By Bill Estep

When Ed Ray looks back on the past year, he sees a long list of accomplishments by many at Ohio State amid a sea of change. He points to efforts at improving the recruitment and retention of high-ability students, of reforming the budget process, of implementing the first Leadership Agenda, of enhancing diversity and information systems on campus.

"And all this occurred during a period when the University had three presidents, two provosts, one acting provost, and an interim provost. And three of them were the same person," Ray told University Senate at its meeting March 6 in Kottman Hall.

Judging by a list of new initiatives he unveiled during his "State of Academic Affairs" speech to Senate, Ray obviously believes change can be a good thing.

Ed Ray

Ray, the former interim provost who was named to the permanent post of provost and executive vice president in November, discussed a wide range of topics in a speech titled "Priorities, Processes and Constraints."

The subject that drew the most attention from Senate was Ray's comments about the possibility of restructuring colleges. He said he has discussed with University Senate leaders "the need for legislative changes" that would permit the University to reconfigure colleges and reorganize academic units.

"I remain impressed and in agreement with the observation made more than two years ago by the Senate Oversight Committee on Restructuring that the restructuring effort of the mid-1990s did not go far enough," Ray said. "I believe that the way our colleges and departments are organized does shape the conversations that we have among ourselves and does influence the possibilities we imagine. The current configuration of colleges is the product of an effort to organize the University for success that is more than 30 years old.

"We need to revisit the question of whether or not the array of colleges and the composition of individual colleges on this campus will serve us as well in the next 30 years as they have in the last 30 years. College boundaries are difficult to cross to pursue interdisciplinary studies, and interdisciplinary studies give rise to new disciplines.

"Until the Senate creates the rules of engagement that realistically would permit us to rearrange our colleges and departments, substantive changes will not take place. I urge the Senate to create the means to make changes possible."

Gerald Reagan, secretary of University Senate, said Ray has asked the Senate to "develop rules, develop a process, for modifying educational units."

"We have rules for creating new academic units, but our rules are almost silent on how you go about modifying or abolishing units," Reagan said. "I don't think this should be seen as the new provost wanting to restructure the University. He just wants a process in place that will enable us to modify educational units."

Ray said he has appointed a campuswide committee to create a diversity plan -- something Ohio State currently does not have. Ray said he will appoint a committee by early spring quarter to provide oversight for all central investment programs, including reviewing outcomes of funding.

This fall, Ohio State awarded $500,000 each in central funding to four departments -- Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Physics and Psychology -- in the first round of Selective Investment Awards. Those central funds will be matched by redirected college and department funds. More than $8 million has been awarded and 61 faculty positions funded since the Academic Enrichment grant program began in 1995.

"While we have made an excellent start, we must improve the investment selection process itself, regularly assess outcomes of these investment decisions, and hold people accountable for results," Ray said.

Ray said he has asked David Williams II, vice president for student and urban/community affairs, and Carole Anderson, dean of nursing, to co-chair the new Diversity Planning Committee. Ray will ask the committee to draft a long-term plan for diversity at the University in time to include in budget recommendations for next fiscal year.

"A diversity plan is long overdue and action agendas need to be developed quickly," Ray said.

In other news, Ray announced:

• A plan to dramatically increase the direct enrollment of new students into academic majors. The goal, Ray said, is to change the current ratio of University College students to direct enrollment majors from 80/20 to 20/80 within five years.
• Efforts to increase the connection between OSU's academic programs and the Honors Program.
• That a proposal for a new budget model as part of budget restructuring efforts was to be circulated on campus this week. Ray said the proposal will be revised based on campus discussions, and that recommendations are expected to be made to President Kirwan and the Board of Trustees later this spring.
• The appointment of Reagan as a representative of University Senate to the University's Coordinating Council "to get faculty involved in deliberations on important matters more quickly than in the past," Ray said.

Ray, who said he is pledged to an open and consultative management style, claimed that the quality of some past decisions may have suffered from a lack of timely faculty input.

Ray's address is on the Web at www.admin.ohio-state.edu/OAA/reports.html

By David Bhaerman

The University's Board of Trustees on March 5 received an annual report from William J.Shkurti, senior vice president for finance, business and administration, about how the University's revenue and spending compares with its benchmark institutions and within the state of Ohio.

The benchmark institutions are nine universities that are highly ranked academically and comparable to Ohio State in mission, size and configuration. They are Pennsylvania State University, and the universities of Arizona, California at Los Angeles, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.

At $23,715, Ohio State has 19 percent fewer resources per student than the $29,420 average of its peers, but still has kept its undergraduate tuition and fees 6.9 percent below the $4,196 average of the benchmark institutions and 9.3 percent below the $4,174 average of others in the state, Shkurti told trustees. Michigan has the highest revenue per student at $39,153 and the highest annual tuition at $6,489.

State support and grants and contracts also are below benchmark institutions, but the gaps have been closing in recent years, he said.

The University spends less per student than the benchmark institutions, though it spends more per student for instruction and public service, Shkurti said. Ohio State spent 128 percent of the benchmark average for public service and 112 percent of the average for instruction, he said, but significantly less on student support services.

"But despite its limited resources, Ohio State has continued to improve the quality of its academic programs and the quality of the experience of its students," Shkurti said. "This University is a tremendous value to Ohio's taxpayers, with a higher academic reputation and lower tuition than other ranked state institutions."

Ohio State was ranked 37th in academic reputation by U.S. News and World Report in 1997 and had annual tuition of $3,879. Miami University was ranked 65th with a tuition of $5,802, Ohio University was 84th and had tuition of $4,530, University of Cincinnati ranked 116th with tuition of $4,746, and Kent State University ranked 148th with tuition of $4,714.

By Susan Wittstock

The recommendations by the Staff Compensation and Benefits Committee for the next fiscal year focus on issues of equity and potential benefit enhancements the group believes could improve the University's ability to recruit and retain faculty and staff.

Included is a proposal to increase the salary pool by 5 percent for fiscal year 2000, with an additional 1.5 percent earmarked during the next two years for market adjustments throughout the University.

SCBC, a subgroup of the University Staff Advisory Council, presented its annual report to President Kirwan, Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray and Associate Vice President for Human Resources Larry Lewellen Feb. 24.

The University's administration will present finalized salary recommendations to the Board of Trustees in the spring. Recommendations by the Faculty Compensation and Benefits Committee of the University Senate also will be taken into consideration.

"A lot of the items in the report are marginal improvements, but they are items that can really contribute to recruitment and retention," said Jack Miner, administrative associate for the registrar and chair of SCBC.

USAC endorses uniform vacation accrual and carry-over for administrative and professional staff and civil service staff, as well as uniform application of the three-year waiting period for dependent fee waivers.

The report also recommends that the Distinguished Staff Award be added to the base salary of recipients, to create equity with faculty awards. Distinguished staff now get a one-time cash award.

The report makes several suggestions to extend the reach of fee authorizations. USAC advocates a 100 percent tuition waiver for dependent fee authorizations, to keep Ohio State in step with the policy of many other Ohio public universities. It also recommends reciprocal employee and dependent fee waivers with those institutions.

USAC proposes a 50 percent tuition fee waiver for staff with appointments between 50 and 74 percent, fee waivers to retired employees with at least 10 years of University service, and extension of eligibility for dependent fee waivers from five years to 10 years for retired employees.

In the area of compensation, USAC recommends a 5 percent salary pool increase for fiscal year 2000, effective July 1, but also seeks an additional 1.5 percent during fiscal years 2000 and 2001 to respond to market needs.

The report refers to the current low unemployment and rapid growth in the Columbus job market, and the need for OSU to be competitive in the job market.

The additional 1.5 percent is intended to make up for last year, Miner said, when the University offered a 3.5 percent increase in the salary pool rather than the 5 percent USAC requested. The 1998 SCBC report had recommended a 15 percent increase for the three-year period ending in fiscal year 2001.

The compensation recommendations prompted discussion about the limited funds available for salary increases.

"We all agree that something needs to be done about salaries because we are slipping behind," Kirwan said.

Kirwan and Ray both said the state's budget allocations to Ohio State for next year will not support an increase as high as 6.5 percent for salaries, particularly when other areas of OSU's budget have a greater deficit than compensation.

The report also includes recommendations to:

• Include coverage of adult orthodontia in the dental plan.
• Continue research on a paid time-off bank, which would give employees more flexibility in use of vacation and sick time.
• Recreate the Office of Work and Family.
• Extend spousal benefits to domestic partners of University employees.

Several past recommendations made by SCBC are in the process of being implemented. For example, beginning July 1, employees will have the option to purchase short-term disability insurance and supplemental life insurance.

The complete SCBC report is on the Web at www.acs.ohio-state.edu/org/usac/.