Bold

TREAD project engages high school students from head to foot

Leveraging high school students' awareness of shoes and their various brands, three students from UC's top-ranked industrial design program have created a project called TREAD (Teaching Responsibility and Empowerment to Aspiring Designers). The initiative teaches problem-solving skills and design technology principles to sophomores at Hughes STEM High School.

The 7-week program attracts guest participation from professional shoe designers from such companies as Nike and adidas, thanks to the university's industrial design reputation and the volume of UC alumni in the footwear industry. The program just finished its inaugural academic year, and the three co-founding DAAP students plan to incorporate TREAD as a non-profit organization after they graduate from UC in June.

Read more about the TREAD project.

Civic, school pride fuel Sheakley's Bearcats support

For a university that shares its name, image and identity with its home city, Division-1 athletics offer a great opportunity to make a positive impact. This UC/Cincinnati connection is largely why Larry Sheakley became a UC fan as youngster and today has strong UC family ties and is one of the university's top athletics donors.

Sheakley heads Cincinnati-based Sheakley Group of Companies. "I travel a lot, and it became important to me how this university was viewed and also how the city was viewed," he says. He didn't attend UC but became devoted to the Bearcats while watching Oscar Robertson and the NCAA championship basketball teams of a half-century ago. His passion led to funding scholarships and the development of Sheakley Lawn within UC's Varsity Village, named for his father. More recently he became the major donor behind the Sheakley Athletics Center, the football practice facility beside Jefferson Avenue. The facility is also the home of UC's lacrosse team.

Read the Cincinnati Enquirer story about Sheakley's support of UC.

  Strong

Team approach creates model for Tanzanian health care

Because of the dire need for medical facilities outside the African city of Roche, Tanzania, as well as the logistical challenges with providing these facilities, UC faculty and students from three colleges worked together for three years to design the Roche Health Center that opened on April 1.

Representatives from the colleges of DAAP, Medicine and Engineering & Applied Science designed a facility that was constructed by the local Roche community. Their efforts earned the team one of just five national awards that recognize real-world projects combining the skills of architecture and engineering practitioners with those of faculty and students. The $7,500 accompanying prize will be invested in the health center when a diverse UC contingent returns to Roche. While there, team members will meet with Tanzanian government officials because the center may be used as a rural health care model throughout the country.

Read more about UC and the Roche Health Center Project.

Barrett to address Class of 2011 grads

John Barrett, the chairman, president and CEO of local Fortune 500 company Western & Southern Financial Group, will be the keynote speaker at UC's spring Commencement on June 11. Between the weekend's three ceremonies, more than 4,800 degrees will be presented. Commencement exercises will be video-streamed online.

Barrett (BUS '71) has long been a leader and philanthropist in the Cincinnati business community, supporting regional economic development, youth initiatives and the arts. His generous support for health care has benefited his alma mater in the form of the Charles M. Barrett Cancer Center, named for his father and part of UC Health. He will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in recognition of his contributions to society.

UC Basketball hailed for academic success

UC men's basketball enjoyed a resurgence on the court this past season, culminating in its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005. Equally important is the program's Academic Progress Rate (APR), a measure that tracks the collective academic performance of a school's student-athletes. The NCAA recently recognized Coach Mick Cronin's program for scoring in the top 10% in men's basketball APR nationally--the first time a UC athletics program has been so honored.

Read more about UC's APR success.

  Ambitious

New UC Memory Disorders Center opens

Patients and families dealing with memory loss issues gained a valuable resource in May with the opening of the Memory Disorders Center at the UC Neuroscience Institute. It's estimated that more than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's Disease, the most common form of dementia among older adults.

The source of an anonymous $1.5 million gift toward development of the Center in 2008 was recently revealed. The result is the Sandy and Bob Heimann Chair in Research and Education of Alzheimer’s Disease. Mrs. Heimann, a vice president with American Financial Group in Cincinnati, chairs UC's Board of Trustees; Mr. Heimann is president of Globe Corp. and a trustee of the UC Foundation. The endowment created by their gift, which now tops $2 million, supports the work of Brendan Kelley, M.D., the center's director and associate professor in UC's neurology department. "Dr. Kelley and his team are a gift to the city," Mrs. Heimann said.

Read more about the Memory Disorders Center and the Heimanns' gift.
 
Clermont nursing students finish first year at UC East

The need for nurses has led to demand for the Bachelor of Nursing Sciences degree offered through the College of Nursing at UC Clermont. The growth has been facilitated by the program's move from the Clermont campus to the new UC East campus. Opened last fall, UC East occupies part of the former Ford plant in Batavia that was converted to house various UC programs. The 129 nursing students enrolled at UC East, many of whom couldn't otherwise commute to the Uptown campus, are benefiting from spacious classroom and lab facilities for simulations and other skill development.