Welcome to the Team

Sarah Johnson joined the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences development team in February 2011 as the senior associate director of development. Prior to returning to her home state of Ohio, Johnson served as the director of development for the Foundation for Seminole State College of Florida.  In her current role, she is responsible for major gift fundraising for ATI, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center as well as the Ohio BioProducts Innovation Center.  Johnson completed her bachelor's degree at Heidelberg University and her master's degree at Bowling Green State University. Over the last seven months, she has met many dedicated alumni and friends and looks forward to helping the college accomplish its goals through philanthropy.

Thank You for Your Commitment to Students

The Ohio State University and the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences are dedicated to helping students enter and stay in school. In response to challenging economic times, the university launched its Students First, Students Now initiative on January 1, 2009. It ended on June 30, 2011, with CFAES exceeding its goal by 15 percent and raising $3,220,894 towards scholarships, emergency loans, and other aid funds. Overall, the university exceeded its fundraising goal of $100 million for Students First, Students Now by raising $116,147,028.

As President E. Gordon Gee has explained, "Our profound commitment is to providing access to Ohio State's excellent educational opportunities. Now more than ever, we must assure that young people are able to pursue their dreams, earn a degree, and use their talents to enhance our economy, our state, and our world."

Many thanks to the college's alumni and friends for your generous support in helping make so many dreams come true.

You can continue support for students by visiting www.giveto.osu.edu or calling the college's Office of Development at 614-292-0473.

The garden (fund) is growing

The Secrest Arboretum, located at the college's Wooster campus, celebrated its continuing recovery from tornado damage on Friday, September 16, 2011, the storm's one-year anniversary. Over 100 of the more than 430 donors to the arboretum's renewal attended the event, which was held in the John Streeter Amphitheater. Total donations to the arboretum's renewal fund stand at more than $400,000, said OARDC Director Steve Slack, with $150,000 still needed to hit the fund's goal.  Noted during the ceremony was an earlier $300 donation by students at the Montessori School of Wooster, who were in attendance. "That says a lot about our future," Slack said, "and it's a pretty exciting future."

Ohio's Master Gardener Volunteers added some icing to the cake. The group surprised Ken Cochran, the arboretum's program director, with a check for $50,084 to go toward the arboretum's renewal efforts.

Coupled with 2,080 hours of in-kind labor valued at $43,784, the group's total donation to the arboretum equals $93,868.

"It's been quite an experience" to be part of the arboretum's recovery, said Erik Draper, an OSU Extension educator who works with the volunteers, in presenting the gift to Cochran. "We're so grateful for the work you do." In all, cash donations came from Master Gardeners in 38 Ohio counties.

Receiving such support, Cochran said, is "one of the most rewarding parts of my job. (But) it's your arboretum. We're here to facilitate however we might. We use the term 'public-private partnership.' We're all in it together."

An EF-2 tornado hit the arboretum, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center of which it's a part, and nearby homes on September 16, 2010, causing an estimated $25 million to $30 million in damage to the campus alone. The arboretum lost about 1,600 trees. So far, workers and volunteers have replanted some 1,000 new trees.

A Message from Archie Griffin, President and CEO of the OSU Alumni Association

I've often said that one of the best parts of my job is that it brings me close to so many alumni who share the love of Ohio State that I have.

Since I've been president and CEO of the Alumni Association I've met countless graduates who are impressive in so many ways. I've met people who excel in just about every field and in about every corner of the world. A great majority of Ohio State's strength lies in its dedicated alumni, and that has only become clearer to me as I've spent more time working at the association.

In addition to their tremendous professional achievements, our graduates consistently do things to support Ohio State and make it proud. They donate their time, talent, and treasure in the name of the university, and I have a tremendous amount of appreciation for those efforts. I feel like I am indebted to Ohio State for all the good it has helped create in my life, and it is obvious that many of our alumni feel the same way.

But appreciation is not a one-way street and that is one of the big reasons why Ohio State has engaged in our current Celebrating Alumni initiative. If you aren't familiar with what we've been doing, then you are really missing out on wonderful stories about our graduates, their love of Ohio State, and how they've taken the wealth of opportunity available at the university and turned it into life success.

Our Alumni in Action feature (http://go.osu.edu/AlumniInAction) is drawing attention to the great work our clubs and societies do in the name of Ohio State. We've spotlighted some outstanding groups and will continue to do so over the next year.

I am personally really thrilled about the feature "100 Buckeyes You Should Know" (http://go.osu.edu/100Buckeyes). Several CFAES alumni have been featured, including the very first alum in the series, Dr. Adipala Ekwamu (Plant Pathology 1992). These profiles have done a solid job of giving you a quick look at some of our most accomplished graduates and the work they do to make our world a better place.

And the alumni video features (http://go.osu.edu/CelebratingAlumniVideos) are short but impactful and give graduates, including Karl Kisner, 1990, a chance to talk about the special role that Ohio State has played in their lives.

So far, I have been really impressed with the way the entire Ohio State community has rallied around the Celebrating Alumni initiative. You can play a role, too. If you know of an alum who should be featured, feel free to send our staff an e-mail at community@ohiostatealumni.org. We've already heard some wonderful stories of alumni accomplishments that we didn't know about, and we hope to hear more as this effort continues.

Our alumni are the best. And again, let me say thank you for continuing to make Ohio State proud.

-- Archie