By Bill Kimok, University Archivist
Along with other additions to the Ohio University Archives during the past several months, the Ohio University Archives has received, officially processed, and made immediately available to researchers, two significant collections that will be useful for researchers of OHIO academic history.
Ohio University Institute for the Empirical Study of Language Records
The first collection, donated to the Archives by Ohio University Associate Professor Emeritus of Psychology Danny Moates, contains historical materials documenting the origin and 25-year evolution of Ohio University’s Institute for the Empirical Study of Language (IESL). The IESL was introduced by Ohio University Professor Emeritus of Linguistics Zinny Bond and Professor Moates during the 1990s with the stated mission being “to enhance research on the processes of perception, production, and acquisition of language.”
As Dr, Moates, A.B. (1959) Harvard University, M.A. (1966) Vanderbilt University, and Ph.D. (1968) Vanderbilt University, relates the story of the Institute:
“Zinny Bond, Professor Emerita of Linguistics, and Danny Moates, Associate Professor of Psychology noted that faculty who were doing research on language were thinly spread at Ohio University and pulled together a working group to develop a proposal to bring them together for collaborative research under the umbrella of an institute. The OU Board of Trustees approved the proposal in February 1996. . .
We had billed ourselves as a cross-disciplinary research institute. How do you do cross-disciplinary research? First, you do a lot of listening. Each member was a specialist in a different area of language use, and had to educate others about that area in order to work collaboratively. It was a steep learning curve, and we will probably never be finished. But it has been productive because it enabled our members to engage in research together which they would have never attempted alone.
We met regularly to discuss common interests and encouraged any subset of members to develop a research project on their own. As our numbers grew, we developed an associate director for training and another for communication. We also elected a treasurer. In the training area, we developed a certificate program for undergraduates that involved them in three separate research projects to enhance their research experience, then had them do a thesis to top that off. We later developed a similar certificate for graduate students.
In 2021 we celebrated our 25th anniversary. Among our speakers was Joe Shields, Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate College and the person to whom we reported administratively. In his talk, Joe commented that IESL was one of the largest institutes and one of the longest lasting in his memory. We felt encouraged to continue our work.”
The collection is now available for our visitors to examine.
University College Collection, 1994-2012
A second historical collection which was transferred to the University Archives from the dean’s office of Ohio University’s University College (UC) in winter 2022-2023, was also recently processed by the University Archives. This collection represents and documents much of the administrative detail of Ohio University’s University, including strategic academic planning, the college’s place in the broader scheme of Ohio University academic curricular life and plans, and college budget and personnel information during a nearly 30-year span from 1994-2012.
