central city schools,” Lynne Hamer, UT professor of educational foundations and leadership in the UT Judith Herb College of Education, said. “First, they need life experience being part of urban neighborhoods. Second, they need to know history and culture that is relevant to their students. Third, they need to understand the complex economic and bureaucratic systems that they will work within.”

Teach Toledo students will receive partial tuition scholarships and earn an Associate of Arts degree with a focus on urban education within two and a half years.  The first class is scheduled to begin in the fall of 2016.

“As a TPS and UT graduate, I know the power of teaching in our city, which is why I believe in Teach Toledo,” TPS Superintendent Dr. Romules Durant said.

At least the first year of college classes will take place at TPS’s Jones Leadership Academy where Teach Toledo students will gain early classroom experience by interacting with the pre-school, middle school and high school students who attend Jones.

“In urban school districts nationwide, children need dedicated teachers who understand their neighborhood and community,” Hamer said.  “We want to grow our own teachers by investing in people of all ages who want to stay in Toledo, including high school students, parents and grandparents. This will build diversity in teaching staff, which will contribute to student success in the classroom.”

Participants in Teach Toledo must be admitted to UT, which requires having a high school diploma or GED.

If Teach Toledo graduates want to pursue a teaching license, they can transition to the UT Judith Herb College of Education to complete a bachelor’s degree.

“Teach Toledo courses have the same requirements as those on campus except that they will be specially designed to focus on issues and knowledge essential to urban teaching,” Hamer said. “These include African and African American history and culture, Latin American and Latino American history and culture, understanding the impact of various levels of government on schooling, understanding economic systems in urban environments, and working for the common good and social welfare.”

UT and TPS have collaborated since 2011 to deliver the UT@TPS program which was designed to make college education more accessible to adults in the Toledo area while building a college-going culture in central city schools.

For more information about how to enroll in Teach Toledo, go to utoledo.edu/education/teachtoledo.

Media Coverage
The Blade (March 20, 2016)

BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEETINGS
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Driscoll Alumni Center, Board Room
5:30 p.m. Board of Trustees Social Dinner
6:30 p.m. Board of Trustees Special Meeting

The Trustees will enter Executive Session immediately upon convening the meeting to discuss a trade secret under the Ohio Uniform Trade Secret Act contained in Ohio Revised Code Section 1333.61.

Monday, March 21, 2016
Driscoll Alumni Center, Schmakel Room
10:30 a.m. Clinical Affairs Committee Meeting
1:00 p.m. Academic and Student Affairs Committee Meeting
2:00 p.m. Finance and Audit Committee Meeting
3:00 p.m. Trusteeship and Governance Committee Meeting

Any questions may be directed to the University Communications Office by calling (419) 530-2410 or via email at meghan.cunningham@utoledo.edu.

The bikes are back on campus. After being stored out of the elements during the winter, Rocket Wheels is back up and running at The University of Toledo for students to bike across campus.

UT will welcome the spring biking weather with a group bike ride around Main Campus starting at noon Wednesday, March 16 at the bike racks behind Rocket Hall near the horse sculptures. The hour-long ride will take participants around campus to identify the Rocket Wheels stations and bike rack locations.

The ride will end at the Q, located in the Flatlands between Parks Tower and the Academic House, where there will be free food and prizes, including a bike that will be raffled off. Local vendors, including Wersell’s Bike and Ski Shop, Spoke Life Cycles and Jimmy Johns, will help celebrate the return of Rocket Wheels.

The Rocket Wheels bike-sharing program launched in October allowing students to check out bikes on Main Campus at three locations: near the northeast entrance of Rocket Hall, by the south entrance of Palmer Hall and on the northeast side of West Parking Garage.

The program is now also open to UT faculty and staff.

Bikes can be checked out for six-hour intervals and must be returned to the same location from where they were checked out. Students already registered for Rocket Wheels do not need to re-register to continue using the program this spring.

For more information, visit utoledo.edu/rocket-wheels.

In the event of severe weather, the bike ride will be rescheduled for March 23.

Media Coverage
The Blade (March 18, 2016)

Ohio Supreme Court Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger, a 1977 alumna of The University of Toledo College of Law, will discuss the Ohio Constitution, the Modernization Commission, and possible changes to the constitution Thursday, March 17, at noon in the McQuade Law Auditorium in the Law Center on UT’s Main Campus

The free, public program is called “The Ohio Constitution and the Work of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission.”

The Ohio Constitution is currently under review. The Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission was established and tasked by the Ohio General Assembly with studying the constitution and recommending amendments. The commission began its work in 2013 and will continue until 2018.

The UT College of Law and the Toledo Bar Association will welcome some of the state’s leading experts on the subject to the University for the two-hour program.

In addition to Lanzinger, participants will include Marc Wagoner, a member of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission and a partner at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP; Steven Hollon, executive director of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission; and Steven Steinglass, senior policy adviser for the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission.

“The commission is performing an incredible service for the people of Ohio as well as for the legal profession, and yet many people remain unaware of this important work,” said Greg Gilchrist, UT associate professor of law and an event organizer.

For more information, go to utole.do/ohioconstitution.

The highly anticipated, dramatic moment when thousands of graduating medical students across the country tear open envelopes which contain their future will be noon Friday, March 18.

Fourth-year medical students at The University of Toledo will be at Stranahan Theater’s Great Hall to experience the annual Match Day ritual to learn where they will spend the next three to seven years training in their chosen specialty, from anesthesiology to general surgery to pediatrics.

The 2016 Residency Match Reception begins at 11 a.m. with the envelope-opening ceremony precisely at noon.

A computer algorithm administered by the National Resident Matching Program “matches” students and residency programs together.

Students spend months interviewing at hospitals and universities across the nation to find the ideal institutions that will best help them perfect their chosen specialties.  The students then rank their top choices, and academic and community-based medical centers nationwide rank their top student choices.

Residents are licensed physicians who care for patients under the supervision of attending physicians and represent the medical work force of tomorrow.

Media Coverage
The Blade (March 18, 2016)
The Blade (March 19, 2016)
The Blade (March 21, 2016)
WTOL 11 (March 21, 2016)
13 ABC (March 21, 2016)
NBC 24 (March 21, 2016)

The University of Toledo will welcome former President Bill Clinton to campus Saturday, March 12, as he rallies support for his wife, Hillary, who is campaigning for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination.

President Clinton will be joined by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her husband, NASA astronaut Mark Kelly.

The event will be 7:15 p.m. in UT’s Memorial Field House Town Square; doors will open at 6:15 p.m.

“The University of Toledo is pleased to host the former president and take part in the national political conversation as Ohio voters prepare to go to the polls on March 15,” said UT President Sharon L. Gaber.

“The free discussion and debate of ideas is at the very core of our role as a public University, and in the days ahead I hope we have the opportunity to hear from candidates on both sides of the political aisle.”

Media Coverage
The Blade (March 12, 2016)
The Blade (March 12, 2016)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (March 12, 2016)
The Blade (March 13, 2016)
The Independent Collegian (March 16, 2016)