The Biggest Learner at Columbus State is all about increasing grades—not decreasing waistlines! 
Hampton takes reins as Dean of Student Life
Renèe Hampton
On October 1, Renèe Hampton began her new position as Dean of Student Life. Hampton has been with Columbus State since 1999, and she most recently served as Special Assistant to the Provost and Director of TRIO Programs. The Division of Student Life includes Student Activities & Athletics, Student Conduct, Career Services, Counseling, Disability Services, Diversity Programs, Study Abroad and TRIO Programs.
"Currently, there are exciting things going on in Student Affairs, which is where Student Life is housed,” said Hampton. “In collaboration with Academic Affairs, Student Affairs has been charged with the Student Success and Attainment Initiative. This involves college-wide tutoring, career assistance for undecided students, student success courses, and learning communities, to name just a few. Student Life will be expanding the office of student conduct as well as focusing on supportive services for veteran students. There is a lot going on in Student Affairs, which directly impacts Student Life, so please stay tuned for further developments!”
Hampton is ready to get students more engaged, and to help them find success in the classroom and outside of college. “The one important issue that I would like to get across to students is that there are many different supportive services on campus that are here to work as a partner in their success,” said Hampton. “Success comes in a variety of forms: in the classroom, relationship management outside of the classroom, campus leadership and involvement, graduation and or transfer, but most importantly academic.”
Hampton is ready to get started on a few immediate initiatives, such as expanding the Student Ambassador Leadership program and working on a new orientation program to help students get engaged with clubs, organizations and activities.
Dr. Jan Rogers, vice president for Student Affairs, thanked Wayne Cocchi, director of Disability Services, who had been serving as interim dean for over a year, and Tiffany McClain,
who had stepped into Cocchi’s position during the transition. “Wayne and
Tiffany provided outstanding leadership over this past year,” said Rogers.
Hampton earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Bowling Green State University, and she is currently working on her Ph.D. in Education and Community College Leadership through Walden University in Minneapolis.
Road construction project to impact Columbus State at Bolton Field, Grove City
The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) announced that it will begin a three-year road project rebuilding I-270 on Columbus’ southwest side. This construction will impact both Columbus State’s Southwest Center at Bolton Field and Grove City locations. Construction in the area begins this week and is estimated to be complete in about one year. To read more about the project, visit ODOT’s press room.
Mutual admiration society
Columbus State volleyball team members Kacie Kunke, Jessie
Lewis and Gracie Burrell make a fuss over “Lucky,” from the Franklin County Animal Shelter, who was visiting the Bookstore during Cause for Paws, animal adoption event held Oct. 6.
Organizers hoped to find new homes for Lucky and his more than 60 friends back at the Shelter. (Lucky was adopted as of 10/11!) The adoption event was part of National Student Day, during which student groups or organizations were encouraged to participate in community service.
Meyers team writes about Lazarus
For a follow up to their previous books on Central Ohio’s Historic Prisons (Arcadia, 2009) and Historic Columbus Crimes (The History Press, 2010), the father-daughter team of David Meyers and Elise Meyers Walker turned to something completely different: a history of the Lazarus department store.
“It was our editor’s idea,” Meyers, a data analyst in CEWD, explained. “He felt that with Christmas approaching, people would be feeling nostalgic about the grand old emporium.” Meyers and Walker, a project coordinator in the Center for Workforce Development, spent six months researching and writing Look To Lazarus: The Big Store (The History Press, 2011).
“It’s the most complete history that has ever been written about Lazarus,” said Meyers. “It’s also a history of Columbus since the store dominated commerce in the city for 150 years.” The book includes 85 illustrations and six of the most popular recipes from the store’s restaurants and La Belle Pomme cooking school.
Look To Lazarus will be available beginning October 13 from all major book retailers.
First-generation college students find support with “trailblazers”
Generation One Trailblazers (GOT) is a resource support group for first generation college students—students who are the first in their family to go to college. “First generation college students face obstacles that students from families with more academic history don't have to face,” says Ron Elizaga, instructor in the Psychology Department. “For example, lack of family and peer support, lack of procedural understanding, feelings of isolation, and many other life pressures. So, GOT was created to help the first generation student at Columbus State.”
“GOT is a faculty driven organization which began in the Psychology Department, but quickly gained representation in every department in the Arts & Sciences,” says Elizaga. “It is now gaining members in Career and Technical Program.”
GOT provides three resources for help:
Peer support meetings - meetings hosted by departments throughout the college will give students the opportunity to meet and share experiences with other first generation students. .
GOT Network Contacts - The popularity of GOT has spread throughout the college, and faculty and administrators have agreed to serve as GOT "contacts." Identifiable by placards hung by their office door, GOT Contacts have agreed to be a friendly face for any first generation students.
GOT website and Facebook page - GOT also hosts a website/blog and Facebook page that contains an abundance of information (e.g., study tips, meeting times, GOT Contact list, college resources) to help the first generation student succeed at Columbus State.
According to Elizaga, the group will host a kickoff event, similar to the CBS reality show The Amazing Race, where participants will be sent through the college with the goal of completing certain tasks aimed at familiarizing students with college resources. The kickoff event will include prizes, games, and most importantly, an opportunity to meet other students who are the first in their family to attend college. The event is Thursday, October 13 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in WD 404.
ITDL holds statewide Lecture Capture Solutions seminar
The Instructional Technologies and Distance Learning Department (ITDL) held a "Lecture Capture Solutions Seminar" on October 5 in the Innovation Center, attended by 30 educators from around the state of Ohio.
Columbus State faculty members Eric Kenz, Merideth Sellars and Susan Acceturo and ITDL staff Joel Nelson and Jason LaMar presented major methods and assessments that the college has experienced in deploying a screen casting system. They also highlighted the major advancements that have been accomplished in collaboration with Techsmith and Camtasia Relay. The event provided a forum for representatives from other institutions in our state to bring their ideas and accomplishments in working with lecture capture, while providing experience and insight to other educators who may be looking to start similar technologies.
Faculty members Eric Kenz, left, and Merideth Sellars, instructors in Biological Sciences, present a seminar on lecture capture Oct. 5.