OHIO NORTHERN UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY COUNCIL MINUTES
Minutes, February 16, 2016
Roll: (Absentees Underlined) President Daniel DiBiaisio, VP David Crago, VP William Ballard,
VP Shannon Spencer, VP William Eilola, VP Adriane Thompson-Bradshaw, Dean Catherine
Albrecht, Dean Eric Baumgartner, Dean Steve Martin, Dean James Fenton, Dean Richard Bales,
Rev. David MacDonald, Dr. Alisa Agozzino, Dr. Khalid Al-Olimat, Dr. Joseph Blankson, Dr.
Bryan Boulanger, Dr. Joanne Brant, Dr. Tevye Celius, Dr. Mark Cruea, Dr. Natalie DiPietro,
Prof. Melissa Eddings, Dr. Kami Fox, Ms. Gina Grandillo, Dr. Dong Hyun Kim, Prof. Kelly
Kobiela, Dr. Kristen Sobota, Dr. Heath LeBlanc, Dr. Jed Marquart, Dr. Michelle Musser, Dr.
Erica Neely, Dr. Lauren Newell, Dr. Ed Potkanowicz, Prof. David Savino, Dr. Shane Tilton
Melissa Eddings, Chair of Council, called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. in Dicke Room 230.
Erica Neely was ill and unable to attend the meeting. Julie Hurtig volunteered to take minutes.
I.
Minutes of January 19, 2016 meeting were approved
II.
Reports from Constitutional Committees (submitted reports are attached)
a. Budget & Appropriations: Bill Ballard stated the B&A committee has been
meeting intermittently. The focus right now is preparing the budget for 2016-17.
b. Academic Affairs: Kelly Kobiela indicated there are two items under new
business and the committee has almost finalized Appendix 5, which deals with
adding and deleting a program plus regular program reviews. It is anticipated that
Appendix 5 and revisions to the general education program will be coming to
Council at the March meeting.
c. Student Activities: Heath LeBlanc reported that Student Senate approved several
new student groups on Feb. 3. These groups will be considered for final approval
at the next committee meeting.
d. Personnel: Joanne Brandt summarized the activities of this committee. The group
is meeting weekly and is finalizing its salary request to send to B&A for
consideration in the 2016-17 fiscal year. This group continues to work on Faculty
Handbook sections 2.8 and 2.9 as well Appendices 17 and 18.
III.
Reports from Operational Committees
a. Athletics: David Crago reported that the winter sports are concluding. An
exciting achievement for ONU athletics is the ranking of the women’s basketball
team. The team is ranked in the Top 10 by d3hoops and is ranked in the Top 12
by USA Today. ONU is looking forward to its first men’s and women’s lacrosse
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inaugural matches on Feb. 27 (a double-header out at the stadium). Come out and
support the teams!
b. Information Technology: Julie Hurtig stated that the WiFi antennas in McIntosh
have been improved and students have noticed an improvement in service in that
building.
c. Cultural & Special Events: Melissa Eddings stated there is no report.
d. International Affairs: Adriane Thompson-Bradshaw indicated there is no report.
e. Religious Affairs: David MacDonald thanked all who helped with the Pack Away
Hunger event in January. Over 150 volunteers packed 41,051 meals. Our goal was
40,0051 to beat Baldwin Wallace.
Vocation mini-grant applications are due March 7. Faculty and staff are
encouraged to submit projects that are interdisciplinary in some way, across
colleges, department, or divisions. Please don’t feel you need all details flushed
out in order to apply. The committee is willing to work with the new initiatives to
flush out details.
f. General Education: Julie has met with the five A&S faculty divisions and the
College of Engineering faculty to gather opinions about proposed gen ed
revisions. She is scheduling a meeting with the business faculty in the near
future. The revisions focus on building a tighter direct correspondence between
the learning outcome and the course subject matter. Under this proposed system,
courses would carry one tag at most and align logically with our catalog subject
codes. The gen ed committee will send a revision to the Academic Affairs
committee in March with the intent of having it before Council at its next
meeting. Julie is scheduled to attend the next A&S College meeting March 22 to
further discuss gen ed, which is held the same day of the next Council meeting.
IV.
Other Reports
a. Vice Presidents
i. Academic Affairs: David Crago reported that the renovation plan for the
first floor of Heterick continues to move along. Kathleen Baril and those
on the committee are very excited about this initiative moving forward.
The Office of Academic Affairs is currently working on filling
approximately 30 open positions for Fall 2016, which means there are
about 100-120 interviews on campus in the next few months. There have
been very strong candidates thus far with most positions.
A question was asked regarding the library and how the summer
renovation construction will impact the ability of the library to remain
open. The library will remain open on the second and third floors, with
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likely closure of the first floor areas except access points to the second
floor. A temporary circulation desk will be on the second floor.
ii. Financial Affairs: Bill Ballard reported that his staff has been reviewing
the current fiscal year projections and that it appears there is a gap opening
up on net tuition revenue due to attrition in enrollment in spring semester.
More information will be coming in as the January books close next week.
Bill and his staff are working on the 2016-17 budget.
A new software product called Prophix has been purchased by ONU to
help create an integrated budget reporting system. The software is
installed and initial training is complete. The complete implementation of
this tool on campus will take some months to rollout.
Bill announced that the controller’s office has hired a second accounting
supervisor with higher education experience. He welcomed Carol Slisher
to ONU and is pleased to have her fill this important role.
Part of the campus master plan includes an energy conservation plan.
ONU has worked with vendors to anticipate the various costs for
implementing some of these measures (includes replacing old boilers with
newer, more efficient units and improving the control of various HVAC
and lighting systems). An initial report was presented to the Board of
Trustees in January and ONU has been tasked to further explore financing
possibilities for these improvements and the return on investment of such
actions.
iii. University Advancement: Shannon Spencer announced that the annual
Founders Day (giving day) challenge is April 6. Campaign breakfasts have
begun for faculty and staff. There are several alumni spring events
scheduled in the first week of March in Florida. With regards to the
engineering campaign, ONU is moving through the quiet phase until we
get to the $10M goal. We currently have about $6.5 M received.
Amy Prigge reported that Communications and Marketing has prepared
orange brochures for faculty and staff to help them communicate the ONU
brand to our various audiences. Look for these in your campus mailbox.
The brochure is a handy reference and has additional prospective student
visit info on the back. The various branding templates (letters, Powerpoint,
emails, etc.) should be ready after spring break. Academic sell sheets that
are used in the enrollment process with families are being updated for the
2016-17 year. Communications and Marketing staff will connect with the
department chairs to gather the sell sheet info updates prior to May.
iv. Admissions and Financial Aid: Bill Eilola updated the Council with the
admissions stats as of Feb. 12. Applications year to date are up by 740.
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Minority applications year to date are up 440. Enrollment deposits are 164
(with 48 of these from pharmacy), compared to 128 a year ago (with 7 in
pharmacy). Efforts to monitor and increase these deposits are ongoing,
including yield activities such as: email campaigns, direct mailings, the
Dicke scholarship luncheon, the Mathile scholarship, and the Orange &
Black acceptance day.
Financial aid packaging begins testing with Ruffalo Noel-Levitz this
week, with financial aid awards go out in the beginning of March. By midMarch there will be a good sense of student response.
There has been good support from business faculty calling applied and
accepted business students to deposit. Another round of calls is going on
next week from currently enrolled pharmacy students to prospective
students. On Feb. 15 (President’s Day), ONU had 50 families visit
campus. The Admissions Office is grateful to all who supported this large
effort, from parking to academic meetings.
v. Student Affairs: Adriane Thompson-Bradshaw said that in addition to her
report in the agenda, she had a few other items to report. The Debow
Freed Award committee is seeking nominations for this student leader
recognition award (that is accompanied by a cash award). Nominations are
due March 9.
ONU has begun a search for the director of career services. Kristie
Payment chairs this search committee.
On Feb. 19 at 7 pm, the Black Student Union is holding a Black History
month program that will be a combination of three traditional events
(Fashion Show, Kuumba Festival, and Poetry Slam) into one. Come out
and support the Kuumba Fashion Slam.
b. Deans
i. Arts & Sciences: Dean Albrecht presented a full list of music and theatre
events scheduled prior to Spring Break. The play Picnic begins Feb. 18
and runs through Feb. 21. The ONU symphony orchestra will report on
Feb. 21 at 5 p.m. and the wind ensemble will perform next Thursday on
Feb. 26. As part of the continuing collaboration with Salford University in
England, professional actor Malcolm Read is on campus again to share his
expertise of teaching acting for the camera.
On Thursday March 10 at 7:30 p.m., there will be an inaugural
performance of the African dance and drum ensemble (led by Dr. Waters
and Prof. Ben Ayettey, ONU’s 2015-16 Fulbright scholar visitor).
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The annual Keiser lecture will be held March 14 with Dr. James Estes, a
marine ecologist and mammologist who has spent much of his career
researching which sea otter populations influence community dynamics
within coastal systems.
The student research colloquium is scheduled for Friday April 22.
Applications can be turned in now and all are encouraged to participate.
ii. Engineering: Eric Baumgarter announced that in addition to the report
submitted with the agenda, next week is National Engineers Week. This
national celebration started 65 years ago, and the theme this year is
“Engineers make a world of difference”. The ONU kick off is Monday
evening with the annual Spotts lecture and distinguished alumni award
celebration.
iii. Pharmacy: Natalie DiPietro reported that the college received its letter
from ACPE that provides full accreditation for the next 8 years.
iv. Business Administration: No report.
v. Law: Lauren Newell stated the Center for Democratic Governance and
Rule of Law welcomed 10 new Afghan lawyers to campus. These lawyers
will be at ONU for the next 16 months as part of a $2.9M grant from the
Department of State.
ONU Law’s Jessup team, coached by Brian Anderson, is runner-up in the
US Midwest Regional Jessup Competition. The team will advance to the
final round of the competition, held in Washington DC. This competition
represents over 550 law schools from more than 80 countries.
Lauren is soliciting nominations for the College of Law’s annual pro
bono/public interest award.
c. Student Senate: Adriane Thompson-Bradshaw reported on behalf of Gina
Grandillo. A printed Student Senate newsletter is available on the table on your
way out. Elections are currently underway for the president and vice-president of
Student Senate. Tonight Senate is sponsoring an off-campus polling station at
Beagle with free wings. Note this is a non-alcoholic event.
d. Health Services Advisory Committee: Bill Ballard indicated the committee met
on Feb. 2. They have finalized the healthy campus program for this year. The
group also reviewed the medical trust plan, which is financially stronger than it
has been but it still needs to grow more. The committee is discussing ideas to help
make the healthy campus wellness program more vibrant, with increased
participation and better outcomes.
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V.
Chair/Faculty Comments: None.
VI.
President Comments/Questions: The Board of Trustees met for two days in late
January. Annually at this meeting, action is taken on promotion and tenure. This year,
11 tenure applications were approved and 12 promotion applications were approved.
Additionally, seven faculty members were granted sabbaticals in 2016-17 and eight
were granted emeritus status. The Board also approved the honorary degree recipients
previously approved by the faculty in December. To provide the Board with
continuing education about ONU’s programs and strengths, three students presented
their high-impact experiences in study abroad, research, and internship. On Friday
evening, three faculty members and Dean Martin presented their research/grant
activities programs to the Board. Another action item in January was the approval of
a document of expectations to assist with the board recruitment activities. The
document outlines expectations of attendance, philanthropy, and Board
responsibilities.
The president summarized the progress of two of our leadership position searches.
Four provost finalists were interviewed in the past two weeks. The president met with
the search committee and is close to concluding that process. The search for the next
dean of business is in the candidate generation phase with about 20 qualified
candidates thus far.
ONU is in its 10th year of food service contract with Sodexo. As part of the contract
renewal discussions, which ONU desires to renew, ONU has asked what services can
Sodexo offer to invest in our campus student services. Sodexo has committed north of
$3M over 3 years to help us improve the McIntosh Center White Bear and Dining
Hall facilities and to retrofit some type of eating establishment in NOM.
The US Department of Education scorecard continues to receive attention from the
media. The Plain Dealer last week ran a story on Ohio higher education with regards
to one column from that scorecard. The 10-year after graduation predicted salaries of
alums from both public and private institutions were featured. ONU was listed
second, just behind Case Western.
Lacrosse players scrimmaged on Saturday Feb. 13 in those frigid temperatures. Please
come out and support their matches later this month.
VII.
Unfinished Business: None
VIII.
New Business:
a. From Academic Affairs Committee, Appendix 3.31 change: Kelly Kobiela
summarized the rationale of the proposed edits to the Faculty Handbook 3.31
section, Student Grade Appeals Procedure. Council made no comments.
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b. From Academic Affairs Committee: New Appendix (Appendix 32): Kelly
Kobiela next presented Appendix 32, a new appendix in the Faculty Handbook
that focuses on course release associated with external grants. Discussion
followed:
Where does one go to fill out the form regarding a person’s typical workload? The
provost indicated that each person requesting this course release would need to
state the typical load for that individual. If you usually teach 4 courses, then that’s
your typical load. The max you can buy out is 50%. We can add, “Consult with
your dean”. It was suggested that the committee review the language and consider
adding to II.1 the phrase “as determined in consultation with the dean and
department chair,” to the end of the first sentence.
IX.
Announcements: On Feb. 14, President DiBiasio was awarded Phi Gamma Delta’s
Distinguished Fiji Award at ONU’s Greek Awards Banquet.
X.
Adjournment, 6:11 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Juliet Hurtig
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Submitted Reports
II.b Academic Affairs
Besides our two items of new business, we have almost finalized Appendix 5, with guidelines
and procedures for program review, adding programs, and deleting programs. We are planning
on that coming to council at the next meeting. We are also going to be working on Gen Ed.
III.e Religious Affairs
The committee has met to look over the constitution and bylaws for a new student organization
called Merge. Merge is a weekly spiritual direction group that has been operating for the last two
and a half years as a program of the Chaplain's office.
Work has begun for Baccalaureate 2016, which will be held on May 7th at 4:30 p.m. in the
Chapel. Our speaker this year will be Rev. Dr. Charles Yoost, retired minister of the East Ohio
Conference of The United Methodist Church and member of the ONU board of trustees.
IV.a.v Student Affairs
The Office of Multicultural Development would like to invite the campus community to
participate in several cultural events happening this week. February is Black History Month and
in honor of that On Wednesday, Feb. 17th at 7 p.m. in the Dicke Forum the film Dear White
People will be presented and there will be a discussion immediately following the viewing of the
film.
On Friday, Feb. 19th at 7 p.m. in the Chapel the Black Student Union and Student Senate will be
sponsoring the Kuumba/Fashion/Slam; an evening of entertainment. Mocktails and other
refreshments will be served.
Other cultural events this week include:
Feb. 19th beginning at 6 p.m. in the Affinity Commons building the Indian Student Association
is hosting a film night.
Open Doors is hosting their annual Rubi Affair on Saturday, Feb. 20th at 8 p.m. in the McIntosh
Center Ballroom.
Several ONU international students will be traveling to Elida Middle School on Feb. 18th to be
guest presenters in a social studies class where the topic is world religions.
IV.b.ii College of Engineering
On Monday, February 22nd, the college will host the 2016 Spotts Lecture at 7:30PM in the Freed
Center for the Performing Arts. The lecture will feature two speakers, John Nottingham and
Jason Ertel, BSME ’99, who work at the product design firm, Nottingham Spirk, in Cleveland.
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The title of their lecture is “Creative Collisions.” At a dinner preceding the Spotts Lecture, the
College of Engineering will present the college’s Distinguished Alumni Award to two deserving
individuals: Tim Quellhorst, BSME ’81, who is the senior vice president at Crown Equipment
Corporation and Craig Pierson, BSME ’78, who is the president of Marathon Pipe Line LLC.
On Thursday, March 3rd, the college will host the annual TEAMS (Tests of Engineering
Aptitude, Mathematics and Science) competition in the ONU Sports Center. The competition
will bring hundreds of high-school students to campus for a one-day event that seeks to integrate
STEM education with theme-based practical experiences of real-life engineers. This year’s
competition theme is “Engineering the Tools of Innovation” and will include scenarios on optics,
space exploration, and effective manufacturing.
IV.c Student Senate
Elections are taking place
Special Budget Appropriations are taking place
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