Ohio Northern University
University Council
Minutes, April 20, 2010
Roll:
(Absentees underlined) President Kendall Baker, Dr. David Crago, Dr. Robert Ruble, Mr. Thomas
Stevick, 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, Dr. Robert Carrothers, Dr. Toni Clarke, Prof. Randall Ewing, Mr. Michael
Hamper, Dr. Errol Katayama, Dr. Brian Keas, Prof. Laurie Laird, Dr. John Lomax, Dr. David
Mikesell, Dr. Michael Milks, Prof. Traci Moritz, Dr. Sandra Schroeder, Dr. Kelly Shields, Dr. David
Smith, Dr. Amy Stockert, Dr. Marjorie Walker, Dr. Bryan Ward, Mr. Scott Wills, Dr. Sunny Zank,
Dr. Kay Zekany.
Dr. Sunny Zank, Chair of Council, called the meeting to order at 5:30 PM.
I.
Minutes of March 30, 2010 were approved as distributed.
II. Reports from Constitutional Committees:
a. Budget and Appropriations: No report.
b. Academic Affairs: Three items currently under discussion.
i) Transfer credit time limits. Should a limit be imposed by ONU on the age of a course being
considered for incoming transfer credit?
ii) “Zero-billing” hour courses (courses which do not cause overload charges should the course
cause a student to exceed 19 credit hours). The committee is developing criteria that
semester courses must meet to be placed in this category and a procedure for proposing a
new course for this list.
iii) Certifications offered by various departments and colleges. Related issues include whether
such certifications should appear on a student’s transcript.
c. Student Activities: No report.
d. Personnel: Three items regarding semester sabbatical terms in unfinished business.
III. Reports from Operational Committees:
a. Athletics: No report.
b. Information Technology: No report.
c. Cultural & Special Events: No report..
d. International Affairs: Three Shuhaibar Scholarships were awarded on Monday, April 19, at the
Multicultural Fair.
e. Religious Affairs: No report.
f. General Education: No report.
IV.
Planning Council: Continues to meet weekly to develop metrics for strategic planning.
V. Other Reports:
a. Karen Condeni reported a successful Junior Visit Day this past Saturday, with 128 high school
juniors present.
b. Catherine Albrecht reminded council of the Student Research Colloquium to be held in Dicke
Hall on Saturday, May 1. 46 presentations are scheduled, including 18 student research papers
and 28 posters.
c. Michael Hamper reported on sundry activities of Student Senate. A senate retreat will be held
May 2 at the Ada Park. Senate is looking for ways to increase voter turnout in the fall, including
the use of “I Voted” stickers such as are given for public elections. A Student Center Forum,
hosted by Student Senate, will be held during week 10 of spring quarter. Senate is looking at
ways of improving Student-L messages, “going green” at general assembly meetings, and polling
students regarding recycling and laundry service initiatives.
d. The Health Services Advisory Committee had no report.
VI. Announcements:
a. None.
VII. Questions for the President:
a. Dr. Baker announced that this year’s commencement speaker will be Sandra Pianalto, president
and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Ohio.
b. Ohio Northern University was listed among the ten “Top Ohio Colleges” listed in the About.com
Guide http://collegeapps.about.com/od/collegerankings/tp/top-ohio-colleges.htm. About.com
is a major search engine held by The New York Times Company.
c. The Art, Music, and Theater programs at ONU will be all be listed among the top 200 “creative
colleges” in the United States in Elaina Loveland’s Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors,
Artists, Dancers, Musicians, and Writers. To this point, only the Art and Music programs had
been listed.
VIII. Unfinished Business:
a. Three items from the Personnel Committee, adapting sabbatical policy to the semester
calendar, were brought to vote. All three carried unanimously and without discussion. The
voting record is attached.
IX. New Business:
a. Per attachment D of the agenda, pursuant to a request from the College of Law, the Academic
Affairs Committee has recommended that grade point averages for the College of Law be
rounded to two places past the decimal point rather than truncated. This would mean a
student’s 2.995 GPA (calculated) would now be reported as “3.00” instead of “2.99”. A number
of council members supported extending this to the undergraduate body as well. The proposal
will return to the committee to include all undergraduate students in this proposal.
b. In attachment E, the Personnel Committee has proposed a new appendix for the Faculty
Handbook to outline a Telecommuting Policy. This proposal is not in response to a particular
situation on campus, but rather an anticipation of the need for such based on practice at peer
institutions.
c. The International Affairs Committee, per agenda attachment F, is requesting the addition of two
new staff members as standing committee members.
X. Adjournment: Dr. Zank adjourned the meeting at 6:04pm. Council will next meet on May 4 at
5:30PM in the Dicke Forum.