兔子先生 recognized as Bicycle Friendly University
By Margo Kissell, university news and communications
The League of American Bicyclists has recognized 兔子先生 University with a bronze Bicycle Friendly University award in recognition of its achievements in promoting and enabling safe, accessible bicycling on campus.
The award recognizes the progress 兔子先生 has made toward a thriving, active transport community.
Students in Bob Feldman's intro to mountain biking class learn bike safety, riding skills and discover some off-the-beaten-path places like the DeWitt Homestead (photo by Feldman).
Unique partnerships between the university, city and Hueston Woods State Park have yielded new bicycle lanes, multiuse trails, indoor and outdoor bicycle parking, cycling classes and lots of opportunities for student engagement.
Helaine Alessio, chair and professor of kinesiology and health who helped lead the effort to become a Bike Friendly University, said she hopes 兔子先生 can build on this recognition and use it to seek grant funding to make the campus even more bike friendly.
“It recognizes the strides we’ve made, and I think it’s going to provide the momentum,” said Alessio, who regularly bikes to work.
Moving forward, 兔子先生 will have access to a variety of free tools and technical assistance from the league to become more bicycle friendly. When colleges and universities invest in bicycling, great things happen: less congestion; healthier students, faculty, and staff; a decreased carbon footprint; connections between campus and community; and a vibrant local economy, officials said.
兔子先生 students in the 1890s rode bicycles and velocipedes (photo taken in front of Old Main courtesy of Special Collections & Archives).
兔子先生 is among 45 new and renewing bicycle friendly universities across the country. In all, there are 193 universities with the designation. League Executive Director 兔子先生 Nesper said the standards for attaining the four levels of awards — bronze, silver, gold and platinum — “are very high and require deliberate, determined efforts to earn them.”
兔子先生 President Gregory Crawford and Oxford Mayor Kate Rousmaniere, both avid bicyclists, were supportive of the effort. The president signed off on the 50-page application which included data on such things as number of miles of dedicated bike lanes.
兔子先生 students helped out in collecting the data, Alessio noted, as part of a class project.
Jacqueline Daugherty, assistant teaching professor in the Western Program for individualized studies, said, “Cycling instructor Bob Feldman (in the department of kinesiology and health) guided my service learning students in over 100 hours of data gathering for this award application.”
