Message in a bottle

By Jo McCulty Bruce Bursten, chair of the Department of Chemistry, demonstrates a chemical reaction for the Board of Trustees Feb. 2 during a presentation by the most recent Departmental Teaching Award recipients. Bursten, accompanied by colleagues, and Mike Mangino, professor in the Department of Food Science and Technology, represented the depart-ments that received the awards last year. Ohio State annually recognizes departments that excel in teaching, awarding winners $25,000 in annual rate and $1,500 in one-time funds.

Analysis shows OSU performance progress

Ohio State is showing recent gains in research productivity and improvements to the student experience as part of its ongoing self-assessment in relation to the top public comprehensive research institutions.

The University also reports that student and faculty satisfaction levels match national standards, especially concerning academic expectations, and that 11 advanced-degree programs rank among the nation's top 25. Those results and others are part of an updated document that provides quantitative and qualitative measures of Ohio State's performance in several areas.

The newest statistics were reported to the Board of Trustees Feb. 2 in a presentation on strategic indicators that demonstrate progress Ohio State is making in a national context and what the University must do to enhance its value to the people of Ohio and become one of the world's truly great universities.

Ultimately, said William J. Shkurti, senior vice president for business and finance, Ohio State will use the ongoing strategic indicators assessment as a guide in institutional decision-making.

"Ohio State is not required to conduct this assessment," he said. "But because Ohio State is an institution that takes its academic and access mission seriously, we consider this kind of ongoing analysis a factor in being good stewards of public resources. We also measure our performance against the best because it's the right thing to do."

Assessments center around the recently released Academic Plan's six broad strategies: build a world-class faculty; define Ohio State as a leading land-grant university; enhance the quality of the teaching and learning environment; enhance and better serve the student body; create a diverse University community; and help build Ohio's future. Such an "academic report card" to monitor progress was built into the Academic Plan, and builds upon similar analyses conducted by the University for the past several years.

A report summary indicates Ohio State has made progress in service to the student body and steady improvements in becoming a leading land-grant institution, with mixed results in measures concerning the other four initiatives, said Alice C. Stewart, director of the University's Office of Strategic Analysis and Planning.

The Academic Plan reflects the University's focus in recent years on more closely aligning its resources with an ambitious academic agenda that includes pursuit of national leadership in the quality of its academic programs; creation of a learning environment for students on a par with the nation's best universities; creation of an environment that values and is enriched by diversity; and expansion of the land-grant mission to address society's most compelling needs. The University's numerous initiatives, ranging from selective investment in the most promising academic departments to establishment of a Council on Diversity, demonstrate Ohio State's commitment to excellence and address many of the statistics cited in the strategic indicators report.

"This ongoing analysis, which is based on a huge variety of data sources, shows the results of our investment of time and resources, and areas in which the University might want to invest even more," said Stewart, also an assistant professor of management and human resources. "Identifying these outcomes is about capturing an institutional picture of what's going on here and where we stand in relation to some of our stiffest national competition for high-achieving students and high-caliber faculty."

Stewart cautioned that it can take years to demonstrate significant changes in performance because of both the intensity of the competition and the long-term nature of most of the performance indicators being measured. "We need to watch the direction of the trend, not just year-to-year changes," she said.

Strategic indicators are based on comparisons with nine identified benchmark institutions that are similar to Ohio State in organization and size, but are generally regarded in the top tier of public universities: Pennsylvania State University and the universities of Minnesota, Washington, Texas, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona, Wisconsin and California, Los Angeles. The full report is available on the Web at www.rpia.ohio-state.edu/ under "2001 Strategic Indicators." Highlights include:

• The impact of Ohio State's research has improved over the past five years, with the market share of citations increasing .06 percent during the most recent three-year period measured.

• In 1999, Ohio State increased its market share of federal research dollars by .022 percent, or $35 million, while three benchmark universities received a smaller share of federal funding than in 1998. Still, total federal research dollars awarded to Ohio State remain much lower than funding awarded overall to benchmark schools.

• After doubling the number of national merit-based faculty awards from 1998 to 1999 (nine to 18), the number decreased to 13 in 2000. At the same time, the benchmark mean barely changed, from 16.6 awards in 1998 to 17.5 in 1999 and 16.4 in 2000.

• Seven of Ohio State's professional graduate programs rank among the top 25 as rated by U.S. News & World Report, which exceeds or matches the number of ranked programs at six top public universities.

• Four of OSU's academic doctoral programs rank among the top 25, exceeding only two benchmark institutions' total doctoral programs in the top 25.

• In surveys of faculty and students, most (71.7 percent of faculty; 80 percent of undergraduates; 64.4 percent of graduate students) reported satisfaction regarding their overall experience at Ohio State, consistent with national norms.

• In 1999, 61 percent of Ohio State's incoming freshman class ranked in the top 25 percent of their high school class, compared with 47 percent in 1994. Though the percentage remains below the 81 percent benchmark mean, Ohio State has made steady gains while the mean has remained relatively constant.

• In 1999, Ohio State reached an all-time high 81 percent freshman retention rate, and projections for 2000 indicate improvement will continue.

• Perception of student safety on campus increased in every year surveyed (82.2 percent perceived it safe in 1998-99); perception of safety off campus, however, is lower (61.1 percent perceiving it safe in 1999-2000).

• The percentage of minority full-time faculty (4.99 percent) at Ohio State exceeds that of four benchmark universities, but is lower than the range of 5.58 percent to 7.98 percent reported by five other benchmark schools.

• The six-year graduation rate of African-American students is lower than that of nonminority students, and is lower than the average African-American graduation rate at benchmark schools. The University has initiatives in place that address these statistics. For example, Ohio State is creating a more effective model of transferring students into the University that will include scholarships for transfer students, and is devoting additional funding to merit-based scholarships for minority freshmen. OSU also has enhanced retention efforts, which include an intensive First Year Experience program and bolstered support systems for all at-risk students, and has enhanced the Term One transition program for first-year students.

• Invention disclosures at Ohio State increased substantially in 1999, from 75 to 100. Though the benchmark universities increased, as well, the gap between those universities and OSU narrowed.

• The average licensing income at benchmark universities is much higher than licensing income at Ohio State. The University has intensified its efforts to generate partnerships between researchers and business that could result in technology-based start-up companies (see http://techpartners.osu.edu).

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