OHIO NORTHERN UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY COUNCIL MINUTES
Minutes, February 15, 2011
Roll: (Absentees Underlined) President Kendall Baker, Dr. David Crago, Dr. Robert Ruble, Mr. Ken Block, Dean
Karen Condeni, Ms. Adriane Thompson-Bradshaw, Dean Catherine Albrecht, Dean Eric Baumgartner, Dean Jon
Sprague, Dean James Fenton, Rev. Vernon LaSala, Dr. Jeffery Allison, Dr. Khalid Al-Olimat (at a conference), Dr.
Nathaniel Bird, Dr. Bob Carrothers, Dr. Keith Durkin, Mr. Michael Hamper, Dr. Kevin Hill, Dr. Brian Keas, Prof.
Laurie Laird, Dr. Michael Milks, Prof. Sue Montenery, Prof. Traci Moritz, Mr. Clyde Pickett, Dr. Harold Putt, Dr.
Lisa Robeson, Dr. Sandra Schroeder, Dr. David Smith, Dr. Amy Stockert, Dr. Bryan Ward, Dr. Rob Waters, Dr.
Dexter Woods, Dr. Kay Zekany
Dr. Lisa Robeson, Chair of Council, called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.
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Minutes of the January 18, 2011 meeting were approved as distributed (Motion by Traci Moritz,
second by Sue Montenery, motion carried.)
Reports from Constitutional Committees:
a. Budget & Appropriations: Is meeting weekly.
b. Academic Affairs: Has three items under New Business.
c. Student Activities: No report.
d. Personnel: Has an item under Unfinished Business.
Reports from Operational Committees:
a. Athletics: No report.
b. Information Technology: No report.
c. Cultural & Special Events: Plans to meet March 9, 2011.
d. International Affairs: No report.
e. Religious Affairs: No report.
f. General Education: Reported that they have reviewed over 100 courses for tagging.
Student Center Project Exec. Comm.: Andy Roecker and Michael Milks are faculty representatives
on the committee. Michael Milks gave an update. Suggestions were made to add a person from
the Ada community to the committee. The committee plans to create a website containing FAQ
and to provide information and updates on their work. Milks is impressed with Dan Walker’s
(Chair) commitment to the project and to ONU.
Planning Council: No report.
Other Reports:
a. Catherine Albrecht reported that there are a variety of student performances occurring; i.e.
Proof, wind orchestra show, symphonic band show, Late Night Catechism; and invited
everyone to attend.
b. Student Senate: Michael Hamper reported that this would be his last meeting as Senate had
held elections. His replacement will be Marsha McMunn. Inauguration will take place on
February 20. On that evening, Senate will also award the inaugural Ken and Toby Baker Award
for Promising Campus Leadership, as well as, the Justin Stiles Senator of the Year Award.
Michael is meeting with Marsha and her Vice President, Josh Blackwell, to ensure a smooth
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transition in leadership. Senate updated their constitution to accommodate the change to
semesters. Laundry services for next year will be coinless with the cost being covered by an
increase in room and board fees. Senate is still trying to make the recycling bins more
aesthetically pleasing before placing them in the academic buildings. Kudos for Klondike went
very well although Senate would like to improve it next year by making the food themselves as
had been done in the past. PRSSA and Senate sponsored both the women’s and men’s
basketball games last Saturday and gave away T-shirts.
c. Health Services Advisory Committee: Bob Ruble reported that the committee had met this
week and discussed restructuring of health insurance premiums for next year.
Announcements: Vern LaSala announced that an Ash Wednesday service will be held in the chapel
at 11:00 a.m. on March 9. Lisa Robeson announced that the nominating committee for Council atlarge positions had been created and nominations would be due on March 15. The committee
consists of Bryan Ward (Chair, Law), Khalid Al-Olimat (Engineering), Dexter Woods (Business), Jeff
Allison (Pharmacy) and Harold Putt (A&S). She also noted that the faculty would be voting on a
way to vote on the changes to the faculty constitution at the next faculty meeting.
Questions for the President: John Lomax asked the president about a presidential transition plan.
Dr. Baker stated that a transition plan will be created. He also stated that president-elect Dan
DiBiasio will attend the March 8 faculty meeting and a reception for him and his wife will follow
the meeting. It is likely that Dr. DiBiasio and his wife will be on campus for 2-3 days and may meet
with others while here.
Unfinished Business:
a. One item from the Personnel Committee (agenda attachment A), changes to the faculty
handbook on sabbatical leave, was brought to a vote. The changes were passed unanimously
and without further discussion.
New Business:
a. John Lomax, Chair of the Academic Affairs Committee, brought three items to council. They
include an academic calendar proposal for 2012-13 and forward, changes to the final
examination policy for 2011-12 and forward and changes to section 3.27.7 of the faculty
handbook regarding degree with distinction.
b. On the first item (Attachment B), Catherine Albrecht strongly endorsed the proposed calendar
and commended the committee on their work. Michael Hamper also spoke for the proposed
calendar noting that the longer summer break and three week break between semesters
would be appreciated by ONU students.
c. The second item (Attachment C) includes a revised final exam policy and 2 ½ hour final
examination periods for the 2011-12 academic year and forward.
i. Nate Bird spoke about his concerns regarding changes to section 3.18.8 of the faculty
handbook. He is concerned that allowing students to seek relief through rescheduling
of an exam if they have three or more finals on one day will greatly increase the
number of final exams that will need to be rescheduled.
ii. Catherine Albrecht stated that we cannot ask students to take more than 7.5 hours of
exams (3 exams times 2.5 hours) in one day.
iii. John Lomax stated that the university will be able to offer all exams in five days by
changing from three to four exam periods per day as shown on the schedule in
Attachment C. He discussed the schedule.
iv. Nate stated that his concerns were referring to the change from 4 to 3 exams per
student per day not the 4 exam periods per day. He stated that his calculations show
that if students take 6 classes per semester, it will be more likely for any one student
to require rescheduling of an exam under the proposed rule.
v. John noted that the registrar has done her own research and calculations and believes
this will not be the case. He also noted that if we make the change we will bring our
policy into alignment with a majority of universities across the nation including our
peer and aspirational institutions. He also noted it is a burden for students to have to
take four 2 ½ hour exams in one day. Additionally, please remember that the language
is permissive – not prescriptive. If a student feels he/she can be successful and desires
to complete three or more exams in one day, he/she does not have to request
rescheduling.
vi. Nate suggested that other universities have longer final exam periods (i.e. longer than
5 days) and this might explain why they have the rule. John stated that there are some
universities with longer final exam periods but their committee found that the
majority of schools, including those with five day exam periods, use the same
language. Overall, we do need to think about students and what is going to be best for
them. We want them to be able to succeed.
vii. Michael Hamper agreed with John Lomax. He also noted that some students may
schedule their classes based on when final exams occur thus avoiding a problem in the
first place. He also feels that we should trust the registrar to not place undue burdens
on the faculty.
viii. Rob Waters commended the committee for their work and provided his experiences at
other universities.
ix. Lisa Robeson questioned the common exams occurring in the evening. Will they
conflict with final exams for evening classes? John commented that for fall 2011, very
few evening classes are being offered and no conflicts were found. In fact, there were
fewer conflicts with the proposed schedule than we have now.
x. Dexter Woods asked if the schedule would be the same every semester. John stated,
no, there is a rotation worked into the schedule (see Item C of the motion which
revises the wording of section 3.18.3 in the faculty handbook.)
xi. Brian Keas asked whether the wording of section 3.18.8 could be revised to read “The
Registrar’s Office shall reschedule the appropriate exams in consultation with the
appropriate faculty to ensure that a ….” John stated he would take this suggestion
back to the committee. However, he does not feel it is necessary. If a student asks for
relief through the registrar’s office, the registrar discusses it with the affected faculty
members. He also stated that the registrar’s experience has been that students usually
bypass the registrar and reschedule their exam after direct interaction with their
faculty member. Some faculty members are more amenable to rescheduling their
exams than others and usually students know this, as do other faculty members.
d. The third item brought to Council by Academic Affairs (Attachment D) revises the faculty
handbook section 3.27.7 which describes the degrees of distinction.
i. Rob Waters asked if the proposed levels of distinction (GPA’s of 3.5, 3.7, 3.9) are too
strict? Have we gone to the opposite extreme? John stated that the industry standard
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for degrees of distinction is GPA levels of 3.5, 3.7 and 3.9. Schools such as Dartmouth,
Brown, as well as, our aspirational and peer institutions all use these levels or higher.
ii. Dexter Woods asked when this change would take effect. John stated that he believes
it will go into effect next year after the handbook has been updated. Julie Hurtig
concurred that it would be in effect for the 2011-12 academic year.
Adjournment: Lisa Robeson adjourned the meeting at 6:11 p.m. Council will next meet on March
15, 2011.
Respectfully submitted,
Laurie K. Laird, Secretary
University Council
Attendance and Voting record
Attendance
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
February 15, 2011
Voting Issue:
per agenda
Att. A
Yes
No
Council Member
Dr. Kendall Baker
VP David Crago
VP Robert Ruble
VP Ken Block
VP Karen Condeni
VP Adriane Thompson-Bradshaw
Dean Catherine Albrecht
Dean Eric Baumgartner
Dean Jon Sprague
Dean James Fenton
Rev. Vernon LaSala
X
X
Dr. Jeffery Allison
Dr. Khalid Al-Olimat
Dr. Nathaniel Bird
Dr. Bob Carrothers
Dr. Keith Durkin
Mr. Michael Hamper
Dr. Kevin Hill
Dr. Brian Keas
Prof. Laurie Laird
Dr. Michael Milks
Prof. Sue Montenery
Prof. Traci Moritz
Mr. Clyde Pickett
Dr. Harold Putt
Dr. Lisa Robeson
Dr. Sandra Schroeder
Dr. David Smith
Dr. Amy Stockert
Dr. Bryan Ward
Dr. Rob Waters
Dr. Dexter Woods
Dr. Kay Zekany
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Totals
Shading denotes non-voting member
abst
18
0
1