OHIO UNIVERSITY TRUSTEES CREATE
CENTER FOR RURAL HEALTH RESEARCH

4/16/99
Contact: Dwight Woodward, (740) 593-1886

ATHENS, Ohio -- The Ohio University Trustees approved a plan Friday to create a Center for Appalachian and Rural Health Research.

The center will allow doctors and researchers from the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine to team with more than 100 faculty across the campus to research health topics relevant to improving health care in rural areas, particularly Appalachia.

"Ohio University is in an excellent position to be a leader in understanding the relationship between rural living and health," said Alfred Pheley, director of the center. "We work and live in the heart of Appalachia with many of the university's faculty already examining ways in which the health status of this population can be improved. Bringing faculty together will help us look outside the boundaries of traditional rural health research and develop more effective strategies for improving the health status of our region and other rural areas across the country."

Rural populations tend to be older, sicker and poorer than urban populations and are characterized by inadequate levels of health insurance, less employment-based insurance and fewer health-care services.

"This center will be an important enhancement to the ongoing efforts of the College of Osteopathic Medicine to improve health care in our region," said Ohio University President Robert Glidden. "There are many problems in health-care delivery in an area such as ours, and the detailed analysis of those problems through research will help us to find solutions."

In other action during the two-day meeting, the trustees:

• Requested the president to implement a policy that would require incoming freshman to own a computer, starting fall quarter 2001. The request followed a presentation by Doug Lawrence, chairman of the university's Information Resources Council, who recommended the university postpone the fall 2000 date for requiring incoming freshmen to own a computer. The committee recommended a task force be established to study the issue.
  
  
• Received an update from Provost Sharon Brehm on the projected budget for the 1999-2000 academic year. Brehm said the budget was expected to increase from $210 million for the 1998-99 academic year to $219 million next year, including a projected 6 percent increase in tuition and fees.
  
  
• Declared 33 acres of university-owned land, bounded by Richland Avenue and Route 682 on a bluff overlooking the Hocking River, unsuitable for academic purposes and authorized Ambling Companies of Valdosta, Ga., to develop an upperclass housing complex on the site to help meet the need for additional student housing. Ambling, one of five companies to submit a proposal for the property, would receive tax-exempt financing for the project and a 30-year lease on the property.
  
  
• Heard a report from William Smith, executive assistant to the president, who said the NCAA should respond to the university's athletic self-study plan in October. The university's self-evaluation, part of the NCAA Division I athletics certification program, covers finance, governance, academic integrity and equity in athletics. The report gives 45 recommendations on how athletic programs can improve.
  
  
• Agreed to spend $200,000 to replace windows on the west side of Chubb Hall. The windows will be replaced with wooden windows to retain the historical integrity of the building, said university Planner John Kotowski.
  
  
• Agreed to name the library annex on Columbus Road the Hwa-Wei Lee Library Annex after retiring Dean of Ohio University Libraries Hwa-Wei Lee.
  
  
• Toured the newly renovated Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium which is to open fall quarter 1999.