OHIO NORTHERN UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY COUNCIL AGENDA
Council will meet on Tuesday, February 16, 2016 at 5:30 p.m. in Dicke Room 230.
I.
Minutes of January, 19 2016 meeting
II.
Reports from Constitutional Committees
a. Budget & Appropriations
b. Academic Affairs (see report)
c. Student Activities
d. Personnel
III.
Reports from Operational Committees
a. Athletics
b. Information Technology
c. Cultural & Special Events
d. International Affairs
e. Religious Affairs (see report)
f. General Education
IV.
Liaison
Ballard
Kobiela
LeBlanc
Brant
Chair
Christhoff
Kobiela
LeBlanc
Boulanger
Hurtig
Bell
Macdonald
Hurtig
Macdonald
Other Reports
a. Vice Presidents
i. Academic Affairs
ii. Financial Affairs
iii. University Advancement
iv. Admissions and Financial Aid
v. Student Affairs (see report)
Crago
Ballard
Spencer
Eilola
Thompson-Bradshaw
b. Deans
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
Albrecht
Baumgartner
Martin
Fenton
Bales
Arts & Sciences
Engineering (see report)
Pharmacy
Business Administration
Law
c. Student Senate (see report)
d. Health Services Advisory Committee
V.
Chair/Faculty Comments
VI.
President Comments/Questions
VII.
Unfinished Business
Grandillo
Ballard
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VIII.
New Business
a. From Academic Affairs Committee: Proposed change to Faculty Handbook,
Appendix 3.31, dealing with the Student Grade Appeals Procedure. (See
attachment 1 – all changes are noted in yellow and strikethrough.) It is wording
changes to clarify what occurs in practice. The rationale for the changes to 3.31
is to align the handbook with the actual practices occurring in the undergraduate
colleges for grade appeals and to define the term "class day".
b. From Academic Affairs Committee: New Appendix (Appendix 32) to the Faculty
Handbook that deals with "External Grant-Funded Course Release". (See
attachment 2 – this includes the updated External Funding form.) The rationale
is that ONU has seen an increase in grants that could utilize course releases but
we did not have a uniform policy in place to handle this. An ad-hoc faculty
committee of those who might be interested in course releases was formed in
2014-15 and this is the result of their work. This policy was vetted with the deans
as well.
IX.
Announcements
X.
Adjournment
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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
integrates 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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3.31
Student Grade Appeals Procedure (9/1/87) (9/1/05) (proposed changes in yellow and strikethrough)
1. A student has the right to appeal a final course grade which the student feels is unfairly or erroneously
assigned. The student must first discuss the grade with the faculty member(s) who assigned the grade no later than
the fifth (5th)/second (2nd)* class day** after the final grade for the course was assigned/posted. If the student is still
convinced that the grade is an unfair evaluation of the student's performance in the course, the student may appeal
the grade. The appeal must be made in writing within two (2) class days to the department chair or dean of the
college offering the course where no departments exist. A response will be provided to the student within two (2)
class days. If the matter has not been resolved by the department chair to the student's satisfaction, the student must
appeal within two (2) class days to the dean of the college in which the course is offered. Upon receipt of the
written appeal, the dean will inform the Grade Appeals Committee that a grade appeal procedure has been initiated.
2. The Grade Appeals Committee shall be elected in each college at the beginning of each academic year and
shall be composed of the following members: Four faculty members of the College, and one Student Senate
member of the College or Student Advisory Board member for the College of Arts and Science. one person selected
from the Faculty or student body by the appealing student, and one Faculty member from the department involved or
college where no departments exist. The proceedings for the appealing process will include the following nonvoting advocates: the student who is appealing the grade or one person selected from the faculty or student body by
the appealing student and the faculty member who assigned the grade or one faculty member selected from the
department involved by the faculty member that issued the disputed grade.
3. Grade appeals shall be handled only by the college in which the course is offered. The committee will review
the written statements of the student and information supplied by the faculty member, department chair and dean,
determine if the grade was assigned unfairly or erroneously and the committee chair will make a recommendation to
the faculty member within four (4)/two (2)* class days. When the committee makes a recommendation, the
recommendation is to the faculty member, not the student. All discussions and written statements concerning the
circumstances of the grade appeal are to be kept confidential by all of the persons involved in the appeals process.
Notice of the appeal and the action taken need not be treated confidentially.
4. The faculty member has the sole responsibility to determine the final grade for the course. The department chair,
dean or the Grade Appeals Committee may only make recommendations to the faculty member. The faculty
member must inform the student of his/her decision relative to the recommendation of the Grade Appeals
Committee within two (2) class days. In the event that the faculty member does not follow the recommendation of
the Grade Appeals Committee, the committee chair Grade Appeals Committee shall issue a letter to the student
giving the findings of the Grade Appeals Committee. When the committee chair notifies the student, also notify the
Registrar and Associate Dean of the college involved. The Registrar shall place the letter issued by the Committee
in the student’s permanent records file, and make publicly available at the written request of the affected student.
The Grade Appeals Committee does not share the decision made by the committee with the student unless the
faculty member does not follow the recommendation of the committee.
5. The student has the responsibility to promptly initiate the appeals procedure at each step so that any appeal
requested be completed within the timeframe set forth above.
6.
This procedure does not apply to the College of Law.
*time periods apply to the College of Pharmacy module courses
**class day refers to days the university is open for class instruction