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The U.S.  Small Business Administration (SBA) announced on Oct. 15 the addition of three new clusters to the portfolio of communities it supports through the Regional Innovation Clusters initiative. Among these new additions is the Appalachian Ohio Wood Products Cluster, which will serve 32 Appalachian Ohio counties and will be administered by the Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth (APEG).
The SBA awarded $500,000 the first year, which can be renewed four additional years for a total of $2.5 million. These funds will assist APEG in partnership with Ohio University's Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs and local non-profit Rural Action to improve manufacturing productivity; provide industry workforce training, mentoring and counseling services; offer export assistance; and conduct industry research.
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 On Friday, Nov. 13, Ohio University's Voinovich School of Public Affairs hosted an international delegation from Kosovo to discuss the challenges of building national parks among country borders.
Speaking to more than 50 attendees in Alden Library, the six-member delegation shared their struggles in building a peace park after war in the Balkans tore the region apart. The delegation visited the United States to explore American management of national parks and take highlights back to the Balkans to improve their own park development.
 "It has been a privilege to visit the Voinovich School because of the diversity of scholars and experts all in one place," Fatos Lajci, founder and director of Kosovo's Environmentally Responsible Action Group, said. "A day's worth of learning here is like a whole semester."
The delegation visited as part of an ongoing partnership between the Voinovich School, the Office of Global Opportunities and International Peace Park Expeditions (IPPE). The members of the delegation are active partners of Ohio University's Environmental Peacebuilding Study Abroad program to Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania each May
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 When the Ohio Economic Development Association (OEDA) sought facilitators for its July 2015 board retreat, it turned to community and economic development experts at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University. The OEDA, a membership organization representing more than 300 economic development professionals statewide, selected two Voinovich School employees to facilitate the group's board retreat. Dr. Jason Jolley, MPA director and assistant professor with the Voinovich School, and Robin Stewart, Senior Project Manager with the Voinovich School devised the agenda for the retreat and guided the group's decision-making processes. The retreat was held July 23-24 at the Ohio University Inn and also included a tour of the Ohio University Innovation Center. Stewart believes the Voinovich School was selected to facilitate the retreat because of the school's high caliber work in economic development and its prior relationship with the OEDA. "We have a reputation for community economic development and the work that we do," Stewart said. |
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 In an effort to assist communities, local governments and regional organizations to plan and implement water quality improvement projects in the area, the United States EPA (USEPA) is expanding resources available to Appalachian Ohio by investing in Ohio University's Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, in partnership with Rural Action, to form the Appalachian Ohio Clean Watershed Initiative. The initiative is an expansion of the focus of the Appalachian Watershed Research Group (AWRG), which has a long history of success in acid mine drainage watershed restoration. The AWRG was created in 2001 by a group of faculty and staff from across Ohio University campus, and led by the Voinovich School. During the past decade, in partnership with state and federal agencies such as the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Mineral Resources Management (ODNR-DMRM), watershed professionals focused on acid mine drainage remediation have effectively restored 47 miles of streams.  "The Appalachian Ohio Clean Watershed Initiative grant gives watershed professionals an opportunity to build capacity to make lasting water quality improvements in the region. Ohio University and collaborating community partner Rural Action will assist stakeholders to plan, design and write grants for water quality improvement projects by utilizing funds available through EPA grant programs," Jen Bowman, Voinovich School senior environmental project manager, said. The new funding will provide outreach and education opportunities to organizations and communities with water quality impairment issues. This includes training and workshop opportunities for the watershed coordinators, organizations and individuals, and assisting communities with identifying projects and finding resources to complete them. |
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 Former U.S. Senator George Voinovich visited Athens recently and sat down for an hour-long interview with WOUB's Tom Hodson. Sen. Voinovich talked about leadership in Washington and discussed what qualifications future presidents should have. He did the interview in front of about 50 Ohio University students and responded to their questions after the formal interview concluded. Voinovich voiced his concern about the current status of politics in Washington D.C. and what he called the lack of "trust" that the American public has in its government. Voinovich says his long experience in government gave him the critical tools to solve problems during his 12 years in the Senate. Not only did Voinovich serve as U.S. Senator but he also served as Governor of Ohio, Mayor of the City of Cleveland, Lt. Governor, Cuyahoga County Commissioner and Cuyahoga County Auditor. Throughout his 40 years in government, Voinovich advanced his mantra: "Work harder and smarter and do more with less." To listen to the whole interview, check out the story on WOUB's website. |
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In summer 2015, Dr. Jason Jolley, Master of Public Administration(MPA) director and assistant professor with the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, was selected by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) to complete a skill-shed analysis. This analysis evaluated the occupational skills of recently unemployed coal workers and identified other positions in the region that require similar skills. Jolley's research, completed in conjunction with Strengthening Our Appalachian Region (SOAR), was intended to help the IEDC create an economic development strategy for the eastern Kentucky region.
"Working in Appalachia on rural issues fits very well with the kind of work we do at the Voinovich School," Jolley stated.
In order to further aid in the economic development of the region, Jolley led two workshops on technology led economic development strategies: one in Prestonburg, Kentucky, and one in Manchester, Kentucky. More than 50 community leaders attended the workshop in Prestonburg while more than 80 community leaders attended the workshop in Manchester.
Jeff Finkle, president of IEDC, certified economic developer, and the Voinovich School Appalachian New Economy Partnership Fellow, also praised Jolley's work. Finkle stated, "Dr. Jolley and the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs' high-quality research provided the economic development leaders in Kentucky a valuable resource in their continued efforts towards economic diversification. IEDC is pleased to have had the opportunity to partner with Dr. Jolley on this forward-looking project in Eastern Kentucky."
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| | Laura Milazzo, Voinovich School senior research associate |
The Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs recently received two additional years of funding from the Ohio Department of Health to work with six counties in Southeast Ohio to promote an evidence-based smoking cessation intervention.
The project is part of a broader initiative under the Ohio Partnership for Smoke Free Families, which seeks to reduce smoking among Ohio women before, during and after pregnancy. Another project objective is to work to reduce exposure to second-hand smoke. To accomplish these goals, the partnership is attempting to increase the adoption, reach and impact of a smoking cessation intervention from the U.S. Public Health Service called the five A's (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist and Arrange).
With the funding renewal, the Voinovich School has intensified its efforts in the four counties in which the team had previously been working, while also expanding the project into two additional counties.
The goal is to saturate communities in the six Southeastern Ohio counties with a variety of trained providers offering the same message: quit smoking. The Voinovich School will be working with providers in maternal and reproductive health; Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); and, Help Me Grow as well as other health and social service providers. Because smoking is highly accepted in these counties, saturation helps ensure that people will receive the same message of cessation from multiple sources.
According to Laura Milazzo, senior research associate at the Voinovich School, as a result of the Voinovich School's trainings many more healthcare and social service providers are now using the cessation intervention, and are also more aware of all five of the intervention steps.
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Ohio University's Innovation Center has been recognized as a Top University Business Incubator in North America by UBI Global, an organization that benchmarks business incubators and accelerators around the world. The program was ranked number eight in the North American region and number three in the United States. The University's technology business incubator was one of 10 programs that received the Top University Business Incubator in North America award during a recognition ceremony co-hosted by UBI Global and Ontario Centres of Excellence Nov. 3 in Toronto. UBI Global received 97 applications from North American incubators for the award, according to the organization.
The Ohio University Innovation Center has supported university and regional entrepreneurs in Southeast Ohio since its inception in 1983. The jobs generated by Innovation Center companies in 2013 and 2014 garnered an estimated $10.5 million in labor income and $1.3 million in state and local tax revenues. The number of jobs created (directly, indirectly or induced) by the Innovation Center businesses was 123 in 2013 and 140 in 2014.
 The Innovation Center's success stems from being part of a larger university and regional entrepreneurial ecosystem that includes TechGROWTH Ohio, the Technology Transfer Office, the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs, the College of Business, the Edison Biotechnology Institute and the Center for Entrepreneurship, Jennifer Simon, director of the Innovation Center, said.
"Ohio University's regional ecosystem provides outstanding resources to entrepreneurs," Simon said. "This award recognizes that our clients have access to world-class services to accelerate their growth right here in Southeast Ohio."
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Ohio University past, present and future appeared last month in Norman, Oklahoma for the annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Journalism (SEJ). Three OHIO Bobcats: a student, an alumnus and a faculty member, participated in the multi-day conference of the country's leading environmental journalists hosted by Oklahoma University.
 Cassie Kelly is a senior journalism major earning an environmental studies certificate while editing the online College Green Magazine. She attended the SEJ Conference to learn from fellow environmental journalists and find the next internship.
 Craig Butler, director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, came to Norman to speak on a panel entitled, "Trouble at the Tap: Beyond the Toledo Water Crisis." Butler, who earned a Master of Science in Environmental Studies from OHIO, described his adaptive management strategy for tackling Lake Erie algae blooms and similar water quality challenges around the state.
 Geoff Dabelko is a professor in the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs and director of the Environmental Studies Program. It was Dabelko's fourth SEJ annual meeting, an opportunity to connect with environmental journalists he has come to know after two plus decades working on international environmental issues.
"During my 15 years at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, we regularly connected with environmental journalists who wanted to go beyond the day's headlines to investigate the more complex stories behind environment, development and security," Dabelko said.
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 "Working with the Voinovich School is already presenting me such a focus for my future. It's wonderful to see that there are...other people on this campus so DEDICATED to promoting environmental consciousness. I don't know where I would be now, had I not found the Environmental Studies program!!"
I wrote this last week in an email to former Environmental Studies Certificate graduate and Voinovich School Research Scholar Alex Slaymaker. Alex, like many of the Voinovich School's alum, is already off saving the environment, earning her masters in "Sustainable Solutions" at Arizona State University. How cool is that?
I meant what I said in the email: I don't know where I would be without the Voinovich School's dedication to and expertise on the environment. In just my short time here (two months) as a research scholar, I've nearly learned all the ins-and-outs of the School's operations, had my toe in a few photo projects, and began assisting the Ohio University Zero Waste Initiative with social media advice.
Granted, I'm not out there confronting poachers on the front lines, or lobbying to governments that the trees are worth saving. But the work that I'm doing is the next step forward in my environmental services career.
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Gail Hesse's motivation to study the environment came from the long-distance bicycle trips she took as a student. The connection she felt to the landscape caught her attention. Those trips encouraged her to forge ahead academically as she earned her bachelor's degree in geography and her master's degree in environmental studies at Ohio University.
A 1988 graduate of the Master of Science in Environmental Studies program, Hesse is the former executive director of the Ohio Lake Erie Commission. Hesse will continue her work on Lake Erie issues when she enters the next chapter of her career as director of the Great Lakes Water Program at the National Wildlife Federation.
"The diversity of skills I've gained and unique content areas I've worked on have made a big difference in getting me to this point in my career," Hesse said. "In environmental professions, you develop expertise in very technical areas, but I've been lucky enough to study and work in lots of depth in lots of areas."
Throughout her career, Hesse's bicycle trips as a student have inspired her, and she attributes much of her success and respect for the environment to the deep connection she felt to the land as she cycled on different roads and trails.
"On those bicycle trips you understand the feel of every mile, in all senses of that phrase," she said. "I think that that had a very significant impact on me. It coupled nicely with my academic career."
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Ranked in the top 50 innovative public affairs schools in the U.S. by Best Value Schools, the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs finds researched-based solutions to challenges facing communities, the economy and the environment. By blending real-world problem solving and government, nonprofit sector and industry partnerships with education, students are offered unique learning opportunities as they prepare for careers serving the public interest in Ohio University's rural region and beyond.
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Voinovich School in the News"Ohio University takes students to the Balkans for an environmental peacebuilding study abroad program where we learn so much from our partners tackling transboundary conservation and sustainability in a beautiful but challenged environment."
"The innovator is the inventor. The entrepreneur is the one who stays up at night worrying how to make the payroll at the end of the month. Sometimes the two are the same."
__________________ "The foreign companies would have an opportunity for the first time to show the damages or economic harm from that outcome and get compensated for the lost economic opportunity that was denied to them because of the failure to receive necessary state permits."
"What became clear in our research was that it was important to have a community-based case manager to connect people coming out of prison with services and acting as a communication conduit."  "The SBA received more than 40 applications for the Regional Innovation Cluster program, and we are honored to be one of the three awards. The Voinovich School has more than 20 years of experience in collaborative research projects with numerous entities in the region. This grant provides an opportunity to take our expansive work in this area and continue to make a difference in the economy and lives of the residents of Appalachian Ohio."
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Impact & Innovation is written and created by undergraduate students Diana Wiebe, M.C. Tilton, Jasmine Grillmeier and Daniel Kington.
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Welcome to the new Impact and Innovation e-newsletter. We hope to use this as a way to facilitate ongoing communication with the students, faculty and professionals within the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs. 
Innovation Center receives award from UBI Global
