Senate expands course repetition option for students

Council's annual report also addresses Latin honors, transfer students

University Senate has approved new guidelines that expand opportunities for Ohio State students seeking to repeat a course for credit. The revision requires Board of Trustees approval.

The rule change is among a number of issues, including suggestions to specify graduation honors designations, a concentrated effort to improve chances freshmen will succeed academically, and a proposed change in transfer student admission standards, covered in a recent annual report from Senate's Council on Enrollment and Student Progress (CESP).

Under the existing rule concerning repetition of courses, undergraduate and professional students who had earned a"PA" (pass) or a"C-" or better were able to repeat a course only as auditors and not for a new grade. The new rule will allow students who receive a mark ranging from"A" to "D," plus"K" (credit from another institution) and"PA," to repeat the course once for a grade with the approval of an academic adviser.

"Sometimes, students changing their majors or their goals want to repeat courses to show they are capable of the work they didn't do before. Or, students who have been out of school for awhile want to repeat a course to demonstrate a higher level of mastery of the curriculum," said Carol Bininger, chair of the council and assistant professor of community, parent-child and psychiatric nursing."We're trying to be student-friendly."

As before, the rule allows students who receive a mark of"E" or"NP" (nonpass) to repeat a course for credit at their option. The rule for graduate students remains unchanged -- they may repeat a course for credit with the approval of their advisers.

Under the revised rule, the second earned grade would not replace the first grade for a course -- both grades and the credit hours earned would be factored into a student's grade point average. In addition, the council determined the rule would not interfere with financial aid, is likely to reduce administrative problems arising when students seek to repeat a course for credit, and does not affect the freshman forgiveness rule, which allows a freshman who receives a"D+,""D," or"E" to repeat a course before the end of the sophomore year and exclude the original course grade from calculation in the student's GPA.

"If we adopt this, it puts us more in line with other institutions," Bininger said, citing the universities of Iowa, Arizona and Illinois-Chicago as examples.

The Senate voted 58 to 9 in favor of the proposal. In response to those who expressed concerns about the revision, Bininger said,"We really don't think there are going to be major abuses of this privilege. Students have to invest too much time and money in their education to use this privilege frivolously."

The Secretaries of the Colleges advanced the proposal to the council.

The proposal is one of two rule changes being requested by the council this year. Also moving through Senate committees is a proposal to change the policies regarding the awarding of Latin honors. Suggested grade point average thresholds to be proposed either Universitywide or by each college are as follows: 3.9 for"summa cum laude," 3.7 for"magna cum laude" and 3.5 for"cum laude."

The current rule limits the number of students to receive the honors to 10 percent of a graduating class and further limits"summa cum laude" and"magna cum laude" designations to 6 percent. The number of students accorded"summa cum laude" is not to exceed 3 percent of the graduating classes of an enrollment unit. Enrollment units are able to adopt more specific standards for designation of honors."Specifying the GPA criterion would show students what they are striving for," Bininger said.

The council also has sought faculty support Universitywide for an effort to improve chances that first-year students will succeed academically. During winter quarter, CESP cooperated with the office of Martha Garland, vice provost and dean for undergraduate studies, in sending a letter to all faculty urging that first-year students be given feedback on their progress by week five of the quarter.

"The University has many programs in place to assist the academically compromised student," CESP wrote."However, students not realizing they are in academic trouble will not be inclined to avail themselves of these resources."

In the course of its work -- which focuses on monitoring student recruitment, retention and graduation rates -- last academic year, the council also made recommendations to raise standards for transfer students to eliminate the discrepancy between qualification for new freshmen and transfer students within the next 10 years. Related recommendations suggested ensuring appropriate counseling for transfer students and establishing an earlier application deadline to allow for the best planning of class space and the granting of transfer credit.

"The intention is to bring in a strong undergraduate student body so we can increase graduation rates," Bininger said. The six-year graduation rate for the class that entered in autumn 1993 was 55.9 percent."Ohio State is gaining in reputation and becoming more attractive," Bininger said."We have selective admissions, not to be elitist, but because we really do want students to be successful here."

Urban education expert, OSU alumna nominated as dean

By Gemma McLuckie

Donna Browder Evans, dean of the Darden College of Education at Old Dominion University in Virginia, has been nominated as the new dean of Ohio State's College of Education.

President Kirwan and Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray have announced the nomination, which is subject to approval by the Board of Trustees at its April 7 meeting. If approved, she would assume her new position July 1.

Kirwan said Evans personifies the qualities the search committee identified in forums with faculty, staff, students and other constituents."The committee sought an accomplished academic leader who led successful initiatives to improve education and to influence educational policy and practice," Kirwan said."Also, her commitment to working with the city and state in addressing K-12 issues through effective partnerships matches the goals of the University. Members of the search committee also wanted a strong and effective manager who can attract, energize and retain highly talented faculty, staff and students. They found that person in Dr. Evans."

Donna Evans

Ray said that, as a Columbus native and an alumna of Ohio State's College of Education, Evans has"a grounding in our tradition of excellence."

"Her work in urban education meshes with the college faculty's deep commitment to making inner-city schools better," Ray said."She is dedicated to balancing scholarship with teacher preparation, and also believes a strong research agenda is necessary for better educational policy nationwide."

Evans earned three degrees from Ohio State: a bachelor's degree in elementary education, a master's degree in counselor education, and a Ph.D. in counselor education and educational administration. She did postgraduate work at the University of Rochester and postdoctoral work at the Institute for Reality Therapy and Harvard University.

She has been dean of Darden College since 1995. Previously, she was dean at North Florida in Jacksonville from 1991-95 and Wayne State University in Detroit from 1987-91. At Skidmore College from 1983-87, she was chair of the education department. Evans was acting dean of the graduate school from 1980-82 at the University of Maine in Orono, where she had been a faculty member since 1973. Evans also was a classroom teacher, guidance counselor and mathematics teacher in the Columbus Public Schools for 11 years.

"I am extremely pleased that President Kirwan and Provost Ray are recommending me to the board," Evans said."The College of Education is always in the top tier of graduate education programs in the nation, and has what it takes to be No. 1. I am eager to provide an environment in which faculty, staff and students will thrive."

Evans has received numerous grants for studies in urban education and teacher preparation reform. She has served on committees for the Holmes Partnership, a teacher preparation reform initiative, as well as the National Association of Colleges of Teacher Education's prestigious Board of Examiners.

As dean, she would replace Interim Dean Daryl Siedentop, who will return to the faculty.

McLuckie is director of communications for the College of Education.

Open enrollment will roll out in April

The Office of Human Resources will roll out Open Enrollment again this April, providing faculty and staff a chance to make changes to their benefit plans. Changes this year will include a revised prescription drug program.

Ohio State's premium rates for all four health plans will be going up this year, in response to national trends.

"All health plan costs are increasing these days, particularly with prescription drugs," said Nicholas D. Maul, director of benefits finance and risk management.

Effective July 1, the percentage of increase varies depending on which health plan employees are enrolled in. University Prime Care participants will see an increase of 7.42 percent, Buckeye Health Plan will increase by 6.07 percent, and OSU Health Plan and Traditional Health Plan will rise by 43.7 percent.

"This is not a situation we're alone in at Ohio State," said Jefferson B. Walters, executive director of OSU Managed Health Care Systems."Increasing pharmaceutical costs, an aging population, advances in technology and medical inflation have all contributed to the overall cost of health care," he said.

In an effort to keep costs down, more and more health plans are switching to an HMO format. In Ohio from 1996 to 1999, the number of HMOs in the commercial market increased from 25 percent to 42 percent. For HMO plans comparable to Ohio State's University Prime Care plan, most employers this year are expecting premium rate increases between 9 percent to 12 percent, Walters said.

"The reason we've been able to keep these prices down to 7 percent is because of the changes to the prescription drug program," Maul said."This is causing premium rates to not be as onerous as they could have been."

The University pharmacy benefit plan will include a formulary, effective in October."It's basically a preferred drug list -- a list of medications preferred for coverage by a health plan," said Bruce E. Sill, director of pharmacy services for OSU Managed Health Care Systems and a registered pharmacist."The reason the medications are preferred is because they either have a better safety or effectiveness profile, or if that is equal to other medications, then they are selected because they are less expensive."

An independent national pharmacy and therapeutical committee conducts the reviews."Ninety percent of managed care plans have some kind of preferred drug list," Sills said.

"We're catching up," Maul said."Most employers have moved away from the two-tier system we have -- generic and name-brand. Most others have a three-tier system, with generics, name brands and preferred name brands."

Under the plan, members can still choose to use drugs not in the formulary, but they will pay more out of pocket for them.

Generic drug copayments will hold steady, with patients paying 10 percent of prescription costs for retail and $10 per prescription for mail service. Retail copayments will remain at 20 percent for preferred brand-name drugs (formulary list) but will be 35 percent for nonpreferred brand-name drugs. For mail service copayments, the cost will be $20 for preferred brand-name drugs (formulary list) and $35 for nonpreferred brand-name drugs.

"Our prescription drug benefits are more generous than most, so our increases in prescription drug costs are greater than most. They're increasing about 25 percent this year," Maul said.

The maximum copayment for an individual prescription will rise from $50 to $75 and the annual out-of-pocket maximum will rise from $1,000 to $1,500 for the 2000-01 benefit year."It's really just catching up with inflation," Maul said."It's been at $50 and $1,000 for almost a decade."

Voluntary Group Term Life Insurance, offered for the first time last year, will be an option for open enrollment again this year."We have decided to offer a new window for enrollment. We had a small response last year, with only 500 people signing up, so we decided to provide another opportunity this year," said Judith V. Kadja, director of benefits and wellness services. The program gives employees the opportunity to purchase additional insurance through the University's provider, at a cost that is likely to be lower than if they went through an outside provider.

Open enrollment will take place from April 1 though April 30. Benefits packets will be mailed to faculty and staff in late March. Call the OHR Customer Service Center at 292-1050 for more information or e-mail questions to a benefits consultant at benefits@hr1.ohr.ohio-state.edu.