The Miami Student | February 16, 2023

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2023

Miami University’s new health building will provide hands-on learning across disciplines ALICE MOMANY

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR

SEAN SCOTT

CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR Kaylin Loncar is used to being in the basement.

Each semester, the sophomore speech pathology and audiology major has at least one class in a windowless room on the lowest floor of Bachelor Hall, home of Miami University’s speech pathology and audiology department.

“It’s just all the way at the bottom,” Loncar said. “It’s very dark, very gloomy. We never have windows.”

Not that it’s not nice, she said, you could have a worse classroom. But she’s ready for a change of scenery, and maybe some natural light.

Luckily, next year, both the department and the Speech and Hearing Clinic will move above ground and across campus to the university’s new Clinical Health and Wellness Building.

A space for collaboration The new building, which sits just south of Nellie Craig Walker Hall near the Rec, will bring together Miami’s clinical and academic health departments and services.

In addition to the speech pathology department and clinic, the new building will be the new home for Miami’s Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) program and its new Master of Medical Science Physician Associate (PA) Studies program launching next year. Miami’s clinical health departments, including Student Health Services (SHS) and the Student Counseling Service (SCS), will also move to the building next fall, as well as the Office of Student Wellness.

Steve Large, Miami’s assistant vice president for Student Life Health and Wellness, is excited about the prospect of clinical and academic branches working together. “[The building] will hopefully provide some opportunity for partnership and programming,” Large said.

“And particularly, I wonder about how the students within those academic departments might make use of the services themselves … Those are some pretty demanding fields of study, and I imagine those students could experience stress or might have a need to engage in the services themselves.”

The building is designed as three separate wings connected by a central

“ribbon,” Large said. The ribbon connects the academic, clinical and office wings together and offers natural light and a shared space for everyone.

“The building is all about collaboration, and the design of the building reflects that,” Large said. “The whole point is for people and disciplines to encounter each other.”

Speech pathology and audiology program moves out of the basement Speech pathology and audiology majors already have plenty of experience encountering the Speech and Hearing Clinic. In the basement of Bachelor, Loncar said they have to go through the clinic to get to the bathroom, and she can hear kids through the walls having speech therapy sessions during class.

“I kind of like it because I can always hear speech therapy stuff going on,” Loncar said. “I’ll hear kids talking which is kind of cool, but it’s kind of hard when you’re in class [trying] to focus and you hear a kid in the hallway.”

The new building will put some space between the classrooms and the clinic, and Loncar is hoping for more room within the clinic itself as well. Right now space is tight, and she has to compete with parents and other students to get her 24 hours of speech therapy observation in before graduation.

Maddie Webber, a sophomore speech pathology and audiology and pre-med double major, is hoping the new building will be more accessible for the clinic’s patients.

“Our sound booths, they’re very small,” Webber said. “If we did have a patient in a wheelchair, we wouldn’t really be able to get them inside the booth all the way … My biggest hope for the new building is at least one bigger booth so that we can be accommodating.”

Interim Department Chair Donna Scarborough said the department has been involved with the building’s planning from the beginning. The clinic is moving to the third floor, she said, and will have more space to offer additional services.

While both the speech pathology department and clinic are next to each other already, Scarborough said she’s excited to work with other academic departments in the new space.

“I’m hopeful … that we will be able to have some more spontaneous collaboration than we do right now,” Scarborough said. “Right now, everything has to be planned and exact, like every collaboration that we have

THE NEW BUILDING WILL BE HOME TO THREE ACADEMIC DEPARTMENTS, THREE HEALTH SERVICES AND THE OFFICE OF STUDENT WELLNESS. PHOTO BY JAKE RUFFER

… but by being in the same space or shared space. I’m hoping that we can grow in ways that we don’t even know yet.”

Nursing program gets consolidated The university’s nursing program will also be relocating into the new building.

The program, which was re-established on the Oxford campus in 2018, is outgrowing its space in Pearson Hall. Stephanie Nicely, interim chair of the nursing department, said the Oxford campus received over 2,000 nursing applications for the fall 2023 semester.

“When we started the Oxford cohort, we were admitting 80 students,” Nicely said. “We upped that this last academic year and ended up with like 125 [students], and this upcoming academic year, our target is between 140 and 144 [students].”

In Pearson, students have access to a fully operational nursing resource center, which is a replicated patient room with hospital beds and IV equipment, and two simulation centers, which imitate nursing care settings. Those resources will move to the new Clinical Health and Wellness Building with the addition of five more simulation labs, an anatomy lab, a cadaver lab and an innovation lab, where students can learn from live-streamed surgeries at hospitals off-campus.

Jenna Parry, a junior nursing student at the Oxford campus, was excited when she found out about the new building.

“I think it’s going to be nice to have our space consolidated and have a space to ourselves because we’re so spread around campus right now,” Parry said.

Although Parry has had labs in Pearson, she has also had classes in Boyd Hall, Laws Hall and other miscellaneous buildings on campus. Parry said the two simulation classrooms aren’t practical for the department’s size, and she hopes the new space will help the program continue to expand.

“My cohort accepted 80 [students], and it grows each year,” Parry said. “I think having more space will allow for more students and growth overall.”

Physician associate program is introduced A new academic program is coming along with the new building: Miami’s 27-month PA program.

Dr. David DeLaet, a Miami alumnus and assistant medical director for the new program, said they’re welcoming an initial cohort of 20 students this summer. Unlike the other academic programs that the building will house, the PA program will call the Clinical Health and Wellness Building its first home.

“To have a physical space like this, the Clinical Health and Well-

ness Center that we’re going to have is quite unique … Our students will be able to not only be in the classroom and have a number of laboratories, to work on technical skills, but also diagnostic skills,” DeLaet said.

Among the resources for students will be Anatomage tables which let students virtually explore three-dimensional renderings of bodies rather than working on cadavers. The building will also have labs that simulate hands-on clinical experiences and places to practice skills like suturing and collecting blood samples.

PA students won’t, however, be providing care in the clinical areas of the building, which DeLaet said would be a conflict of interest. They will, however, have plenty of opportunities to work with students in the other academic programs. “[The shared space] certainly will afford us the opportunity for our students … to learn ways in which we can collaborate across the departments, to one, not only enhance academic learning, but two, demonstrate to the students the collaborative spirit of working in healthcare,” DeLaet said.

The building will open in May with the PA program moving in soon after. All other programs will follow

by August. momanyaj@miamioh.edu scottsr2@miamioh.edu

Miami has a budget Student gambling: Growth in the light and dark problem: what does

GRAPHIC BY LUKE MACY

CONTINUED FROM FRONT sports communication and media major said all it takes to get in on underground betting is an entry fee.

“Basically, you just need to know someone or have a friend that knows someone that has a server or site,” the junior said. “Obviously, it’s not ideal.

Sometimes there’s situations where you could be on a bad book where you don’t get to put your money in or don’t get your money back quickly.”

The 20-year-old junior started sports betting three years ago while in high school. But he’s not the longest-tenured bettor he knows.

“I know a guy that’s been gambling since he was 13,” he said, “which is just ridiculous, obviously.”

This long-term betting does not come without its worrying points. According to the Mayo Clinic, “gambling can stimulate the brain’s reward system much like drugs or alcohol can, leading to addiction.”

Addiction can sneak up on bettors without warning. The simple joy of cashing a bet can become something they yearn for. The serotonin release that comes from successfully hitting a bet, big or small, is the hook connected to the habit.

“That’s the problem with gambling,” the junior said. “We get addicted to the feeling of that kind of a win, and you just bet on table tennis or esports or anything because you just want to try to have a win.”

This bettor combats addiction by taking breaks that last weeks or months at a time. Having this self-control has allowed him to continue betting. But he doesn’t recommend sports betting to anyone look-

ing to pick it up.

“Don’t,” he said. “That’s what I tell people. Only 1% truly win.”

The data behind sports betting The idea of sitting down to watch a game you have money on is invigorating to some, but casinos and bookmakers ultimately control the numbers with revenue in mind.

The first return comes from the vigorish or vig. This is the fee that betting companies take off the top from every wager placed for using their platform. The vig varies from bet to bet because of the odds put in place.

With this vig, a bettor has to win more than 50% of their bets to truly break even.

Robert Davis, an associate professor in the statistics department and a member of the Institute for Responsible Gaming, Lotteries, and Sport, understands the vig and how bettors have to overcome it.

“Basically, you’ve got to be able to bet at a 55% win rate to make up for the point that they scoop off the top as soon as you make the bet,” Davis said. “Of the dollar that you bet, 90 cents could be being bet and the other 10 cents is going to the bookmaker.”

Betting isn’t a straightforward number game because bookmakers give themselves space for their gain.

The spread, or set amount a team is predicted to win by for a given game, is not guaranteed, it is the most likely outcome. The spread is set to try to split voters down the middle. If this plan prevails, the bookmaker will get the money from the losing side, along with the vig from the winners.

“If they can get 50/50 on each side

of the line, then the losers are going to pay off the winners plus they’re going to skim their part off the top, and that’s why the spreads will move,” Davis said.

Moving the spread allows bookmakers to see where the middle of the betting public is. The spread can change anytime before the game in question. This allows people to change their minds or bet when they didn’t want to before.

“That’s why you’ll see Cincinnati is favored by seven, but then too much money comes in on the underdog,” Davis said. “And then I’ll move the points down to six.”

A different kind of betting The Newgate Arena Poker Club is the home of self-determination betting in Oxford. The business is classified as a poker club, which differs from a casino by excluding the “house” from playing. This makes the games fully player-decided.

One anonymous sophomore digital commerce major said the club has a full table every night.

“There’s easily 10 people a night, which is a full table,” the sophomore said. “It’s pretty much all regulars.

I’d say 75% Miami students and 25% locals.”

The digital commerce major sees poker as more than just a game. Newgate allows him to enjoy the pastime around a table while gaining something for himself, he said.

“I’ve made more money playing poker than I’ve made doing anything else ever in my life,” the sophomore said. “If you always play a certain way, then you will generally be profitable.”

The specific playing style that he is talking about is related to game theory optimal (GTO). GTO is a specific strategic playing style that focuses on the expected outcome of games and options related to risk. GTO does not take the psychological factor of poker into account.

This style is not counting cards.

It is simply when to and when not to play your cards or bet higher.

“The problem most players have is just discipline,” the sophomore said. “Really you control every single dollar that you can win or lose.” turmankd@miamioh.edu

that mean?

CONTINUED FROM FRONT Miami was $800,” Creamer said. “This fall for the incoming class, over $17,400.”

This year, Ohio’s legislation is discussing its allocation of funds to universities. Creamer isn’t hopeful the state will provide more funding.

“The strategic planning at the state has been pretty absent,” Creamer said. “This is the year that we do the budget … I expect it’s going to be a tough year.”

The university’s solution In the short-term, Creamer said Miami will pull funds from its reserves. This upcoming fiscal year, the provost plans to pull $16 million, but in the next few years, Creamer has estimated the provost may need to pull another $25 million from the reserves.

“It’s really important that we see that return in revenue because right now we’re overspending,” Mullenix said.

Concerns were also raised about Miami hiring more professors to help with increases in healthcare and emerging technologies programs. Professors worried the increase in pay for those professors would continue to offset the budget.

Mullenix said some increases have already been taken into ac-

count. She also said she would look over which programs need to be sunset, or eliminated, to help balance the budget.

Creamer emphasized Mullenix’s role in Miami’s financial decisions.

“The provost has got the difficult job now of seeing if the goals that were set were achieved now,” Creamer said.

In an email to The Miami Student, Creamer also said some of these problems would go away as soon as the two pandemic classes (Class of 2023 and 2024) graduate and new classes enroll at Miami.

Creamer wrote that during the pandemic, the two remaining pandemic-era classes were given more university scholarships to assist students and their families.

“The current budget plan assumes this will be sufficient to avoid the need for future budget cuts,” Creamer wrote. “Obviously, the budget plan will be updated each year to reflect the actual budget situation.”

The full presentation can be obtained from the Office of the Provost. @abby_bammerlin bammeraj@miamioh.edu @lukejmacy macylj@miamioh.edu

PROVOST LIZ MULLENIX AND TREASURER DAVID CREAMER PRESENT MIAMI WITH A REVIEW OF ITS FINANCES AT THE BUDGET SYMPOSIUM. PHOTO BY LUKE MACY