Ohio Northern University Faculty
2011 - 2012
Minutes of the November 22 Meeting
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President DiBiasio called the meeting to order at 11:00 AM.
Invocation was offered by Jon Smalley.
Minutes from October 25, 2011 were approved as submitted.
Unfinished Business: None.
Approval of Fall Term Graduates: Andrea Richardson requested approval of the fall
term graduates. (See Academic Affairs website under Faculty Agenda for the
distributed list.) Fall term graduates were approved.
Honorary Degree Recommendations: Jon Smalley requested approval of the
following recipients for honorary degrees: John H. Hull, Lucinda Maine, Robert C.
Smith and Gregory Frost. (See Academic Affairs website under Faculty Agenda for
further details.) The honorary degree recipients were approved.
Questions for the President:
President DiBiasio highlighted a few items before opening the floor to questions.
a. First, he pointed out that the Penn State case has galvanized a lot of media
attention. He emphasized that we must use this as a teachable moment for what
we, as a university, can do better. He is calling for a review of the crime reporting
expectations at the university, state and federal levels. He stressed that we need to
make sure we are in full compliance with the law and that appropriate protection
is provided for whistle blowers. Just as the Virginia Tech incident was a wake-up
call to universities regarding their emergency notification systems, the Penn State
case has been a wake-up call for universities in terms of crime reporting.
b. Second, he noted that very few members of the university community have
migrated over to our new emergency notification system (Nixle). Our goal is to
have 90 – 95 % of the university community enrolled in the Nixle system.
c. Third, he pointed out that a significant amount of media attention has been
dedicated to covering the recent article about the Project on Student Debt. In that
article, ONU was named one of the top 20 institutions for student debt. Some had
suggested that our top 20 ranking was due to the inclusion of pharmacy and law
students in the calculations. However, the report only included baccalaureate
students. President DiBiasio asked VP Larry Lesick to provide a further in-depth
analysis of the report and explain the findings to the faculty.
i. Larry Lesick began by stating that he was excited to join the ONU
community. He pointed to three factors that influenced our student debt
ranking. First, Ohio is a high debt state. The Midwest is still dealing
with the recession. The average debt per student is $48,000 - $49,000.
The majority of that student debt is in private, rather than federal, loans.
Second, many colleges and universities (>400, or ~45% of schools that
award baccalaureate degrees) did not provide information to the Project on
Student Debt. Thus, the statistics are skewed. For example, Denison,
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Capital, Hiram and Otterbein are not included in this analysis. ONU, on
the other hand, did provide information to Peterson’s which in turn
provided information to the Project on Student Debt. Third, ONU does
have to deal with the challenge of student debt. Currently, students in the
Colleges of Business and Engineering have lower debt loads than students
in Arts and Sciences. He is now looking into why this might be the case.
ii. He then asked how we should respond to the Project on Student Debt. He
first noted that none of the prospective students or parents that have visited
campus in the past few weeks has mentioned the report. He then
highlighted positive ways to respond to this report. First, our placement
rate is incredible. Over 90% of our graduates are working or enrolled in
post-graduate programs within 3 – 6 months of graduation. Thus, our
students have the ability to manage debt. For example, the default rate of
our students is below 1%. This average is well below the state and
national average default rates (3% and 7 %, respectively). Second, we can
make proactive changes within the university to counsel students about
debt prior to graduation. We need to target students that are taking on too
much debt, provide additional content on the web and implement a literacy
program to counsel students about managing debt more appropriately.
Vicki Motz asked how the student debt numbers were affected by students that
entered graduate and professional schools. Larry Lesick said the numbers were
not affected because they only included debt incurred as undergraduate students.
Tom Finn asked where the source of the problem lies. Is this debt pattern typical
of our students or is this pattern heavily influenced by outliers? Larry Lesick
responded that if you remove students from the College of Arts and Sciences that
take more than four years to graduate, it reduces the average debt by $10,000 $15,000. He also noted that the alternative loan industry was booming when
these students entered college. As students move back to using federal loans first,
our student debt numbers should decrease.
Nancy Woodley asked whether we should offer a course about managing debt
load for incoming freshman students. Larry Lesick mentioned that a “dollars and
sense” session was offered during open house. Others noted that the students that
often really need counseling are not the ones to attend these sessions.
President DiBiasio noted that the media will likely highlight more of the debt
issue in the future. If you have any questions, feel free to speak with the Deans or
Larry Lesick directly. He also mentioned that two of the most disturbing aspects
of the Project on Student Debt are that 1) barely 50% of institutions are reporting
student debt data and 2) students are turning to the alternative loan market when
they still have eligibility for federal loans.
Ohio Northern University Faculty
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h. President DiBiasio announced that the budget building process has begun and that
he will bring a recommendation for a tuition increase to the Board at the February
meeting. The proposed budget will be brought to the Board at the May meeting.
i. President DiBiasio noted that the search for the Vice President of Financial
Affairs continues. The candidate pool should be narrowed down to semi-finalists
after the break. The search consultants noted that the candidate pool is very
strong.
j. Julie Hurtig recognized the hard work of the members of the Sustainable Program
and Financial-Based Review Committee. Faculty members include Lynn Young,
Bob Carrothers, JD Yoder, Mark Olah, Jill Christopher, and Howard Fenton.
Staff members include Tom Simmons, Sandy Calvert, and Adriane ThompsonBradshaw. She noted that the committee has received all academic and
administrative reports and committee members are currently in the process of
reading all documents. If you have any questions, please ask one of the
committee members. Julie Hurtig emphasized that the main task of the committee
is not to make budget cuts, but rather to look for opportunities to meet aspirational
goals within the university. For example, are we adequately staffed in the right
areas? Ultimately, this information will inform the strategic plan that will come
from the President’s office in the future. She also announced that the committee’s
due date is early January and that a draft of their recommendations will be
presented to the Board at the February meeting.
k. President DiBiasio thanked George Gulbis for his service to the university.
George Gulbis will be retiring on December 31, 2011. His retirement will mark
the end of a 25-year tenure at the university and a 10-year run as the director of
the Information Technology Department.
Report from University Council: Sherry Young reported the University Council is
preparing for the February Board meeting. They are also in the process of assessing a
record-high number of promotion and tenure requests as well as recommendations
from the Sustainable Program and Financial-Based Review Committee. Please email
Sherry Young if you have any questions.
Reports from Constitutional Committees:
a. Budget and Appropriations: No report.
b. Academic Affairs: No report.
c. Student Affairs: Jenny Walton announced that the committee met yesterday and
approved the following clubs: Northern Engineers without Boundaries, Women’s
Volleyball Club Team, Polar Robotics, International Justice Mission, and Catalyst
Indoor Color Guard.
d. Personnel: Sunny Zank announced that the committee will be meeting on
December 9th to review sabbatical applications. She also noted that the committee
Ohio Northern University Faculty
2011 - 2012
will be requesting a new deadline in the future because of the rush to review
applications prior to the holiday break.
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Reports from Operational Committees:
a. Athletic Events: Tom Simmons announced that 4 out of 6 fall sports won the
OAC regular season or conference tournament. In addition, women’s crosscountry attended nationals and placed 19th. Alison Steinbrunner finished 9th out
of 200 runners.
b. Cultural Events: Nils Riess announced that there is now a new managing director
so the committee will be gearing up soon.
c. International Affairs: No report.
d. Religious Affairs: Rory Stauber announced that candidates for the Chaplain
position will be on campus December 5th and 6th.
e. Information Technology: No report.
XI.
Other Reports: None.
XII. New Business: None.
XIII. Announcements: None.
XIV. The meeting adjourned at 11:40 PM.
Submitted by,
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Leslie A. Riley
Secretary