NEWS & RESEARCH
Spring 2014 Issue of College of Arts and Sciences’ ASCENT Now Online
Twice each year, we
are pleased to offer our friends and alumni a selection of images and stories that capture the excitement and relevance of the arts and sciences at Ohio State. Highlights of this issue of
ASCENT: "Big Data, Big Time,” data analytics may be Ohio State’s “sexiest” new major; “Don’t Give Up The Ship,” lots of things we bet you didn’t know about the War of 1812; “The Arts Flourish at Ohio State,” inside the Arts District transformation; “The Changing American Family,” refocuses the picture of the "traditional" family unit, and much more.
New Director of School of Communication
Communication Professor
Daniel McDonald has been appointed director of the School of Communication, starting June 1, pending approval by the Board of Trustees. McDonald has been associate director for strategic planning in the school since 2010 and a tenured professor at Ohio State since 1998. “For over 15 years, Dan McDonald has played a key role in the merger of Ohio State’s former Department of Communication and the School of Journalism,” said
Giff Weary, divisional dean, social and behavioral sciences. “He is the right person at this point in the history of the school to, along with his faculty, staff and students, continue its forward momentum.”
Partisan Media Driving a Wedge Between Citizens, Study Finds
R. Kelly Garrett, associate professor, communication,
is lead author of an international study finding that viewing partisan news reports from both the conservative and liberal viewpoints doesn’t make people more accepting of citizens on the other side of the political fence. Garrett and his team analyzed citizens’ media consumption in the U.S. and Israel, how often they viewed liberal and conservative news outlets and how often they viewed mainstream, relatively neutral news sites. The study appears online in the journal
Human Communication Research.
ASC Staff Advisory Council—Application Deadline Extended: May 21
The ASC Staff Advisory Council
is accepting applications to serve on the council for the July 2014 - June 2016 term. Council highlights this past year: homecoming cookout and cornhole tournament, operation brownie and pancake breakfasts. Members also voice their opinions on critical issues for staff.
From "World War II Sights in London," to "Adapting to Big City Life in Europe" and much more, students studying abroad this May 
Audrey Haynes (PhD, 1996), associate professor of political science, University of Georgia, 
