Ohio Northern University Faculty
2014 - 2015
Minutes of the April 28 Meeting
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
President DiBiasio called the meeting to order in fine fashion at 11:00 AM.
Invocation was offered by Kathie Fleck.
Minutes from March 24, 2015 were approved.
Unfinished Business: None.
Approval of Spring Term Graduates (Melanie Hough): Requested approval of the
spring term graduates. The list was distributed via email prior to the meeting on April
24th. Spring term graduates were approved.
Report from University Council (Jeff Allison): Council had their final meeting last
Tuesday (April 21st). Council passed an action item from the Personnel Committee
that revised faculty expectations in seven areas. The second action item came from
Academic Affairs clarifying the use of terms in the Faculty Handbook related to
enrollment in a college, enrollment in a course and registration definitions related to
the semester transition. Jeff Allison thanked Jennifer Kunkler Donley for all her
work as Secretary and Lou Lobenhofer for serving as Vice Chair.
a. Elections to Faculty Committees and Council
i. University Council Chair (1): Melissa Eddings
ii. University Council At-Large (2): Mark Cruea, Jed Marquart
iii. Operational Committee – Athletics (1): Alisa Agozzino
iv. Operational Committee – Religious Affairs (1): Diana Garlough
v. Operational Committee – Undergraduate Promotion & Tenure Appeals
(3): Laurie Bell, Firas Hassan, Mary Ellen Hethcox
vi. Operational Committee – Grievance (2): Rich Miller, Henning Schroeder
vii. Operational Committee – Academic Conduct (5): Laurie Bell, Heath
LeBlanc, Michelle Musser, Tammy Schakett, Erin Peterson
viii. Operational Committee – University Disciplinary Board (3): Mano
D’Souza, Firas Hassan, Ryan Rahrig
ix. Operational Committee – University Board of Appeals (2): Nesreen
Alsbou, Brian Sage
Reports from Constitutional Committees:
a. Budget and Appropriations: No report.
b. Academic Affairs: No report.
c. Student Affairs (Jenny Walton): At the last meeting, the committee approved the
following student organizations: ONU Society of Resource Management and
Northern Nurses without Borders.
d. Personnel: No report.
Reports from Operational Committees:
a. Athletic Events: No report.
b. Cultural Events: No report.
Ohio Northern University Faculty
IX.
2014 - 2015
c. International Affairs (Brian Keas): The committee met last month and selected
several award winners. One student was chosen for the Karen Condeni
Scholarship and three students were chosen to receive Shuhaibar Scholarships.
d. Religious Affairs (Chaplain MacDonald): The committee met last month and
continued policy work that will carry over into the summer. Baccalaureate is
planned for May 9th at 4:30 PM. The speakers are as follows: Reverend Jay
Rundell, President of the Methodist Theological School in Ohio (keynote
speaker), Cody Hay, PharmD Candidate at ONU (student speaker) and Harold
Putt will give the blessing prayer from the faculty to the graduates.
e. Information Technology (Jeff Rieman): The password program is in place and IT
is currently working on some policies to support its use. A side note: The
university has printed 5.5 million pages so far this year.
Questions for the President: President DiBiasio first thanked Jeff Allison for the past
two years of service as Chair of University Council and Lou Lobenhofer for his many
years of service as Parliamentarian.
a. The President highlighted some items from the recent Board of Trustees meeting.
i. The Board thanked Ken Block for his many years of service as VP of
University Advancement.
ii. Hanley Wheeler will be joining the Board of Trustees in August. Hanley
graduated from the College of Pharmacy in 1982 and is currently a Senior
Vice President at CVS.
iii. There was a focus on raising funds for the new engineering building. The
goal for the first phase of fundraising is $15 million. The Board is looking
to contribute 20% of that ($3 million). $1.2 million was donated at the
meeting.
iv. McIntosh had been slated for extensive renovation prior to budget cuts.
The last campaign raised funds that could be used to renovate a few of
these spaces in the very near future.
v. The investment policy was changed slightly with respect to assets related
to the endowment.
vi. An extensive topic of discussion was next year’s budget (FY 16). This
year’s budget (FY 15) will have a cash balance of over $0.75 million.
However, there were several personnel vacancies. Next year’s budget will
have added pressure from a few areas: filling these vacancies, changes to
health benefits, and the gap that remains in net tuition revenue. The
President encouraged everyone to attend one of the budget forums on May
5th to hear more details.
b. The President thanked everyone that played a role in the very successful HLC
visit. The outcomes have been very positive.
Ohio Northern University Faculty
2014 - 2015
c. There are a number of retirement receptions this week. Be on the lookout for
notices.
d. Firas Hassan inquired whether all open faculty positions for 2015 – 2016 were
filled. The President replied that not all were filled, as there were a few failed
searches, but that the overwhelming majority (about 2 dozen) had been filled.
X.
Questions for the Provost: Provost Crago shared a few items before opening the floor
to questions.
a. There is still discussion with high schools regarding ONU’s College Credit Plus
program, but it is hard to compete against the public higher education institutions
that can offer the program to schools at no cost due to state funding.
b. The HLC site team draft report found that ONU had met all five criteria and has
been submitted to HLC. The final report from the site team and the federal
compliance review has been submitted to HLC in final form. The IAC
(Institutional Actions Council) will meet in the fall to make the final
recommendation for reaffirmation. There will be a selection on which pathway
we will choose for reaffirmation, but we will submit a written self-study in Year 4
and should expect a site team visit in Year 10.
c. The Senate from NASCUMC (National Association of Schools & Colleges of the
United Methodist Church) will perform a site visit in November to assure the
Methodist Church that we are maintaining institutional integrity, well-structured
programs, sound management, and clearly defined Church relationships.
XI.
Other Reports: None.
XII. New Business: None.
XIII. Announcements:
a. The Symphony Orchestra will perform Saturday, May 2nd at 7:30 PM in the Freed
Center.
b. Michael Loughlin announced that Martin Sieff, a prominent international
journalist will present “Dangerous Ignorance: Why U.S. Policymakers Get the
Middle East Wrong” on Tuesday, April 28th at 7 PM in Dicke Forum.
c. The Jazz Ensemble will perform Thursday, April 30th at 7:30 PM in the Freed
Center.
XIV. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 12:05 PM.
Respectfully submitted by,
__________________________
Leslie Riley, Secretary
Juliet Hurtig, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs