Skestos

George A. Skestos, founder of the Columbus-based building firm Homewood Corp., was named chair of the Ohio State Board of Trustees on May 5. He succeeds Michael Colley, whose one-year term as chair and nine-year term as trustee ends on May 13.

Skestos, who joined the board in 1992, also serves on the boards of Huntington National Bank, Central Benefits Insurance Co. and Midland Financial Corp. His own company, Homewood Corp., is a multifaceted firm that has constructed more than 10,000 multi-family units and 12,000 single-family homes. He is also founder of the Prince of Peace Foundation, which assists the homeless and underprivileged, and the Salem Foundation, which provides scholarships for young men studying to become pastors. He has degrees in law, business, and arts and sciences from the University of Michigan.

David L. Brennan, a trustee since 1993, was elected vice chair. Brennan is chair of Brennan Industrial Group Inc. and The Brenlin Group Inc., both private holding companies of industrial and manufacturing entities. He is a founder of the Amer Cunningham Brennan law firm. A leader in state and national Republican activities, he is chair of the Ohio Republican Party Major Gift Committee.

Student technology fee requested

Ohio State plans to assess a $50-per-quarter student technology fee to all students not currently paying a technology fee, pending approval by the Ohio Board of Regents and the Ohio Controlling Board. If the fee is approved, the University pledges to limit the increase in resident undergraduate tuition and general fees to 5.5 percent for the next academic year.

"We feel a responsibility to provide specialized computing technology resources and skills for our students, but with the rapid changes in technology and required skills, it's not possible to expand our efforts to meet these needs without assessing this fee,"said Edward J. Ray, executive vice president and provost.

The University's Board of Trustees on May 5 approved a resolution requesting approval for exemption from the resident undergraduate state fee cap of 6 percent because the technology fee combined with other increases next year would exceed the state cap.

University officials noted that Ohio State ranks ninth in total fees charged to undergraduates among four-year institutions in Ohio. Ray also asserted that state funding has not kept pace with the increased demand for computing technology that Ohio institutions must provide to prepare students to be competitive in the work force.

The College of Engineering, the Fisher College of Business, the School of Public Policy and Management, and the Department of Computer and Information Science already have implemented technology fees, with the approval of the Board of Trustees.

Group recommends student health plans

The University's student health insurance plan could undergo some major changes if trustees accept recommendations made by the Student Health Insurance Committee. Suggestions from the committee include providing students with a "medical only"insurance plan option at lower premium rates and implementing a minimum credit-hour requirement for plan eligibility, effective 2001-02.

"We want students to have access to affordable health insurance through Ohio State,"said Mary Daniels, assistant vice president for student affairs and a committee member. "When students don't have to worry about health-care costs or where they will need to go with their health concerns, they have a better chance of staying in school and making progress toward a degree."

The committee's recommendations included retaining Koster Insurance Agency as the underwriter and administrator of the commercially insured PPO portion of the plan for 2000-01. The group also suggested managing increases in premium rates by shifting more individual health-care costs to the user by adding a 10 percent in-network co-pay, offering domestic partner benefits at no additional premium charge, increasing the annual out-of-pocket limit for non-network services to $4,000 and offering an improved dental benefit package.

After hearing the report, Tami Longaberger, trustee and chair of the Student Affairs Committee, said her committee would accept all recommendations except the provision for domestic partner benefits.

"My fellow trustees and I are convinced that establishing benefits for domestic partners at this time would put our state support at risk,"Longaberger said. "Until the state of Ohio signals its acceptance of the provision of benefits for domestic partners, it is unlikely that the board will put the financial security of the University at risk by taking action in this area."

Trustees are expected to vote on the student health insurance recommendations at their June 2 meeting.

Professional colleges are subject of I-QUE

A report on professional graduate education at Ohio State recommends increased clinical experiences for professional students and improved diversity in the professional colleges.

The report includes recommendations resulting from a survey conducted for the Inter-Professional Council Quality of the University Experience (I-QUE) project. Eric Ley, president of the Inter-Professional Council (IPC) and a fourth-year medical student, presented the report, which suggests specific areas for improvement using the results of the I-QUE survey, professional college-specific surveys and the insight of individuals connected to the colleges.

The report also includes four more recommendations from the survey: support the growth of professional students, better define professional students, improve the structure and appearance of the IPC college facilities, and improve access and security in the IPC colleges.

The I-QUE survey was administered in April 1999. Surveys were collected from 649 students from all five professional colleges on campus: Medicine and Public Health, Law, Optometry, Veterinary Medicine and Dentistry. Students were asked to rank each item's quality and importance on a scale from 1 to 5. The report reflects the results of the initial survey, Ley said.

The report proposes a variety of ways to fulfill the recommendations, including:

• Reserving $20,000 annually to allow IPC to fund eligible professional students through a professional development fund and allow IPC to take part in the distribution of these funds.

• Redefining post-undergraduate students in architecture, business, nursing and pharmacy as professional students.

• Providing resources, including staff, student recruiters and travel funds to increase minority recruitment on all Ohio and other national culturally diverse undergraduate campuses and at national student association meetings.

• Increasing funding to IPC colleges to provide reduced fee health services and promote public service as a career choice.

Names approved for several facilities

The board approved the naming of the following facilities:

• The Richard L. Shelly Family Press Box in Ohio Stadium, in recognition of the family's contribution to the funding of Ohio Stadium improvements.

• The Huntington Club at Ohio Stadium, in recognition of Huntington National Bank of Columbus' contribution to the funding of Ohio Stadium improvements.

• The All-American Buckeye Grove Sponsored by M/I Schottenstein Homes Foundation, in recognition of the foundation's contribution enabling improvements to the All-American Buckeye Grove.

• The Varsity "O"Football Club Sponsored by M/I Schottenstein Homes Foundation -- a special hospitality room in Ohio Stadium devoted to members of Varsity "O"-- in recognition of the foundation's contribution to the funding of Ohio Stadium improvements.

• The John W. Wolfe Cancer Genetics Research Laboratories in Wiseman Hall, in recognition of Wolfe's leadership in establishing the James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute and the Wolfe family's longtime support of Ohio State.

• Donald A. Borror Drive -- formerly known as Arena Drive, located between Olentangy River Road and Fred Taylor Drive and running between the Jerome Schottenstein Center and Bill Davis Stadium -- in recognition of the Borror family's contribution to the funding of the Schottenstein Center and the leadership of Donald Borror on the national campaign executive committee of the Affirm Thy Friendship Campaign.

Reporting, degree name changed

The board approved the following changes in reporting lines and name of degree:

• The Comprehensive Cancer Center will change its reporting line from the senior vice president for health sciences to the executive vice president and provost.

• The School of Public Health will change its reporting line from the dean of the College of Medicine and Public Health to the executive vice president and provost.

• The Bachelor of Science in Industrial Design degree will now be the Bachelor of Science in Design.

Endowment stands at $1.26 billion

University Treasurer James L. Nichols updated trustees on the University's endowment, which stood at $1.26 billion as of April 30. He reported that income distributed from the endowment to colleges and departments during the past fiscal year (1998-99) reached an all-time high of $45.5 million. In an annual report on the status of the University's tax-exempt bonds, Nichols reported that Ohio State's debt at the end of March stood at $350 million.