Documenting India: Day 5

Jay Sinnard, manager of the Student Technology Resources Center (STRC), is traveling with a UC class to provide media support as they record testimonials as part of their class project. This is a return trip for Jay as he traveled with this same class in spring 2014. He is applying lessons learned from that trip to make the student’s experience an even better one.

Over the course of their trip, Jay will share on this blog some of his observations, images and video from their travels. Check back often…

From Natalie Bullock, a student on the trip: Today the UC Service Learning India Team visited Odanadi Seya Samsthe, an organization that exists to aid women and girls who have been rescued from exploitative circumstances. Located in Mysore, India, Odandi was founded 26 years ago by husband and wife team Stanly and Parashu Kumudini. It has since grown to include Odanadi homes in Britain, The Netherlands, America and Sweden.

These homes provide survivors a place to rehabilitate while they learn new skills such as small business management, massage therapy, and baking. Thankfully, the UC team arrived just in time to sample some baked goods! They were also treated to a traditional Indian meal prepared by the girls and then were given the change to have a question and answer session with the Odanadi founders before enjoying a dance routine performed by four of the girls. During a tour of the facility, UC students interacted with the girls and learned more about human trafficking in India and that way that all of us must work together if we are to defeat this heinous crime.

Documenting India: Day 4

Jay Sinnard, manager of the Student Technology Resources Center (STRC), is traveling with a UC class to provide media support as they record testimonials as part of their class project. This is a return trip for Jay as he traveled with this same class in spring 2014. He is applying lessons learned from that trip to make the student’s experience an even better one.

Over the course of their trip, Jay will share on this blog some of his observations, images and video from their travels. Check back often…

From Jay: To was a travel day. We landed in Bangalore and then drove to Mysore.

Documenting India: Day 3

Jay Sinnard, manager of the Student Technology Resources Center (STRC), is traveling with a UC class to provide media support as they record testimonials as part of their class project. This is a return trip for Jay as he traveled with this same class in spring 2014. He is applying lessons learned from that trip to make the student’s experience an even better one.

Over the course of their trip, Jay will share on this blog some of his observations, images and video from their travels. Check back often…

From Sarah Jernigan, a student on the trip: University of Cincinnati students met with the United Nations (UC) Women division. We learned about the history of the UN in India and the current initiatives in place for reducing human trafficking in Asia. Students also met with the president of Shakti Vahani, an NGO also working to combat human trafficking through a legal approach by assisting victims who file a law suit against traffickers.

Documenting India: Day 2

Jay Sinnard, manager of the Student Technology Resources Center (STRC), is traveling with a UC class to provide media support as they record testimonials as part of their class project. This is a return trip for Jay as he traveled with this same class in spring 2014. He is applying lessons learned from that trip to make the student’s experience an even better one.

Over the course of their trip, Jay will share on this blog some of his observations, images and video from their travels. Check back often…

From Jay: Today we visited to well known site — the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort. We also made our first trip to a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that helps women escape from human trafficking.

Documenting India: Day 1

Jay Sinnard, manager of the Student Technology Resources Center (STRC), is traveling with a UC class to provide media support as they record testimonials as part of their class project. This is a return trip for Jay as he traveled with this same class in spring 2014. He is applying lessons learned from that trip to make the student’s experience an even better one.

Over the course of their trip, Jay will share on this blog some of his observations, images and video from their travels. Check back often…

From Jay: During our first day in India, we visited the former home and final resting place of Gandhi. We also made friends with a snake and went to a Muslim mosque

Documenting India: A Layover in Paris

Jay Sinnard, manager of the Student Technology Resources Center (STRC), is traveling with a UC class to provide media support as they record testimonials as part of their class project. This is a return trip for Jay as he traveled with this same class in spring 2014. He is applying lessons learned from that trip to make the student’s experience an even better one.

Over the course of their trip, Jay will share on this blog some of his observations, images and video from their travels. Check back often…

From Jay: On our way to India, we stopped in Paris for a 28-hour layover. Tired as we were, we still made time to see the sights of Paris — and enjoy some wonderful food.

Dean’s Corner: Xiamen University- China’s Largest, Newest 21st Century Academic Library

Continued from this post, below is more about my trip to China. The first week and a half of April, I traveled throughout China to visit a few of UC’s international partners.  My travels began at Zhejiang University (ZJU) in Zhejiang, China. The second week I traveled to Xiamen where I met with colleagues at Xiamen University (XMU).

Blog-XMU

Aerial view of Xiamen University

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Countercurrent Distribution Once Again : Notes from the Oesper Collections, No. 32, May/June 2015

The circa 1949 Craig cylindrical countercurrent distribution apparatus recently donated to the Oesper Collections by Dr. Edward Bennett (Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection).

The circa 1949 Craig cylindrical countercurrent
distribution apparatus recently donated to the Oesper Collections by Dr. Edward Bennett (Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection).

Issue 32 describes the recent acquisition of an even earlier version of a Craig countercurrent distribution apparatus than the version that was described in issue 3 of 2010.

Click here for all other issues of Notes from The Oesper Collections and to explore the Jensen-Thomas Apparatus Collection.

48 Years in the Making

This post was originally published on the UC Magazine website.

UC Graduate Samuel Ochiel Obura is greeting on campus by Richard Harknett, head of UC's political science department, 48 years after Mr. Obura finished his degree requirements.  photos/Joseph Fuqua II.

UC Graduate Samuel Ochiel Obura is greeted on campus by Richard Harknett, head of UC’s political science department, 48 years after Mr. Obura finished his degree requirements. photo/Joseph Fuqua II.

UC graduate waited nearly a half century to walk in his commencement and finally receive his lost thesis.

By:  John Bach

Samuel Obura

Samuel Obura Stands during the ceremony when recognized by UC President Santa Ono. photo/Joseph Fuqua II

Samuel Ochiel Obura’s journey to today’s commencement ceremony at the University of Cincinnati took him nearly 8,000 miles and 48 years.

A native of Kenya, Obura finished his master’s degree requirements in political science at UC in 1967. But due to an upheaval at the African Students Association, which helped sponsor his education, he had to cut short his pursuit of a doctorate degree to leave campus and return to Africa or risk losing his return ticket to his wife and children in east Africa.

Obura, then 34, had already spent several years away from his young family back home to pursue his bachelor’s degree in Canada followed by his master’s at UC.

Though he would go on to a long and successful career as a government official in Kenya, Obura left Cincinnati in such a rush that he never even took his trunk full of books, or —even more disheartening — the  dissertation he had written on the “Constitutional Development in Kenya.” His thesis had been sent away for binding when he departed, so he was forced to leave it behind and would spend the next half century longing for the important document.

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‘Preserving the Past for the Future’ Exhibit Showcases work of Preservation Lab

In January of 2012, the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County (PLCH) and the University of Cincinnati Libraries (UCL) began a long-term collaboration to provide conservation and preservation treatments in an equally-managed, staffed and equipped preservation lab located in UC’s Walter C. Langsam Library.

Employees from both PLCH and UCL work on the general circulating and rare/special collections of each institution. The division of labor for all work performed by the Preservation Lab is divided evenly between UCL and PLCH and is tracked using a weighted point system.

A new exhibit, “Preserving the Past for the Future,” showcases the work done by the Preservation Lab on some rare/special items from both PLCH and UCL. Items in the exhibit range from photo albums to bridge reports to scrapbooks. The exhibit demonstrates both before and after images of the treatment done to the objects and explains the process. The exhibit was curated by Jessica Ebert, conservation technician, and designed by Amanda Jackson, communications co-op design student. The online exhibit was created by Lisa Haitz, web developer.

Below is the exhibit in its entirety. The physical exhibit is currently on display on Langsam Library’s 5th floor lobby.

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