Union Street Fire, dining hall and other news
Students may have been away from campus for the last few weeks, but university functions did not stop for the break.
Since the beginning of winter break, ground was broken, money raised, faculty have been awarded and positions are being sought.
Union Street Fire
About $44,000 was collected for victims of the Union Street fire that left 40 students without a place to live Nov. 16.
Individual donations make up approximately $33,000 of the funds and an additional $10,000 came from the Ohio University Credit Union, Stephanie Filson, OU’s director of external communications, said in an email.
About $20,000 of the donations has already been used to help the students, Filson said.
“A significant amount of this money has already been spent on items like hotel rooms, food at Bob Evans Restaurant, Walmart gift cards for students and other assorted expenses that took place immediately and in the days after the fire,” she said.
Filson also said that it hasn’t been decided how the rest of the money will be used.
“Once we have a more clear final number, we will make a decision about how to use the remaining funds, if there are any left over,” she said.
Residential Housing has rooms that students displaced in the fire can continue to live in during spring semester. Filson said some of the students have already utilized the available rooms.
In previous Post report, Jenny Hall-Jones said that there were 17 students permanently displaced from their apartments.
In addition to the university’s efforts, a GoFundMe page has received $49,474 dollars from 837 people as of Jan. 11.
Innovation Fund
OU is searching for a fund manager for a project that helps promote small company start-ups.
OU partnered with Ohio State University to create the Innovation Fund in 2012, but the project is still getting off the ground.
The fund manager will lead the program for both universities to help oversee the venture-capital fund, Steve Golding, vice president for finance and administration, said in an email.
After the current recruiting process for the fund is completed, the goal is for the partnership to more than double the amount of the fund, Golding said.
“Once we have recruited the fund manager we will be seeking other university and statewide partners to participate in the fund and grow it from the initial $35 million to something closer to $75 million,” he said.
As of 2012, OSU has contributed $20 million to the fund and OU has given $15 million over time from the Ohio University Fund, though the process to create the fund started years before.
“This partnership was initiated five years ago by President McDavis and President Gee as the outgrowth of a white paper by the Ohio University Foundation and President Gee's vision for a university based venture fund that would support technology commercialization and small company start ups throughout the state of Ohio,” Golding said.
The universities are currently in the process of working out the legal details in order to get other schools involved.
“If the first fund is successful our goal would be to have a second and third fund,” Golding said.
Inventor
An OU professor of biochemistry was chosen as a fellow for the National Academy of Inventors for her research.
Marcia Kieliszewski has worked with new technologies that can develop a series of drugs with longer half-lives. This means that these drugs will last longer in the body and will not have to be taken as often as some of the current drugs used.
“For example, when kids suffer from dwarfism, they need lots of human growth hormone injections,” she said. “With the derivatives, it helps (the drugs) stay longer in the blood stream.”
Kieliszewski was honored because of her work and her receival of patents over the years, including more than 10 patents in her glycoprotein research.
She said that she was nominated by Bob Silva, the director of the technology transfer office.
“It meant a lot that he thought highly of me,” Kieliszewski said. “It’s a real honor and surprise.
“I’ve also been generously supported by OU throughout the years so I’m thankful for the support.”
Kieliszewski will be inducted into National Academy for Inventors on March 20 at the Conference for the National Academy of Inventors.
She is the fourth faculty member from OU to be named a fellow.
Boyd
Renovations to the inside of Boyd Dining Hall are on target for finishing before Fall Semester, officials say.
Construction began over break, according to an email from OU Culinary Services.
The university plans to use “The Hungry Cat” food truck between Boyd Hall and Irvine Hall as well as a mini Grab N Go in the front entryway of Boyd Dining Hall until the hall reopens.
Boyd Market will still be open during the renovation, and students also have the option to take a shuttle service to Nelson Commons until construction is complete.
