Academic priorities drive request for state capital funds

Ohio State's Academic Plan is driving the University's state capital budget request for fiscal years 2003 and 2004, in which building projects are prioritized to address teaching, research and student needs. The Board of Trustees approved the recommendations June 29 and now must submit the request to the Ohio Board of Regents.

Capital funds are state funds the University receives every two years that are earmarked for specific capital improvement projects. The Board of Regents requires capital requests to include a six-year plan that charts University construction activity during this biennium and the next two biennia, as well as the state funding history of projects not yet completed, said William J. Shkurti, senior vice president for business and finance.

Six projects -- Main Library rehabilitation, Robinson Lab replacement, a new psychology facility, a student recreation center, the Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital and improvements to the campus infrastructure -- will require $68.7 million of the likely $75 million state capital appropriation available in the biennium including FY 2003 and FY 2004, Shkurti said. The remaining $5 million to $10 million in state funds for those years -- covering work completed between July 2002 and June 2004 -- will be focused on research facilities and a study of critical deferred maintenance needs in Hughes Hall, home of the School of Music, he said.

Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray emphasized that the Academic Plan is the motivating factor behind these requests. While the Main Library rehabilitation is one of only two capital projects specifically mentioned in the Academic Plan, the remaining projects either support the goal of expanding research or provide enhanced instructional space needed to attract and retain top-notch faculty, students and staff, he said.

With the advice of the Space Facilities Committee and the appropriate vice presidents, a list of 36 major project requests totaling more than $1.5 billion was narrowed to 12 projects for possible inclusion in the upcoming capital request, Shkurti said. Basic renovation projects of $1.5 million or less are not included and are funded by a separate line item, he said.

Projects were reviewed by the offices of Academic Affairs, Business and Finance, Research, Health Services, Student Affairs and Development, as well as the University Senate's Fiscal Committee and Committee on the Physical Environment. Reviewers examined proposals' academic priority, physical need, financial feasibility and physical feasibility. Additionally, projects were evaluated on how they support the six major strategies of the Academic Plan.

"Aligning the project's objectives with the goals of the Academic Plan was an overriding factor in the recommendations," Ray said.

The six projects and the amount of state capital funds recommended for FY 2003-04 follow:

• No. 1 on the priority list is the rehabilitation of the Main (William Oxley Thompson) Library. A recommendation of $4.2 million in state funds in 2003-04 is to be used for detailed planning and design. "The Thompson Library is in many ways the intellectual heart of the campus," Ray said. Construction is expected to begin in 2005 and conclude by 2008. The project is expected to cost at least $70 million, with $50 million to $70 million in state funds to be matched by at least $20 million resulting from private fund-raising.

• While the Department of Mechanical Engineering is one of Ohio State's highly ranked academic departments, Robinson Lab is one of the University's worst deferred maintenance problems. The University is recommending a $72.5 million project: $52.5 million in state funding and $20 million in private fund-raising. The University is asking for $20 million in state capital funds for 2003-04.

• The University is requesting $15 million in state capital funds for construction in 2003-04 and an additional $17 million in the following biennium to build a new facility for the Department of Psychology. The facility will be located between Lazenby and Cunz halls, south of the existing Larkins Hall, and will provide an additional 28,200 square feet of space for the department. A Selective Investment department, psychology instructs more undergraduate majors and more honors students than any other department.

• A student recreation center, which includes research, teaching and office space for the School of Physical Activity and Educational Services, addresses the Academic Plan goals regarding the teaching and learning environment. A recommendation of $28 million in state funds will be used for academic space in the first phase of construction, scheduled to be completed by June 2004.

• The Richard M. Ross Heart Hospital is primarily a clinical facility and is critical to the financial viability of the University Medical Center. In the current biennium, $2.5 million was provided for planning. No additional state capital funds are required for the $82.5 million project because a financial plan is being developed to make the heart hospital a self-supporting facility, Shkurti said.

• The University is requesting $1.5 million in state capital funding in the next biennium to help assist with improving the campus infrastructure needed to support additional construction, Ray said.

These six projects are those to which the University committed in the FY 2001-02 capital process and which have already received Board of Trustees approval. Although the recreation center and heart hospital will be completed without additional state funds in future biennia, the four remaining commitments will require an additional $67 million in FY 2005-06, Shkurti said.

"This means the remaining funds will have to be carefully targeted to the highest priorities in the Academic Plan and must be leveraged to the maximum extent with other resources," he said.

An additional four projects on the list consisted of three sponsored research facilities and $1 million in planning funds to determine whether a new structure should be built for the School of Music or whether Hughes Hall should undergo a complete renovation, Ray said. The research facilities listed in the proposal are:

• The College of Medicine and Public Health has approval for a Biomedical Research Facility that would house the seven major areas of biomedical research in approximately 200,000 square feet. No state capital funds are requested for this project, which is expected to be funded principally with funds generated from sponsored research conducted in this facility.

• The Office of Research has proposed adding 25,000 square feet of lab animal space by expanding existing space in Pressey and Wiseman halls. The total cost is estimated at $17 million, with funding coming from a combination of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, private grants and state funding; the state capital fund request has not been determined.

• The College of Optometry has requested support for an addition to Fry Hall -- its existing facility -- to create additional space for sponsored research. The University is requesting $3.6 million in state capital funding in the FY 2003-04 biennium for the project.

Nursing's first permanent dean ends 15-year term

Though she didn't know it at the time, Carole Anderson was spending much of the early part of her life preparing to be an effective university administrator.

She grew up in an ethnically diverse Chicago neighborhood, where she learned how rich life could be when people of different backgrounds worshipped, worked and played together. Her collegiate and professional pursuits in nursing involved choices both practical and passionate, with emphasis on the underserved. She specialized in the field of mental health and later earned a Ph.D. in sociology, learning how and why organizations function in the way they do and what motivates human behavior. By the time she got to Ohio State in 1986, she was ready to do what it would take to turn a nursing school into a college. Fifteen years later, she says she has completed what she set out to accomplish, and is ending her term as dean.

Anderson was the first permanent dean of Ohio State's College of Nursing, which, until 1984, was housed within the College of Medicine. When Anderson was hired, then-President Edward Jennings told her to transform the nursing program into a college that fulfills all aspects of the University mission.

Dean Carole Anderson

Sorely missing at the time was a well-developed graduate education and research program. Over the years, numerous faculty have been hired to build the graduate programs and conduct research on subjects ranging from tobacco use and nutrition to cardiac care and military women's health concerns. Today, the college is a top-20 nursing school nationally, and ranks eighth in the country in the number of ongoing research projects and 17th in the total amount of external research funding. It also is one of the University's most advanced units in terms of creating distance education opportunities, and has established an innovative graduate-entry master's degree program targeted toward those without undergraduate training in nursing who want to change their careers. Nursing's relationship with the University Medical Center is strong, which fosters the college's ability to offer solid clinical programs.

As if all that progress didn't keep her busy enough, Anderson also held a faculty appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and served as assistant vice president for health sciences; for the past year, she has been executive dean of the health sciences.

"I've been involved in University-level activities while I've been dean, which has been helpful. The hospitals are changing now more than ever, and the University is changing, too," Anderson says. "I'm proud because the College of Nursing has kept pace with those changes."

The profession itself, however, is experiencing some suffering, Anderson asserts. "I think it's a wonderful career and profession, but I don't think we've done a good job of articulating all the satisfactions that go with it," she says. "I believe that's because it's a so-called Ôwomen's' profession. We're undervalued just like women are undervalued and their contributions are undervalued. We need to do a better job of documenting the significance of nursing care to patient outcomes."

For example, Anderson says, a patient treated by the best surgeon in the world won't have the best outcome without quality post-operative nursing care. "Physicians and administrators need to acknowledge that. It happens on individual levels, but it's not an institutionalized practice to relate to nurses as important colleagues in the tapestry of care," she says. In addition, better articulation of career paths for nurses should be a national goal, especially when other health-related fields are attracting more and more women -- at a much faster pace than nursing attracts men.

Anderson knows nursing not just from her long-term status as dean, but from present-day experience. She has never stopped working as a nurse throughout her academic and administrative career, which began with an appointment as chair of the University of Colorado School of Nursing and then as associate dean in the College of Nursing at the University of Rochester in New York State. Here at Ohio State, she has maintained a small clinical practice as a therapist for HIV-positive patients participating in AIDS clinical trials. In New York, she provided care to battered women.

Both populations have been examined by Anderson as part of her research and writing program; in addition, Anderson has presented and published on the subjects of nursing education in an era of national nursing shortages and on organizational leadership, an expertise that has led to her participation on numerous initiatives throughout the University.

Most recently, Anderson co-chaired the committee that developed Ohio State's Diversity Action Plan, and now chairs the Diversity Council monitoring the University's progress in relation to the plan. She will continue to serve on the council until her retirement, scheduled for 2003. A primary concern for Anderson centers on developing a communication plan that can inform all constituencies, especially students, about the many activities and initiatives taking place that relate to the plan's goals. The council also has created a template for reports and proposals that is designed to assist units in tracking their progress and planning for future initiatives.

While Anderson tends to other administrative duties and consultations in her post-dean life, she says she plans to be helpful, but out of the way, as new dean Elizabeth Lenz "puts her own stamp on the place" beginning Sept. 1. The two know each other professionally, and Anderson says she "feels good about her and her ability to do the job." She also says she will look back with pride on her own OSU career.

"Overall, I feel satisfied. I really honestly feel like I've done the job and my time to do this job is over. I have no second thoughts and no regrets. I think it's probably wise to leave when things are going well," she says. "It's a very different place from when I came, and it's in a very strong position. It can only get better."

Dean reflects on 10-year tenure

After leading Ohio State's College of Dentistry for 10 years, Dean Henry Fields is stepping down to devote his energies to teaching and research.

"Ten years is a reasonable amount of time to serve in the position of dean, and to launch new ideas, see the results and revise those results," Fields said. "I'm excited to get back to teaching and research. That's what I started out doing and that's what I really like doing."

Even so, Fields said it won't be "a complete day-and-night sort of change." While serving as dean, he has instructed in the graduate clinic, and taught orthodontics and a predoctoral dental course at Ohio State. Fields also worked with graduate students in pediatric dentistry at Children's Hospital and cared for patients in the faculty dental practice. His primary research interests are child dental behavior, vertical facial development, and orthodontic diagnostic and treatment methods.

Dean Henry Fields

A native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Fields joined Ohio State as dean in 1991. Prior to that he was employed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he worked his way up through the ranks from assistant professor to assistant dean of academic affairs.

Under Fields' leadership, the quality of the student body has improved tremendously, and research has expanded and flourished. Fields said several of the dental programs have earned recognition in the dental community as excellent graduate training programs, with more approaching that standard. Other high points of his tenure as dean include:

• Development dollars increased substantially, providing three new endowed chairs, additional scholarships and additional renovation funds.

• The clinic system was reoriented into a group-based comprehensive care system, which instituted earlier clinic experience for students.

• The majority of dental facilities have undergone renovation, essentially with college funds.

• Considerable advancements in technology have been made despite implementation and funding challenges.

As dean, Fields said he has worked hard to strengthen relationships with organized dentistry and alumni by sponsoring alumni events and being active in professional organizations at the local, state and national levels. Among his numerous professional affiliations, Fields is president-elect of the Columbus Dental Society, a member of the Ohio Dental Association's finance committee and has served as vice chair of the American Dental Association's Commission on Dental Accreditation.

Fields said the most rewarding aspect of being dean was experiencing the opportunity to watch people and programs develop from relatively undefined and novice states into successful scholars, robust programs, and initiatives that have a positive impact on the community.

"That's really rewarding to see that you have made a difference in an education program," he said.

Fields will remain dean until Sept. 1, pending a nationwide search for his replacement.

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