Ohio Northern University Faculty 2015 - 2016 Minutes of the October 27 Meeting I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. President DiBiasio called the meeting to order at 11:02 AM as he recognized the 125th anniversary of the ONU Marching Band this week and congratulated Rob Alexander for his op-ed piece recently published in the Huffington Post. Invocation was offered by Lisa Robeson. Minutes from September 22, 2015 were approved. Unfinished Business: None. Report from University Council: Tevye Celius shared that Council met last Tuesday and the majority of the meeting was spent on the President’s report from the Board of Trustees meeting. The President will give a summary of that report in today’s meeting. Details from other discussions will follow in individual committee reports. He also indicated that it was refreshing to have input from other faculty members not currently on Council at the meeting. Reports from Constitutional Committees: a. Budget and Appropriations: Jeff Christoff shared that the Board of Trustees accepted the proposed budget with an additional endowment draw and several retirement benefit reductions (retiree health benefits, severance incentives, and current TIAA-CREF benefits). The first disclosure of the TIAA-CREF benefit plan reductions occurred last Friday via email from President DiBiasio. There is a Board of Trustees directive in place for future contingency plans to avoid large endowment draws. Discussions about strategic enrollment management are happening with the Office of Admissions. b. Academic Affairs: Kelly Kobiela shared that the committee is reviewing Appendix 5. Updates will be added along with an additional policy detailing program reviews. A committee will assess the program review reports. c. Student Affairs: Heath LeBlanc announced that the committee met on Friday, October 9th. Several proposals were received for new student groups. The students were asked to revise and resubmit documents. A proposal will be circulated to the faculty via email in the next few weeks requesting that the Director of Student Involvement become a constitutional member of the Student Affairs Committee. The Director of Student Involvement has direct contact with student groups and is a great resource for the committee. d. Personnel: Jill Christopher announced that the committee is reviewing 18 applications for sabbatical. Reports from Operational Committees: a. Athletic Events: No report. b. Cultural Events: Laurie Bell invited faculty members to join the committee meeting tomorrow (October 28th) at 2 PM in PAC 129. c. International Affairs: Lynda Nyce shared that the committee met a couple weeks ago. November 16th – 20th is International Education Week. If you are aware of Ohio Northern University Faculty VIII. 2015 - 2016 campus events involving international affairs, let the committee know. They are currently working on a Google doc to facilitate awareness of international events and student concerns on campus. d. Religious Affairs: Chaplain MacDonald shared that the committee is meeting this afternoon. The Tim Clydesdale lecture is tomorrow at 6 PM in Dicke Forum. There are still times available to meet with Tim informally. e. Information Technology: Julie Hurtig announced that the committee discussed various IT issues on campus at a recent meeting. Currently, they are working on a security policy for best standards of care with respect to usernames, passwords, credit card transactions, etc. They are also researching alternative phone systems. Please contact your college representative if you have input. Questions for the President: President DiBiasio made a few comments before opening the floor to questions. a. At the October Board of Trustees meeting, the Board approved the proposed budget. This earlier budget decision will allow prospective students to utilize the net price calculator on the ONU website now to predict 2016-17 costs. Bill Theisen asked about the accuracy of net price calculators, noting that some he had used in the past were inaccurate. President DiBiasio responded that significant changes have been made to the calculator on ONU’s website and Bill Ballard added that we now use a true cost calculator program that is tied in to financial aid packages. Ray Person inquired about the financial aid budget. The financial aid budget has not yet been approved for 2016 – 2017, but initial scholarship award levels are set and can be accessed in the calculator package. b. The approved budget included an extra one-time draw ($3.5 million) from the endowment. Moving forward, the plan is to reduce the endowment draw to 5% by 2020. Approximately $3 million is added to the endowment each year and about $38 - $40 million raised in the last capital campaign were planned gifts for the future. c. Positive aspects of the approved budget include a number of investments: 1) a 2.5% salary increase, 2) continued partnership with two consulting firms (160/90 and Ruffalo Noel Levitz), 3) start up funds for the new public health major, 4) funds to assist faculty members seeking grants and 5) software to allow for sophisticated multi-year budgeting. Negative aspects of the budget include: 1) a reduction in operating expenses, 2) a reduction in post-retirement health benefits, 3) a freeze on the voluntary retirement severance plan and 4) structural changes to the retirement plan. The retirement plan, though, will not change if you still want to contribute 7%; the university will still match the 7%. d. Phil Zoladz inquired whether faculty frustrations regarding the lack of reward for excelling in merit was being conveyed to the Board. President DiBiasio responded that Melissa Eddings-Mancuso has voiced these concerns to the Board and the Ohio Northern University Faculty IX. 2015 - 2016 Board wants to see more compensation for faculty. The Board realizes the value of faculty to the core mission of the university and wants ONU to be a place where faculty members can have very productive careers. e. Forrest Clingerman noted that our financial situation seemed similar to many other private institutions. What are we doing differently so as not to make the same mistakes as other schools? President DiBiasio responded that we have quality programs and quality students. Some have lowered quality; we have not. We are also reviewing the way we use financial aid to have a better outcome next year. This is a work in progress. Only 1/3 of private colleges met enrollment goals this year. Our strategic enrollment plan is new. There will be more effort to recruit juniors and sophomores moving forward. Our retention efforts are new with respect to data-driven analysis and intervention. We really want to keep quality and increase enrollment numbers going forward. There is a possibility that an upcoming session will be dedicated to presenting the strategic enrollment plan and focusing specifically on roles that faculty can play. f. Firas Hassan asked about the total endowment for the university. President DiBiasio responded that the ONU endowment is $170 million. To place that number in context, of the 47 private colleges in Ohio, only eight have endowments above $150 million; the private colleges’ average endowment level is $27 million. The endowment is a good asset for us that we want to use wisely. g. Bill Theisen asked how the new retirement plan came about after having a different one presented previously. President DiBiasio responded that they were looking for ways to save $700,000 while also being cognizant of some faculty and staff concerns with the current mandatory retirement plan. Moving from a mandatory plan to a matching plan will allow for significant savings. Discussion followed. If you choose to still contribute 7% to your retirement fund, ONU will match the 7% for a total of 14%, just as the university does now. The President acknowledged that this matching retirement plan will not make up all of the necessary savings, but will contribute. Bill Ballard emphasized that everyone will need to elect new retirement plans before January (preferably by early December). If you do not make an election, your retirement contribution will automatically roll to 0%. h. Brad Wile asked about the support for grant writing that was mentioned previously. President DiBiasio responded that a number of options are available to assist faculty in procuring and complying with federal grants. Questions for the Provost: David Crago made a few comments before opening the floor to questions. a. The Methodist Church requires a site visit from the University Senate. Three members will be on campus for a site visit in two weeks. The proposed meeting Ohio Northern University Faculty X. XI. XII. 2015 - 2016 with faculty will occur on Tuesday afternoon. The team will examine HLC materials along with an additional questionnaire. b. The University Faculty Handbook should be available by the end of this week. The handbook will include the benefit revisions discussed previously in this meeting. c. A reconfiguration to the first floor of Heterick Library is moving forward. The committee has met with an architect and would like to have everything finished prior to Fall 2016. Kathleen Baril is interested in receiving faculty input. Please contact her if you would like to be a part of this process. d. We are continuing efforts to broaden our relationship with the West Ohio Conference affiliated organizations. Other schools are interested in partnerships with athletic training, exercise physiology and law. We would like to expand the experiential learning opportunities that are available for our students, particularly in areas such as athletic training, exercise physiology and law, which align with these affiliated organizations well. e. Lisa Robeson asked when the public health major would be available to students. Provost Crago said that the curriculum will be available sometime this spring and students should be able to declare a major by Fall 2016. The major will be housed in Biology. Discussion followed. The major will have to be approved through the College of Arts & Sciences COC process. Housing the major in Biology made sense from an administrative standpoint because the minor is currently housed there. f. A question was asked about the status of the proposed informatics major. Provost Crago responded that the major needed revisions before moving forward. g. President DiBiasio mentioned that Board members have expressed interest in being more involved with faculty. There may be opportunities for a Board member to observe one of your classes in the future. Other Reports: None New business: None Announcements: a. Rob Alexander announced that the Director of Ohio EPA, Craig Butler, will be speaking next Tuesday, November 3rd @ 6:30 PM in Dicke Forum. Rob is also interested in organizing a group of students to attend either the Democratic or Republican National Convention. Please let him know if you have students that are interested. a. Jennifer Donley announced that the staff focus group to discuss the first floor renovation of Heterick Library will be this Friday, October 30th. b. Jennifer Moore announced that the English Department will be hosting a Scary Rapid Fire Reading on Wednesday, October 28th @ 7:30 PM in the Elzay Gallery. Costumes are encouraged. On Wednesday, November 4th, three alumni will be Ohio Northern University Faculty XIII. 2015 - 2016 returning to campus to perform music and readings @ 7:30 PM in the Elzay Gallery. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 11:50 AM. Submitted by, __________________________ Leslie A. Riley Secretary