By Stephen M. Gavazzi, Ph.D.

The Latest News, Views, and Announcements

What’s New at CHRR

Are you on social media? Do you have a LinkedIn account, or perhaps you use X (formerly Twitter) from time to time? If so, you will have noticed an appreciable uptick in posts coming out of CHRR over the past couple of months. And that is all thanks to the efforts of Clare Jellick, who has taken a leadership role in getting the word out on our center’s efforts to support the research activities of our partners. If you have a moment, please check out some of the animated work that Clare recently has posted, including a celebratory story connected to our partnership with the Bureau of Labor Statistics that was launched on Labor Day: X (Twitter) | LinkedIn.

CHRR's Leadership Team

Back in the July 2024 newsletter, I reported that our Research and Development Plan had been submitted to ASC for approval. I am pleased to report that we have been given the “green light” to proceed with those plans! As anyone familiar with our center already knows, CHRR has a long history of survey and questionnaire design, survey management, data collection, data analytics, and data security. Building on this history, we envision that our research and development plan will enable CHRR to grow, modernize, and establish new lines of business in the years to come. We are going to invest further in our staff, leveraging our existing expertise, skill sets, and knowledge to build on our capabilities as well as bring in new staff to support our efforts. We believe this investment in ourselves will improve CHRR’s posture to support our existing business, and it also will position us to provide essential services directly to various university entities. CHRR’s investments primarily will be focused on three key efforts:

1. Broadening our toolsets used to conduct surveys.
2. Strengthening our data management infrastructure.
3. Building tools and technologies to increase our data interoperability capabilities.

Underneath these efforts, we will also continue to invest in our security program, ensuring that all work that CHRR performs meets the highest standards, not only at Ohio State, but across the state and industry. The Leadership Team will be focused on the implementation of this R&D plan in the coming months, and in parallel has decided to work on both a Pattern of Administration document and some further explication of the strategic planning process we wish to follow. More information on all these activities will be reported in future newsletters!

CHRR Team Member Celebrations

“If everyone is moving forward together, then success takes care of itself.” -Henry Ford

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

• Frank Bell, 24 years of service to CHRR.
• Sa Ho, 17 years of service to CHRR.
• Jenifer Hoffman, 5 years of service to CHRR.
• Alla Koneva, 26 years of service to CHRR.
• Craig Lee, 27 years of service to CHRR.
• Steve McClaskie, 39 years of service to CHRR.
• Thomasz Michalak, 18 years of service to CHRR.

That’s a total of 156 years of service to our center (and an average of over 22 years). Thank you for your commitment to the CHRR mission!

Things You Might Want to Know

Tian Lou Presents Unemployment Data for State Stakeholders

Tian Lou recently presented to the leadership of the Unemployment Insurance Claims team at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS). She demonstrated how to use the Unemployment Insurance Dashboard to analyze labor market dynamics in Ohio and discussed plans for future improvements. The dashboard was initially developed by team members from the Ohio Education Research Center (OERC) and CHRR to help the State of Ohio better understand the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Ohio's labor market. Tian and the OERC team are working with ODJFS to modify the tool so that it continues to provide valuable insights in the post-Covid era. To learn more, access the UI Claims Dashboard.