Ohio State is in the process of revising websites and program materials to accurately reflect compliance with the law. While this work occurs, language referencing protected class status or other activities prohibited by Ohio Senate Bill 1 may still appear in some places. However, all programs and activities are being administered in compliance with federal and state law.

From the CHRR Director’s Desk Issue #45

January 20, 2026

From the CHRR Director’s Desk Issue #45

M.L.K. Day of Service

By Stephen M. Gavazzi, Ph.D.

The Latest News, Views, and Announcements

MLK Day Celebration

This newsletter is being released one day later than usual because of our university’s celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. As many of you know, the annual MLK Jr. Day of Service that is organized by our university took place yesterday. For the second year in a row, a bright spotlight has been cast on Pay It Forward, the student cohort within the Office of Student Life that honored MLK Jr. by giving back and engaging in a morning of community service.

What’s New at CHRR

Charlene Stainfield

I am pleased to announce that Charlene Stainfield has joined CHRR as a Graduate Research Assistant and will be providing us with 10 hours of work per week throughout Spring Semester 2026. Charlene, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at Ohio State, brings an extensive background in survey methodology. Her dissertation, “Evolving Dynamics in Public Opinion,” utilizes survey data to investigate poll distrust across demographic and attitudinal measures, examines partisan participation in over a decade of panel data, and explores the impact of AI corrections on election skeptics in an online survey experiment. After earning her B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Florida and serving as the Senior Research Associate at their Public Opinion Research Lab (PORL), Charlene earned her M.A. from OSU with a specialization in survey research. She is deeply excited about the opportunity and, in her own words, Charlene “looks forward to leveraging cutting-edge research to advance the power of surveying as a tool and continue the vital work of capturing the public’s attitudes, opinions, and behaviors.”

Please join me in welcoming Charlene to CHRR!

Susan Yoon

I am also pleased to announce CHRR’s new research partnership with Susan Yoon, an Associate Professor in Ohio State’s College of Social work, on a new R01 study that examines the role of parental activity spaces and social networks in improving family resilience in rural communities. The project, known officially as “Reducing parental substance use, improving child health outcomes, and enhancing family resilience among rural families through Ohio START (Sobriety, Treatment, and Reducing Trauma),” has been funded by the NIH National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

Professor Yoon and her team will examine how a family-centered intervention model known as Ohio START may lead to improved child and family health outcomes by altering parental spatial and social environments for low-income rural families in the child welfare system. This study will guide enhancements to family-level interventions by addressing risks and supports in parents’ activity spaces and social networks to strengthen resilience and prevent maltreatment in rural communities. In the words of Dr. Yoon, “This project is deeply interdisciplinary and community-driven. I’m excited to work with outstanding researchers, community partners, and CHRR to promote child well-being and strengthen family resilience in rural Ohio.” Other investigators include Joyce Lee, Gia Barboza-Salerno, Elinam Dellor, Tom Gregoire, Alicia Bunger, and Chris Browning at Ohio State and Kathryn Maguire-Jack at the University of Michigan.

CHRR’s Leadership Team

Quarterly Check-In (QCI) meetings are occurring throughout this month. As a reminder, these QCIs are meant to be informal but critical times for team members to focus on progress, development, and alignment toward individual employee, program team, and center-wide goals. Considering recent organizational changes, these check-ins also can and should serve as a valuable space to share perspectives, strengthen connections, and support one another as we continue moving forward together.

CHRR Team Member Celebrations

"Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." -Vince Lombardi

This month we are observing the work anniversaries of five valued employees:

  • Xiaohong Angerer, 24 years of service to CHRR.
  • Frank Marino, 31 years of service to CHRR.
  • Mary Persons, 19 years of service to CHRR.
  • Laura Rusnak, 9 years of service to CHRR.
  • Jacob Ruth, 8 years of service to CHRR.

That’s a total of 91 years of service to our center (and an average of over 18 years). Thank you for your commitment to the CHRR mission!

Things You Might Want to Know

Second RADAR Article Published by the University Design Institute

Silhouette of U.S. Capitol building with green glow behind and a green radar signal around thebuilding

I recently co-authored a second article with Ohio State University President Emeritus Gordon Gee and Arizona State University’s David Rosowsky (last month’s newsletter mentioned the first article). This article is titled “Restoring Trust: Continuous Listening and the Civic Mission of Universities” and can be viewed on the University Design Institute website.

From this article: “Public trust is uneven across what universities do. Trust remains highest when people think about the core promise of a good education, with roughly six in ten respondents expressing “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust on that dimension. Trust is lowest around the idea that teaching is free of political bias, where fewer than half of the respondents express high trust. In between sit trust in research (“accurate and unbiased”) and trust that universities prepare good citizens. The takeaway from these results: the public distinguishes between different roles universities play, and their confidence varies accordingly.”

New Series Offered by Ohio State College of Arts & Sciences

Land-Grant YOU-niversities: a 3 part virtual series

I have been asked to provide leadership for a three-part series being offered by our College of Arts & Sciences in celebration of this unit’s 15th year anniversary. The first session took place this past Thursday (1/15/26) and was titled “The Seasons Pass: Historical Perspectives on Ohio State’s Land-Grant Mission.” I was joined by Scott Levi, Department Chair of History here at Ohio State. Part 2 (with OSU president emeritus Gordon Gee) will take place on 1/29/26 and is titled How Firm Thy Friendship, Here and Now while Part 3 (with OSU History professor and futurist David Staley) takes place on 2/10/26 and is titled Time and Change, Looking into the Future.