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Ohio State Events and Initiatives for the Columbus Bicentennial (200Columbus)

These activities emphasized the past, present, and especially the future of Columbus. They acknowledged two salient characteristics of the city--that it is a smart and open community; they highlighted significant influences that the University and the city have had on one another over time; and they demonstrated a concern for any of several broad issues identified by the Bicentennial Commission:

• the city's neighborhoods,
• Downtown,
• greater economic prosperity and an engaged workforce,
• a 21st-century transportation system,
• commitment to a green and sustainable region,
• development of a culturally richer city, and
• an embracing of Columbus history and a new city legacy.

Past Events

Exhibit: Global Textiles Galleries

Organizer: Gayle Strege
College of Arts & Sciences
Historic Costumes & Textiles Collection

Global Textile Trades was an exhibition that explored the aspects of the meaning of the word 'trade' as it relates to clothing and textile objects. From the craft of creating cloth from fibers and yarns to the skill of decorating that cloth through patterns of weaving, dyeing and embroidery techniques, Global Textile Trades featured these techniques from cultures around the world. The international trade in textile products over the past several hundred years is evident in Indian influence in the textiles of Southeast Asia and Europe, and European influence in the textiles of Asia and Africa.

Date: Jan. 11 – Feb. 11 (Monday-Friday)
Time: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Location: Gladys Keller Snowden Galleries, Campbell Hall

The Ruby Elzy Story

Organizer: Richard Blatti
College of Arts & Sciences
Music

The program, narrated by Columbus resident David Weaver, author of Black Diva of the Thirties: The Life of Ruby Elzy, told the story of Ruby's path to celebrity, while spotlighting some of the best student performers from the OSU School of Music.

Date: Feb. 11
Time: 8 p.m.
Location: Lincoln Theatre

Columbus Historical Society Bicentennial Exhibition at COSI

Organizer: Dave Staley
College of Arts & Sciences
History

The OSU Goldberg Center and the Columbus Historical Society teamed up to develop an exhibit for this year’s Bicentennial. Students in the team-taught “Designing Responsive Historical Spaces” seminar/studio course developed a digital interactive exhibit that has been mounted at COSI.

Date: Feb. 14
Location: COSI

50th Anniversary Of John Glenn's Orbit Of The Earth

The Ohio State University was proud to lead the celebration of John Glenn’s legacy on the 50th anniversary of his historic flight aboard Friendship 7. Through this celebration, we honored John Glenn and his legacy of leadership, citizenship, and public service.

Date: February 20-21
Location: Archie Griffin Ballroom, Ohio Union

OhioCentric

Organizer: Valarie Williams
College of Arts & Sciences
Urban Arts Space

In honor of the Columbus Bicentennial, City Center Gallery hosts its first juried exhibition: OhioCentric. City Center will transform into a showcase of artists from all over Ohio, past and present. While City Center typically focuses on the Columbus community, we are excited to include artists from all over Ohio in celebration of the capital city's 200th anniversary.

Date: Feb. 18 – March 24
Time: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. (Tuesday-Saturday)
Location: 50 W. Town St.

"Dirt": A Program Of Original Dance Choreography

Organizer: Susan Petry
College of Arts & Sciences
Dance

A program of original choreography by internationally acclaimed artists Bebe Miller and Esther Baker-Tarpaga will be performed in the dirt arena of Plumb Hall, part of the OSU agriculture campus, during this the 150th year of the Morrill Land-Grant Act, which established OSU. This dance performance, held literally in the dirt, aims to juxtapose the past and the future of dance.

Date: May 24 - 26
Location: Dirt arena of Plumb Hall

Big Ten Baseball Tournament

Cheer on the Big Ten's top baseball teams as they play in Huntington Park, the home of the Triple-A Columbus Clippers.

Date: May 23-27
Location: Huntington Park, 330 W. Nationwide Blvd.

WOSU's 90th Anniversary

The first radio station in Columbus celebrates a significant milestone anniversary.

Date: June 3

4th Annual Community Safety and Preventing Violence Conference

The conference is designed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge about what works to prevent violence and promote safety. In previously years over 300 youth, advocates, researchers, practitioners, teachers, parents, justice officials, and community leaders.

Date: June 17
Time: 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Location: 31st floor of the Vern Riffe Conference Center, 77 S. High Street

OSU Chadwick Arboretum & Learning Gardens to co-host American Public Gardens Association National Meeting

Organizer: Mary Maloney
College of Food, Agriculture & Environmental Sciences
Horticulture & Crop Science

Chadwick Arboretum is on the host committee for the American Public Gardens Association national meeting (June 19-23) that will be held in Columbus in celebration of the Bicentennial. The APGA members represent the nation’s public gardens. Chadwick will host the university gardens workshop on Tuesday, June 19.

Date: June 19 – 23
Location: Chadwick Arboretum

High School Juried Exhibition

Organizer: Valarie Williams
College of Arts & Sciences
Urban Arts Space

The 2012 High School Juried Exhibition is a one of a kind art show, designed specifically for aspiring central Ohio high school artists who feel the need to break from the limitations of their classrooms and showcase their art in a professional environment. More information is available on the Urban Arts Space web site.

Date: June 26 – July 28
Time: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. (Tuesday-Saturday)
Location: 50 W. Town St.

The Ohio State University Welcome Week

Ohio State welcomes back its students with a week of engaging activities throughout campus.

Date: August 27-30
Times and Locations vary.

Exhibit: The Columbus Fashion Story

Organizer: Gayle Strege
College of Education and Human Ecology
Historic Costume & Textiles Collection

The Columbus Fashion Story is an exhibition that examines the fashion industry and its manifestations in Columbus throughout its history, featuring custom made clothing by Columbus dressmakers and tailors from the late 19th and early 20th century as well as ready-made apparel and accessories from Columbus department and specialty stores such as Lazarus and Montaldo’s from the mid-20th century. The exhibition will also explore the last 50 years of retail fashion in Columbus and the impact of its locally owned clothing stores, Schottensteins and the Limited Brands family of stores.

Date: Sept. 5 - Dec. 7
Time: Wednesday - Thursday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Friday-Saturday 12 - 4 p.m.
Location: Gladys Keller Snowden Gallery, 279 Campbell Hall, 1787 Neil Avenue

EcoSummit 2012

World leaders in ecology, environmental and energy fields will convene at the Columbus Convention Center September 30 - October 5, 2012 to develop a better understanding of the complex nature of ecological systems, and to provide a high-profile platform for dialogue among researchers, planners and decision-makers.

Please visit www.ecosummit2012.org for more information and to register.

Date: Sept. 30 - Oct. 5

Presidential Panel: The Idea Of A University In A Time Of Crisis

Organizer: Dave Staley
College of Arts & Sciences
History

The theme of the symposium will be that commentators of a variety of stripes claim the university is in crisis, whether the result of corporatization or neo-liberalization, a potential bubble for higher education, athletics run amok, vocationalism, over broad intellectual growth, etc. It will assert the value of the university by looking both at the practices that have sustained it and also the changes it needs to address. This symposium will feature a panel of university presidents (Dr. Gordon Gee, Ohio State; Dr. Michael Hogan, University of Illinois; Dr. Gregory Williams, University of Cincinnati; Dr. Nancy L. Zimpher, SUNY) and will commemorate the 50th anniversary of a symposium held at Ohio State, inspired by Harvey Goldberg.

Date: Oct. 5
Location: COSI

The Ohio State University Homecoming Weekend

Every year students, faculty, staff, and alumni unite in Scarlet and Gray to commemorate a university, a family, and a home at The Ohio State University.

Date: October 5-6

“Roots And Shoots": A Program Portraying The Past, Present, And Future Of Dance

Organizer: Susan Petry
College of Arts & Sciences
Dance

A companion performance, "Roots and Shoots" will present a program highlighting past, present, and envisioned future concepts of dance composition. From the dirt we have our roots and shoots as a university and there also discover signs for the future.

Date: Nov. 16 - 17

Universal Design (Service Learning Course)

In Universal Design (AM721), students have worked doing home assessments for older adults who are living in the community. In the past, we have worked with neighborhood groups in the campus area, Clintonville, German Village, and south Columbus. The students visit the homes, interview the older homeowner, and do an hands-on assessment of accessibility and safety of the home. They then prepare a report for the homeowner on suggested changes and their cost.

Understanding the Aging Process (Service Learning Course)

In Understanding the Aging Process (AM 665), the students have participated in yard clean-ups and house painting for older residents in Franklinton. They have also put together Veterans’ Day programs at several retirement communities in the area.

Design Matters (Service Learning Course)

Initiated by the Department of Design, Design Matters is a Service-Learning course that builds on the idea of collective creativity to envision a bright future. The course brings together urban youth and University students in a collaborative design/build studio.

The primary focus of the outreach studio is currently the renovation and conversion of the former home of Central Community House to be a new Art and Community Center for the near east side of Columbus. Since 2008, the Department of Design has been developing an outreach and engagement partnership with the local non-profit agency “Central” to exchange knowledge, foster the cultural arts, and cultivate meaningful relationships.

Community Legacy Planning Course: City of Design, Innovation Park

Organizer: Jamie Greene
College of Engineering
Architecture

City and Regional Planning, Community Legacy Studio - The work of undergraduate students endures as part of the bicentennial commemoration. Their contributions include: Snapshot Columbus, Ohio Stadium 90th Anniversary, Howard Dwight Smith Exhibit, and Innovation Park.

Special Collections Bicentennial Display

Organizer: Tamar Chute
Ohio State University Libraries
Thompson Library

During fall semester, the Special Collections of the University Libraries will honor the Columbus Bicentennial with a set of six displays with material highlighting the connection between the University and the history of Columbus.

Date: Fall Semester 2012
Location: In the cases outside the Gallery, on the first floor of Thompson Library.

Columbus Public Art 2012

Organizer: Malcolm Cochran
College of Arts & Sciences
Art

These public projects will transform the downtown into an open-air gallery, where innovative and surprising public art accessible to all will create memorable experiences for downtown workers, residents and visitors.

Contributions Of Social Work And Human Service Organizations To Columbus

Organizer: Keith Kilty
College of Social Work

The college is partnering with the Human Services Chamber of Franklin County to highlight the contributions of social work and human service organizations to Columbus over the past 200 years. These interviews will be videotaped, and will be part of a traveling display that will be on site at Stillman Hall at some point in 2012. Students will receive independent study credit for their work.

The Generation Rx Drug Education Lab

Organizer: Nicole Kwiek / Jerry Cable
College of Pharmacy
College of Nursing
College of Medicine

The Generation Rx drug education lab is an innovative research and outreach initiative within COSI’s Labs in Life space. Here, OSU College of Pharmacy and College of Nursing faculty and students will engage visitors of all ages in entertaining, hands-on experiments to teach how drugs move around our bodies, treat diseases, and change our lives.

Location: COSI’s Labs in Life space

Making Columbus: The Map App

Organizer: Bart Overly
College of Engineering
Architecture

The Center for Architecture and Design's MapApp will build more audience for the Columbus cultural community by connecting its various entities, events, and patrons together in real time geographically and temporally.

The Narratives of Black Columbus: A Story-Corps for the Columbus Bicentennial

Organizer: Cindy Selfe
College: Arts & Sciences
English

This project—focused around a mobile video/audio recording studio—invites the citizens of Black Columbus communities to contribute first-hand stories to an online city-wide archive. This online collection of narratives will be available to the public, searchable by name and key words, and preserved as an historical resource. Citizens will be asked to share memories about the role that education—especially reading and writing—has played in their lives: how they have been taught at home and in school, in their churches and community organizations.

“What Is Your Hilltop?” Digital Storytelling To Inspire Urban/Suburban Solutions

Organizer: Dickie Selfe
College of Arts & Sciences
English/Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing

Led by the “What is your Hilltop?” storytelling team from the Center for the Study and Teaching of Writing (CSTW) at Ohio State in collaboration with the Greater Hilltop Area Shalom Zone (GHASZ), this project provides Hilltop residents with an opportunity to collect and document—from an on-the-ground perspective—stories that illustrate points of community pride and concern: these will be stories of individual histories, activist citizens, and creative individuals, as well as placed-based stories and important community moments or events. Through OSU’s streaming services, video materials will be available on the Internet and can be used in many online venues.

Planting native trees in Clintonville (Cooperatively with Columbus)

Organizer: Daniel Struve
College of Food, Agriculture & Environmental Sciences
Horticulture & Crop Science

Lower Olentangy Urban Arboretum’s (LOUA) goal is to reduce habitat fragmentation by planting native trees on the Clintonville streets (with City of Columbus, Division of Forestry cooperation), thus linking the five ravines in Clintonville. The organization raised some of the trees (150 were planted in fall 2011) for LOUA and provides technical advice to the Lower Olentangy Urban Arboretum regarding Urban Forestry issues.

Near Eastside Neighborhood Redevelopment; Weinland Park Collaborative

The Weinland Park Collaborative is working with the people who live in the neighborhood. We are working together to connect people to their neighbors, offer opportunities for education and jobs, improve our neighborhood by fixing up vacant houses, planting community gardens, making our homes and streets safer, and much more. The collaborative listens to residents and to the Weinland Park Community Civic Association to learn what people believe can best improve their neighborhood.

WOSU-TV Neighborhood Series

Inspired by WOSU's six-documentary series, Columbus Neighborhoods, WOSU and The Columbus Metropolitan Library built a site to offer our neighbors an opportunity to share what's great about their own neighborhoods.

Please visit columbusneighborhoods.org for featured neighborhoods and programming information.

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