Some Ohio State students will be attempting to improve university neighborhoods for class credit.A senior design class taught by Norman K. Booth, associate professor in landscape architecture, will spend three weeks this quarter outlining proposals on improving the use of space along the Iuka ravine. The class met for the first time last Friday at the Campus Partners office, to discuss their objectives. Each proposal the students make, will have a list of improvement goals. Areas looked at are lighting, trash disposal, diseased tree removal, the planting of new trees, drainage and a decision on whether or not to close Iuka Drive to cars, Booth said.This is the first project Booth said he’s been involved with in the Iuka Ravine area. He did take part in a graduate student program that landscaped several Indianola middle schools last spring. ‘I want to get my students involved in as many real projects as possible,’ Booth said.The boundaries of the project run East from High Street to Fourth Street and South from Northwood Avenue to 15th Avenue, Booth said. His class consists of 34 students who will be working in groups of two, he said.One student in Booth’s class expects this project to serve as a model for present and future collaborations between the university and it’s surrounding neighborhoods.’Improving education is the most important thing OSU can do for children living in these (off-campus) neighborhoods,’ said Carrie Wallace, a senior majoring in landscape architecture and president of the Student Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects. In an effort to encourage community-based teaching and research, OSU’s Office of Academic Affairs has funded a $40,000 Seed Grant Program this quarter. Campus Collaborative, which was formed by OSU to work with the outside community, coordinated the program. They took applications from various OSU professors on community-based projects in their fields.’The seed grants create an incentive for faculty to carry their work into the community,’ said Michael Casto, director of the Campus Collaboratives.Eight professors, including Booth, received seed grants this quarter. Their different areas of study include nursing, human ecology, education, architecture, pathology, and psychology, Casto said.Steve Sterrett, spokesman for Campus Partners, said this class should be an important step towards getting more OSU students and faculty involved in upgrading the safety and property values in the university district.A spokesman for the Office of Academic affairs said they will fund Campus Collaborative seed grants again for next year, and a request for proposals will be issued in the spring.