Celebrating 20 Years of Synergistic Creativity

20 Years Ago: A Drum roll, please!

Coining the phrase "Synergistic Creativity," Dean Patrick R. Dugan began an open letter to alumni in the inaugural issue of Synergy, "We seek to open a dialogue with our alumni because you occupy a central position relative to the accountability and the continued success of our college and university. We must know what we are doing well and how we can do it better as we continue our evolutionary course of change. This first issue of OSU-Synergy is a renewed thrust to strengthen the communication amongst faculty in the College of Biological Sciences, alumni, friends, and prospective employers of our future alumni...and to convey some of the fascination of the life processes that are being examined in our college. "Synergy" is a fine biological word, let us hear from you."

15 Years Ago

By 1985, Synergy had a major face lift, was professionally designed and photographed to enhance the messages of the written page.

With a distinct sense of reverse deja vu, we read the following from Dean William A. Jensen's column, "There is an excitement about biological research today that is truly astonishing. Important discoveries follow one another in increasing waves, much as was the case for nuclear physics in the 1940s and 50s. This flood of discoveries has an impact on many areas of human endeavor, not the least of which is medicine."

In 1985, we were experimenting with "theme" issues; 1985's issue devoted to health-related biological research was especially apt because "The AIDS scare" was just beginning to register on the public radar screen. It seemed appropriate to carry a section on "Specific and non-specific Immunity: Two-Part Harmony," in which we discussed the suddenly-important immune system.

10 Years Ago

Believe it or not, it was just 10 years ago, that a ubiquitous bivalve muscled its way into our consciousness, onto our cover and into our pages and became the biggest story of the year and resulted in a "sold-out" issue of Synergy. Requests came from all over the country for reprints, copies of the magazine and permission to use one of the most popular photos ever shot for a university magazine: a pair of reading glasses covered with zebra mussels taken by photographer Lloyd Lemmerman on site at Lake Erie. The cover story, a four-part feature, examined the impact of invasive species on lakes and rivers and presented late-breaking information on the research initiatives under way.

5 Years Ago

Most of this issue celebrated "Connecting to the 21st Century" with the dedication and opening of the Vern Riffe Research Building. The completion of this eagerly-awaited structure was celebrated in style, with joy. It began as the shared dream of two deans: Patrick Dugan in Biological Sciences and Albert Soloway in Pharmacy, who felt that a building connecting the two colleges that each could share equally would be a splendid solution to their growing-or shrinking-space problem. It went from the dream to the planning stages with input from faculty researchers from both colleges, was put on hold, revived, refined, and finally built.

And we tried out a new tabloid format-for just two issues-then returned in 1997-98 with a redesigned magazine format