06/19/96

ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University will host the 1996 All-Member Gathering for Ohio's AmeriCorps national service program members Wednesday and Thursday (June 19-20) on the Athens campus in conjunction with the Governor's Community Service Commission.

More than 500 AmeriCorpsUSA/AmeriCorps*VISTA members, directors and supervisors will receive two days of training in topics ranging from multicultural issues and awareness of disabilities to resume writing and the Internet during the gathering, held under the theme "A Celebration of Service 96: We're Doing It!"

Ohio University President Robert Glidden will be the featured speaker during the opening ceremony of the gathering, which will take place from 1 p.m. to 1:50 p.m. Wednesday at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium. Members will attend various educational workshops throughout Baker Center and other campus buildings and stay in East Green residence halls. A closing ceremony from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday at Alumni Memorial Auditorium will feature remarks by guest speaker Cheryl Keen, dean of faculty/vice president at Antioch College and a co-author of Common Fire: Lives of Commitment in a Complex World. Keen will present the 15-year study, which profiles people who live their lives on behalf of the common good.

Ohio University oversees Appalachian Access, a collaborative AmeriCorps program seeking to improve access to health care and education in Appalachian Ohio, a 29-county region in Southeastern Ohio. The program is in its second year and is funded through December by a federal grant of $388,803. The program involves 28 members working in six projects across the region, and is sponsored by Ohio University, Marietta College, Shawnee State University in Portsmouth, Washington State Community College in Marietta, and 20 community-based organizations.