A leadership scholar at The University of Toledo is a finalist for a prestigious national teaching award.

Dr. Clinton Longenecker, Distinguished University Professor and director of the Center for Leadership and Organizational Excellence in the UT College of Business and Innovation, is one of three finalists selected for Baylor University’s 2018 Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching.

The other finalists are Dr. Heidi Elmendorf, associate professor of biology at Georgetown University, and Dr. Neil Garg, professor of chemistry at UCLA.

The Cherry Award is the only national teaching award – with the single largest monetary reward of $250,000 – presented by a college or university to an individual for exceptional teaching.

Dr. Clinton Longenecker

“To be selected as one of three finalists for this prestigious award is an absolute honor, and I’m very proud to represent The University of Toledo on this national stage,” Longenecker said. “I’ve considered my entire career to be a privilege, an opportunity to make a difference, and a blessing to be able to teach adult learners how to improve their skills and career trajectory.”

As Cherry Award finalists, each professor will receive $15,000, as well as $10,000 for their home departments to foster the development of teaching skills. Each finalist will present a series of lectures at Baylor during fall 2017 and also a Cherry Award lecture on their home campuses during the upcoming academic year.

The eventual Cherry Award winner, which will be announced by Baylor in 2018, will receive $250,000 and an additional $25,000 for his or her home department and will teach in residence at Baylor during fall 2018 or spring 2019.

“With close to 100 nominees from a very strong field, the Cherry Committee had the difficult task of naming three finalists for the 2018 Cherry Award,” said Dr. Michael W. Thompson, committee chair and associate dean for undergraduate programs in Baylor’s School of Engineering and Computer Science. “It is gratifying and inspirational to learn about each nominee’s accomplishments and dedication to great teaching. The three finalists for the 2018 award are excellent scholars and great teachers, and we look forward to hosting their campus visits during the fall 2017 semester.”

The Cherry Award program is designed to honor great teachers, to stimulate discussion in the academy about the value of teaching, and to encourage departments and institutions to value their own great teachers. Individuals nominated for the award have proven records as extraordinary teachers with positive, inspiring and long-lasting effects on students, along with records of distinguished scholarship.

“Dr. Longenecker is a UT alumnus who makes a difference every day for his students as an effective and passionate classroom leader,” UT President Sharon L. Gaber said. “This is a well-deserved honor, and we wish him luck through the Cherry Award experience.”

“I’m greatly humbled by this recognition as I work in a student-centered institution with lots of great teachers,” Longenecker said. “For me, teaching isn’t about just presenting information to my students. Rather, it is all about helping students improve their motivation, their integration and mastery of important ideas, concepts and practices, as well as their application to be able to do the things necessary to be successful with their careers and personal lives. In the final analysis, teaching is all about transforming students, and as a comprehensive University that is what we do and do well across all disciplines.”

Longenecker has received more than 60 teaching, service and research awards and numerous industry awards. In 2013, he was recognized by The Economist as one of the “Top Fifteen Business Professors in the World.”

Longenecker’s teaching, research and consulting interests are in high-performance leadership and creating great organizations. He has published more than 190 articles and papers in academic and professional journals, as well as several best-selling books. His latest book, “The Successful Career Survival Guide,” was published in March.

The University of Toledo Medical Center and Life Connection of Ohio will be honoring Donate Life Month by holding a flag-raising ceremony 10 a.m. Friday, March 31 outside Mulford Library near the main entrance to the hospital on Health Science Campus.

The Donate Life flag will fly throughout the month of April to raise awareness about the need for organ and tissue donors in northwest Ohio and around the country, as well as to encourage more people to register as donors.

The 15-minute ceremony will feature the personal stories of three speakers, including Andrea Jacobs, a retired UTMC employee whose life has been affected by organ donation.

In addition, representatives of Life Connection of Ohio will be available for interviews.

As part of The University of Toledo’s ongoing efforts to raise awareness about sexual violence, the University is marking Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April with a series of events across campus to help educate students on prevention.

Those include self-defense training, a “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event and a lecture by rape survivor and author Liz Seccuro.

Liz Seccuro

Seccuro, a victim’s advocate and the author of “Crash Into Me: A Survivor’s Search for Justice,” was gang-raped in 1984 during her freshman year at the University of Virginia. Seccuro will speak at UT 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 19 in Doermann Theater.

“This is a story of how a victim has endured the most horrible of acts, was re-victimized, and found the strength to embark on a journey of healing and victim advocacy,” said Dr. Kasey Tucker-Gail, associate professor of criminal justice and director of the UT Center for Student Advocacy and Wellness. “I cannot think of a better story of empowerment for our campus and community. We are thankful to the YWCA Hope Center for co-sponsoring this event with the Center for Student Advocacy and Wellness and the UT Office of Marketing and Communications. I encourage everyone to come and hear Liz Seccuro’s message.”

UT sorority Alpha Chi Omega also is hosting a “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event called #RedShoeChallenge from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 on Centennial Mall.

During the event, which is sponsored by the UT Center for Student Advocacy and Wellness, men will be challenged by a colleague or friend to walk a mile in high heels. It costs $5 to challenge and sponsor a man on campus. All proceeds go to the Bethany House in Toledo.

“This is an important event for men to stand up and say no more to the sexualized violence against women and support Bethany House, a local women’s shelter,” Tucker-Gail said. “For $5, women can challenge a colleague, friend or faculty member to participate. I hope that we can support victims and promote healing as a community. Look out men of UT, you are about to be a part of #RedShoeChallenge!”

The UT Police Department will hold three self-defense classes for UT students during the month: Saturday, April 1, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Thompson Student Union Room 1512; Thursday, April 6, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. in the Honors Academic Village; and 6 to 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 17 in the Horton International House Multipurpose Room.

The UT Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute is hosting a screening of “I Am Jane Doe” and a panel discussion at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 18 in Doermann Theater. Panelists are UT President Sharon L. Gaber, Sen. Rob Portman and Dr. Celia Williamson, UT professor of social work and director of the UT Human Trafficking and Social Justice Institute. Reception will be at 6 p.m., discussion at 6:30 p.m. and screening at 7 p.m.

The UT Sexual Assault Education and Prevention Program also is hosting a series of events, including:

• Saturday, April 8 — Take Back the Night, 6 to 10 p.m., Woodward High School, 701 E. Central Ave. The event that protests all forms of violence against women includes a resource fair at 6 p.m., rally at 7 p.m., women’s march at 8 p.m., men’s event 8 p.m. and women’s speakout at 9 p.m. UT sponsors are the Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women; Social Work Program; Student Social Work Organization; University Counseling Center; UT Feminist Alliance; Women’s and Gender Studies Department; and the Women’s Law Student Association.

• Tuesday, April 11 — Speaker: Lizbeth Meredith, author of “Pieces of Me,” 6 p.m., Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women, Tucker Hall Room 0168. She will discuss how her daughters were kidnapped by their father and taken to Greece and her struggle to get them back.
  

  Clothesline Project

• Wednesday, April 12 — The Clothesline Project, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Centennial Mall (rain location: Thompson Student Union Trimble Lounge). View shirts created by women affected by violence and their family and friends. T-shirt colors show the form of abuse: white for those who died because of violence; yellow and beige for battered and assaulted women; red, pink and orange for survivors of rape and sexual assault; blue and green for survivors of incest and sexual abuse; purple for those who were attacked because of their sexual orientation; and black for women attacked for political reasons.

• Monday through Wednesday, April 17-19 — Red flag event, Centennial Mall. Red flags will be displayed to represent the 316 individuals who reported rape in the city of Toledo in 2016.

• Wednesday, April 26 — Denim Day. Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to wear jeans to raise awareness of rape and sexual assault. Stop by the Sexual Assault Education and Prevention Program’s information table in the Thompson Student Union from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to learn more about Denim Day. The UT Center for Student Advocacy and Wellness and the Catharine S. Eberly Center for Women are co-sponsors.

The public is invited to this weekend’s Saturday Morning Science program at The University of Toledo titled, “From Pollen to Honey: What are the Bees Telling Us?”

The free event featuring guest presenter Joan Mandell, beekeeper and educator at City Bees Detroit and Green Toe Gardens, is 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 1 in the Memorial Field House Room 2100 on UT Main Campus.

“We should all be concerned about our declining honeybee populations and endangered wild bee species,” Mandell said. “Insects, primarily bees, pollinate one third of the food we eat. So fewer bees means less food. The loss of bees is an important signal that our ecosystem is out of balance.”

The Saturday Morning Science lecture series at UT presented by the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics features presentations on a broad range of topics in science and technology.

“Saturday Morning Science is an opportunity for members of the Toledo community to learn about topics that have an impact on our environment from people with firsthand knowledge,” Dr. John Bellizzi, associate professor of Biochemistry and co-director of Saturday Morning Science, said. “It’s our goal to help connect our audiences with experts that can help them understand highly technical issues, improve their appreciation of the natural world, and empower them to make educated decisions and be informed, involved citizens.”

The next Saturday Morning Science program will be 9:30 a.m. Saturday, April 29 in the Memorial Field House Room 2100 and feature the topic, “From the Stone Age to Today: Why Do Humans Love Music?”

Song, dance and philanthropy have brought together students at The University of Toledo for Songfest since 1937.

This year, student organizations will compete under the theme “Rockets Re-loaded” to raise money for people in Haiti.

The 80^th annual competition tradition known as Songfest begins at 5 p.m. Saturday, April 1 in Savage Arena.

The event will benefit Hut Outreach.

“We knew we wanted to choose something that had a Toledo touch, so it could entice people to get involved, but we also wanted to keep a global scope,” said Stephanie Elkins, vice president of Blue Key Honor Society and emcee for Songfest 2017. “Hut Outreach was actually founded by UT alumni who visited for a mission trip and felt called to continue serving. It was the perfect blend of local and global for us to make a difference. This year we are hoping to raise $10,000. This would go toward building the first Hut Outreach-funded high school in this area of Haiti as well as help feed 300 kids for an entire year.”

Hut Outreach was founded in 1997 and creates building projects and schools that employ native Haitians. Through these projects, locals gain the opportunity to earn income. Hut Outreach has the capability to channel 100 percent of donations directly to Haiti, with the U.S. side of the organization funded through volunteers and the board of directors.

This year’s Songfest theme gives participants the opportunity to choose songs from the 1940s to the 2000s, celebrating the generations since the tradition’s founding.

“Brandon [Rosolowski, fellow emcee,] and I love this theme because it allows the groups to take more ownership of their performances,” Elkins said. “In the past, they’ve had to choose from a list of songs we give them, but this year for the first time, they could choose what they wanted, as long as it hadn’t been used in Songfest the past four years.”

Student organizations are excited to have the freedom of choosing songs and decades that fit their individual themes.

“Prepare to hear some of the most amazing songs from each different decade we chose,” said Maddy Hoste, co-director of the Kappa Delta Sorority team. “We are excited to put on a show even better than last year.”

Many hours of practice go into the weeks and months leading up to Songfest, but the performances that result have led to the event becoming one of the most highly anticipated of the spring semester.

In addition to the musical numbers, Blue Key National Honor Fraternity and Mortar Board National Honor Society, the Songfest sponsors, hold their recognition and tapping ceremonies during the event.

An Israeli hospital that treats wounded Syrians, a cardiovascular surgeon who became an ordained minister dedicating three decades of his life to medical missions in developing countries, and a doctor on a crusade to eliminate avoidable blindness around the world are members of the 2017 class to be inducted into The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences’ Medical Missions Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremony recognizing the Galilee Medical Center, Dr. Donald C. Mullen and Dr. Vadrevu (V.K.) Raju will be held 7 p.m. Saturday, April 1 in Collier Building Room 1000 on UT’s Health Science Campus.

“People to People Medicine” is the vision of the Galilee Medical Center in Israel, which is a national center of excellence and represents the highest ethical principles and humane values, reaching beyond the sectarian religious and ethnic hatreds that bloody most of the Middle East. Syria, racked by its own civil war, continues to maintain its decades old war with its southern neighbor, Israel, while actively supporting continuing terror against the Jewish state.

The Israeli hospital and its multi-religious and ethnic staff are a few kilometers from the northern border with Syria and accepts the war wounded and civilian personnel who are secretly spirited across the border from the devastating conflict in Syria seeking and receiving care.

Dr. Donald C. Mullen

For the past 30 years, Dr. Donald Mullen has devoted his life to working in developing countries around the world. Born in Charlotte, N.C., he graduated from the Citadel in 1957 and received a medical degree and completed his residency at Duke University in 1969. After 20 years as a successful cardiovascular surgeon in Charlotte and Milwaukee who performed more than 3,000 open-heart procedures and many thousands of thoracic and vascular surgeries, he obtained a master of divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary and was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1991.

In 1980, Mullen received a call from the World Medical Mission to go to Tenwek Hospital in Kenya for a month, and his life has not been the same since. He made a radical change of direction in his life, working throughout the world as a dedicated medical missionary. He has worked for the Presbyterian Church (USA), Samaritans Purse International Relief, the Christian Medical and Dental Association, and as chairman of the board of the Philadelphia International Foundation. He has worked in three war zones; twice in Iraq and in Sudan and Rwanda, and in Africa, the Far East and the Middle East.

Mullen concluded his career as a parish associate in Highland, N.C., where he also was elected mayor. He has recently published a book of his life, “A Radical Change of Direction; Memoir of the Spiritual Journey of a Surgeon.”

Dr. Vadrevu (V.K.) Raju

For the past four decades, Dr. Vadrevu (V.K.) Raju has been on a crusade to eliminate avoidable blindness in parts of the world plagued by poverty and poor access to medical care. Born in India, he earned a medical degree from Andrah University and completed an ophthalmology residency and fellowship at the Royal Eye Group of Hospitals in London. He is board-certified in ophthalmology and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons and the American College of Surgeons. He is a clinical professor at West Virginia University, the section chief of the Ophthalmology Department at Monongalia General Hospital, and runs a private practice.

Raju is the founder and medical director of the Eye Foundation of America. World-class, state-of-the art services are rendered through traveling eye camps and permanent brick-and-mortar hospitals built by the foundation, including the Goutami Eye Institute that Raju helped found in 2006. Since the inception of the Eye Foundation of America, these camps and institutes have facilitated more than 600 physician exchanges, trained more than 200 ophthalmologists, served 2 million patients, and performed 300,000 vision-saving surgeries in 21 countries operating on three guiding principles: service, teaching and research.

In children, who are the main focus of efforts by the Eye Foundation of America, the gift of sight results in 75 years of a full and productive life. No child will be denied treatment, and children from around the world can come to receive world-class services. Raju has said, “If blindness is preventable, then let us do it big.”

In addition, Drs. Anne and Randall Ruch, 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. David Grossman.

Drs. Randall and Anne Ruch

Since 1998, the Ruchs have led short-term mission trips to Guatemala after witnessing the deplorable conditions of the people living in a garbage dump and promising them that they would make a difference in their community. Nine years later, SewHope, their nonprofit organization, was formed that signifies the hope of Shannon E. Wilson, a young physician who had an abounding compassion for the people of Guatemala, but died in 2006 before her dreams could be fulfilled. SewHope provides health care, nutrition, education, spiritual growth and opportunity to marginalized people in one of the most neglected parts of the world. The couple’s altruistic mission also led them to form a local nonprofit organization, Compassion Health Toledo, so they could address the health-care shortage in a medically under-served area of Toledo.

Dr. David Grossman

Grossman graduated in 1974 from the former Medical College of Ohio and completed an internship, residency and fellowship there in 1978. He began his medical career as a member of the medical staff at Toledo and St. Vincent’s hospitals and in an internal medicine group practice. In 1989, he began his public career working for the city of Toledo’s Board of Health, was Toledo’s health commissioner and then medical director. Grossman was instrumental in the merger of the county and city health departments, and in 2000, he became the health commissioner of the combined Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, a position that he held for 16 years. Grossman was successful in the passage of the statewide smoking ban, and in 2007, he was awarded the Public Health Guardian Award by the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners, which gives recognition to outstanding and significant activities resulting in a positive impact on public health for his work on the smoking ban hearings.

In conjunction with the induction, the College of Medicine Students for Medical Missions will host a symposium, “Together, We Are the Change in Medicine,” from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 1 in Health Education Building 110. Speakers will include Mullen, Raju and the Ruchs.

Dr. Lawrence V. Conway, UT professor emeritus of finance, founded the Global Medical Missions Hall of Fame in 2004 to honor individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to advancing the medical well-being of people around the world. In 2006, the Global Medical Missions 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.

The University of Toledo Medical Center is accepting new patients to its new Adult Detoxification Inpatient Unit on the sixth floor of the hospital.

The 10-bed unit has a dedicated team of nurses, social workers and other staff with training and experience in detox and behavioral health. The detox unit will help patients safely manage the physical symptoms of withdrawal associated with stopping drug or alcohol abuse and then connect them with services to enhance their possibility for success in overcoming addiction.

“There is a drug abuse and overdose epidemic in our state and UTMC is responding with this dedicated unit as part of our increased focus on behavioral health. We want to help people in our community who suffer from addiction,” said Dr. Tanvir Singh, UTMC psychiatrist who serves as the unit’s medical director. “Addiction is a brain disease just like any other chronic illness, but these patients also struggle with social stigma and marginalization, which it makes it challenging. We need to both treat the disease and connect patients with the resources they need to overcome those challenges for successful recovery.”

Patients will be admitted to the detox unit through referrals from other units within UTMC and through health-care providers in the community, as well as patients and their family members who contact the hospital directly for detox assistance.

Patients must be in active withdrawal from alcohol, opioids or other substances when they are admitted to the UTMC detox unit and commit to immediately entering an intensive outpatient treatment program following their stay in the hospital, which would average three to five days.

UTMC also plans to include individual talk therapy, group therapy, social work visits, physical exercise, mental exercises, nutrition and self-care classes with community partners as part of its services in the detox unit to address the patients’ medical and psychological needs.

For more information, call 419.383.2337.

More than 1,000 students along with faculty and staff from The University of Toledo will be giving back to the community by participating in the Big Event on Saturday, March 25.

The annual Big Event is the largest, one-day, student-run service project at the University when students come together to say “thank you” to the residents of Toledo for their continual support throughout the years.

Volunteers will work around the University’s campus as well as locations throughout the city, where they will pick up garbage, rake leaves, paint and pull weeds.

“For some of our community participants, the Big Event represents a chance to get work done that might be beyond the resident’s abilities,” said Dr. Page Armstrong, associate lecturer in the Jesup Scott Honors College and faculty adviser for the event. “It has become an annual part of their lives and they can count on UT students to be there to help. The Big Event is a great way to let the Toledo community interact with our students and to see what a wonderful resource our students and UT are to the community.”

Participants will meet at the Student Recreation Center before going out into the community for their volunteer projects.

Big Event clean-up projects begin at 12:30 p.m. at locations throughout the city, including:

• Oakleaf Village Assisted Living Center, 4220 N. Holland Sylvania Road;

• UT Stranahan Arboretum, 4131 Tantara Road;

• Manos Community Garden, corner of Jackson and 14^th streets;
• Nightingales Harvest Organic Garden, which serves cancer patients and their families, 2820 W. Alexis Road; and

• Toledo Botanical Garden, 5403 Elmer Drive. As part of Love Squared, students will be picking out crocheted squares to put together to make a blanket that will be donated.

The Big Event is a national organization that was started at Texas A&M in 1982.

How do efforts to preserve historic homes affect the communities where these homes are located?

Two upcoming lectures at The University of Toledo will attempt to answer this question from the perspective of someone who has worked for 45 years in the historic preservation field, and someone who has personally committed to preserving one historic home.

The talks are being held in conjunction with the Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections’ exhibit, “House and Home: The Intersection of Domestic Architecture and Social History, 1870-1970.”

Dr. Ted Ligibel, director of the Historic Preservation Program at Eastern Michigan University, will present a lecture titled “From Frontier to Mid-Century Modern: 45 Years of Historic Preservation in Northwest Ohio,” 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 29 in the Canaday Center on the fifth floor of UT’s Carlson Library.

Ligibel’s career in historic preservation began in 1974 in Toledo as a grassroots preservationist.  As an associate in UT’s Urban Affairs Center, he led students in efforts to inventory Toledo’s neighborhoods and prepare nominations for the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1991, Ligibel joined the EMU faculty, and he became director of its graduate Historic Preservation Program in 1999. He is the co-author of “Historic Preservation: An Introduction to its History, Principles, and Practice,” published in 2009, which has become the national best-selling textbook in the field.

Ligibel will discuss his long career in this field, and on successful and unsuccessful efforts to save historic homes and communities in northwest Ohio.

Author Amy Haimerl

Author Amy Haimerl will talk about her experience in preserving a home in Detroit that she chronicled in her book “Detroit Hustle: A Memoir of Love, Life, & Home” (Running Press, 2016) 3:30 p..m. Monday, April 10 in the Canaday Center on the fifth floor of UT’s Carlson Library.

Haimerl purchased her home — a 1914 Georgian Revival located in what was once one of Detroit’s premier neighborhoods — for $35,000. The home had no plumbing, no heat and no electricity. She and her husband believed it could be renovated for less than $100,000. Years later, after overcoming many roadblocks and weathering Detroit’s municipal bankruptcy, the couple has invested more than $300,000 in saving their home.

Her book is more than just a story of one couple’s effort to save a home. It is also a story of finding their place in a thriving community.

Haimerl is an adjunct professor of journalism at Michigan State University and a freelance journalist who writes on aspects of business and finance. Not only did she live through Detroit’s bankruptcy, but she helped to cover the story for Crain’s Detroit Business.

She will sign copies of her book at the lecture. Her talk is part of University Libraries’ celebration of National Library Week.

“House and Home: The Intersection of Domestic Architecture and Social History, 1870-1970,” is an exhibit on display in the Canaday Center through May 5.

For more information on the free, public exhibit or lectures, contact Barbara Floyd, director of the Canaday Center and interim director of University Libraries, at 419.530.2170.

Graduate students from across the Midwest will present their research at The University of Toledo this weekend.

The 8^th Annual Midwest Graduate Research Symposium will take place 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 25 in the Memorial Field House. Students at the graduate and postdoctoral levels from multiple disciplines and universities will give oral and poster presentations of their research.

“We expect more than 200 graduate students from all over the region to be here at UT to showcase their research and network,” said David Barboza, member of the Graduate Student Association on UT’s Health Science Campus. “This event is unique because it consists of students from dozens of universities representing a variety of disciplines, including psychology, engineering, chemistry, medicine, art, natural sciences and more.”

This year 65 schools were invited to the symposium, which is run by UT’s Graduate Student Association. For the first time, undergraduate students are eligible to attend this year.

The keynote speaker will be Dr. Emmitt Jolly, a biologist from Case Western Reserve University.

The symposium also includes professional development seminars, panel discussions, an awards ceremony and a formal dinner.

Presentations are judged by faculty from various universities.