By Jo McCulty Bebe Miller instructs a winter quarter dance class.

In Ohio, dancer/choreographer Bebe Miller finds space to move

Dance students in Bebe Miller's freshman technique class don't act overly awed by their professor, who has established herself as one of the country's top choreographers since earning her master of arts in dance from Ohio State in 1975.

She smiles and shakes her head at the notion that the young students would be impressed with her career. She prefers that they see her at a more grounded level.

"I think they are relieved that I laugh in class. They see that a dance artist is a person. I think they are probably surprised that I'm not as loud and forward as they might expect," she said.

Perhaps Miller, who is somewhat soft-spoken in conversation, expresses herself most loudly through dance. She is responsible for a body of work that has tackled issues of identity, race, social justice and human relationships, all the while exploring and experimenting with the power of pure movement.

Ohio State audiences will get the chance to see Miller's choreography when the Bebe Miller Company performs Verge in Sullivant Theatre Feb. 14-16. The performances are jointly sponsored by the Wexner Center for the Arts and the Department of Dance.

Last fall, when she joined the faculty in Ohio State's nationally ranked dance department, Miller entered a new phase in her career. Like many of the dances she choreographs, the change in her life is not entirely linear. She has taught off and on throughout her career as a dancer and a choreographer, and although she is now a professor, she continues to choreograph and work with her New York-based dance company.

"I thought this would be a good time to make a shift. I'm at a point as a mid-career artist, where my method of making art has changed in terms of time and resources," Miller said. "On a practical level, it's a good way to support my research and allow for more development while I'm making a living. It's the best of both worlds."

Her appointment has her teaching graduate and undergraduate courses during winter and spring quarters.

She believes that teaching makes her a better choreographer. "Teaching helps me to objectify my process. As a choreographer, the verbal articulation of what I'm doing affects what I create," she said.

Miller danced with the company Nina Wiener and Dancers from 1976 to 1982 before forming her own company in 1984. She has choreographed for the Phoenix Dance Company in England, the PACT Dance Company of South Africa, the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Oregon Ballet Theatre and the Boston Ballet. She has received three "Bessie" New York Dance and Performance Awards (the dance equivalent to Tony Awards), as well as fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Miller has worked with the Wexner Center several times. Among other projects, the center commissioned and premiered Nothing Can Only Happen Once in 1993, and, in 1998, co-commissioned Going to the Wall, which was performed at Ohio State with The Hendrix Project.

Miller began dancing as a child growing up in Brooklyn, but by the time she entered Earlham College, she was more interested in studying art. She rediscovered dance during her college years, though, and after earning a degree in art in 1971, she moved to New York to pursue a dance career. After two years, she entered Ohio State for formal training as a dancer and a choreographer. "It gave me more of a sense of where I fit into the continuum. My dances had a history and a place," she said.

After graduating, she joined the dance company led by Wiener, whom she had met when Wiener was a visiting artist in the dance department. Embarking on a dance career was "a more political decision than I realized," Miller said.

Because she is African American, many critics and audiences were quick to characterize her work purely in terms of ethnicity, and assumed that she had a particular political agenda.

She finds that interpretations are less narrow in today's culture. "I think the world is much more comfortable now with variety," she said.

Using Verge as an example, she pointed out the multiple layers of diversity found within the quartet of dancers: black/white, male/female, gay/straight.

Verge premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York in February 2001 and received Bessie awards for Miller's choreography, Hahn Rowe's music, and Michael Mazzola's lighting and Scott Pask's set design.

At its most basic level, the piece is about touch. "That's a starting point," Miller said. "From earlier works, I've always been interested in the space between people and the quality of skin-to-skin contact."

Verge is danced by Ted Johnson, Melissa Wynn, Darrell Jones and Angie Hauser Robinson, who recently earned her MFA in dance from Ohio State.

"I hadn't made a quartet in a long time and never an evening-length quartet," Miller said. "It's one of my best pieces because everybody is so visible -- there's a certain starkness to it."

Her method of choreography continues to evolve.

"Age has a lot to do with it," said Miller, who is 51. "At this point, I'm dealing with how to visualize something I can't do myself, and how much is my own physicality a part of that? I want to be able to verbalize as well as show, and then refashion. That way, you get to ask for the impossible."

In her early days of choreographing, she used to think that if a piece was really obscure, it was really good. She is more interested now in being understood, but not at the expense of sophistication or complexity. "My job as a choreographer is to sit back and say, ÔIf I saw this once, what would I think?'"

She said she'll just have to see how Columbus audiences respond to Verge.

"In New York, I feel more that I'm dancing for my peers. They come to see what you're doing," she said. "In other places, they respond more to the work, not to where I am in the field. I've always enjoyed that about touring."

Making the leap away from New York City, not only to tour, but to work and live, is becoming more common among Miller's dance peers.

"I'm not the only choreographer doing this," Miller said. "I think this kind of seeding into the field is going to be happening a lot more, now that the market is so tight. I'm very interested to see what will happen in the field in five years or so when the people we're teaching get out there."

For Miller, the Midwestern move is sweetened by the chance to live a lifestyle not affordable in New York, including purchasing a home of her own, as well as having the luxury of being able to view the horizon after only a 20-minute drive.

She has gained new regard for her faculty colleagues. "There's an incredible dedication on their part. I have enormous respect for the amount of work they do," she said. "I feel that I'm working with stars. They have a tremendous background."

And as for working with those freshman dancers?

"I'm used to teaching advanced dancers, so it's tricky. I have to be clearer. There is no shorthand," she said.

Youthful enthusiasm helps, though.

"Freshmen love the fact that they're in college now," she said. "I enjoy them a lot."

Verge will be performed at 8 p.m. Feb. 14-16 in Sullivant Hall. Call 292-3535 for tickets.

Officials outline funding proposals for FY 2003

Emphasizing the essential and strategic role that Ohio State must play in educating students and helping build Ohio's economic future, and the fiscal challenges faced by the University and the state, President Brit Kirwan has proposed a $73 million funding package that includes budget reductions and reallocations as well as revenue-generating actions that include increased tuition for new students.

"The choice is clear," Kirwan told the University Board of Trustees on Feb. 1. "We must make the difficult decisions to advance this University along its path toward excellence. We must strive to provide our students with an education second to none. We must demonstrate to our faculty and staff that this is a University that intends to compete with the best. Any other choice would seriously undermine our impressive progress and ultimately be harmful to our state. Excellence at a university in this era of the knowledge economy is a precious thing. But it is also a fragile thing. If our momentum is lost, it could take years -- perhaps even a decade -- to restore."

To provide sufficient funds to maintain and enhance the educational opportunity for students, continue to recruit and retain the most talented faculty and staff, and compensate for the adverse effects of state budget cuts, Kirwan said, the University is reducing centrally funded initiatives by 10 percent, reducing and reprogramming academic support unit budgets by up to 7 percent, and reducing and reprogramming college budgets by up to 5 percent. Additional targeted cost reduction initiatives include increased health care co-pays, energy savings through competitive bidding, and conservation and reviews of purchasing practices and computer systems.

Kirwan also indicated that the University would continue its aggressive and highly successful efforts to increase external funding for research, create business and government partnerships to bring quality products and services to market, and build upon donor support for students and academic programs.

Under the proposal, tuition for current students would increase by 9 percent to a total of $5,217. This maintains the University's commitment made a year ago to increase tuition by 9 percent for each of the following four or five years. "Even though circumstances have changed significantly since last spring," Kirwan said, "we remain conscious of the implied commitment we made to our current students."

Tuition for new students would rise by an additional $1,200, to $6,417, effective with summer quarter. "We propose to place the responsibility for tuition increases beyond those already planned on incoming students, who have a greater opportunity to make choices and to plan ahead," Kirwan said. He noted that such a "one-time adjustment" is working well at Illinois and has been proposed at Purdue.

Referencing Gov. Taft's recent comments on tuition, Kirwan said, "We agree with the governor that affordability and access are extremely important principles, and we have reflected those principles in the recommendation we are making today.

"As we did so successfully last year, we will make the necessary adjustments to our need-based aid so that no admitted students will be turned away for financial reasons," Kirwan said, also noting that "the equivalent of 30 to 40 percent of the differential tuition money from new students would be placed into financial aid," on which Ohio State is spending $32 million this year.

"In addition, we will continue to reduce costs and reprogram existing resources Ñ reallocating funds to high-enrollment areas, for example, as a way to help strengthen the quality of our undergraduate experience," Kirwan said.

The proposal was presented to the Board of Trustees by Kirwan, Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray, and Senior Vice President for Business and Finance William J. Shkurti. The board is expected to vote on the plan at its March 1 meeting.

Kirwan noted that even with these tuition adjustments, Ohio State will remain highly competitive inside and outside Ohio for new and current students. For example, tuition levels for entering students next fall will place Ohio State third or fourth from the top among Ohio's public universities. He also noted that undergraduate tuition increases will represent less than 40 percent of the solution to a $73 million problem.

"Quality comes at a cost," Kirwan said. "It is essential that we take the actions outlined today. ... To do otherwise will do enormous harm to the quality of the University and, thereby, enormous harm to the future of Ohio."

Kirwan reminded the trustees that Ohio State suffers from a growing competitive disadvantage with respect to overall funding. Top universities in other states receive about 20 percent more in revenue from all sources for each full-time-equivalent (FTE) student than Ohio State does. Relatively low state support combined with relatively low undergraduate tuition have created an annual support gap of almost $1,000 in tuition and state support per undergraduate student when comparing Ohio State with average support at benchmark universities and the Big Ten. Within the state, Ohio State undergraduate students at the Columbus campus pay an average of $1,250 less per year than students at Miami University, Ohio University and the state's other competitive-admissions universities.

Kirwan also reminded the board of the University's decision last spring to hold back on faculty and staff pay raises to protect student and instructional programs. He noted that compensation for faculty and staff lags benchmark institutions, adding that retaining the best faculty and staff is essential to provide students with the highest quality education and to support research programs.

As a result of these circumstances, the University today faces critical needs totaling approximately $73 million. These needs include:

• $30 million to $34 million to attract and retain high-quality faculty who will enhance classroom learning and make research discoveries;

• $11 million to $12 million in student scholarships and financial aid;

• $8 million to $11 million for other programs such as Selective Investment and enhanced recruiting and to meet legal and other mandates; and

• $20 million to absorb state budget cuts.

Budget savings and reprogramming will provide a total of $36 million, Kirwan added. When combined with $24 million in previously planned undergraduate, graduate and professional tuition increases, they total $60 million -- still $13 million short of the $73 million need.

"We have searched for other means to generate the $13 million. In our view, further cuts in budgets beyond the $35 million I have already described are not possible without compromising the quality of essential programs and the academic core of the University. Thus, we have reluctantly concluded that most of the $13 million will have to come from additional tuition funds," Kirwan said. (Recommendations on regional campus tuition will be determined later.) The additional charge for new students will raise $11 million of the $13 million needed, and the remaining $2 million will be identified through a combination of additional spending reductions, reallocations and income increases.

Kirwan noted that in a global knowledge economy in which states are engaged in intense competition for people, ideas and technologies, "universities make an especially vital contribution to economic growth by educating undergraduates, graduate and professional students for productive lives in a knowledge economy; attracting and retaining faculty who add to society's knowledge and spark new ideas; and helping translate innovations and discoveries into useful products and services."

Unit reductions are a factor in strategy

Plans from deans and vice presidents to reprogram and reduce funds in colleges and support units will account for $16 million of a $20 million budget cut from the state and an additional $16 million of a $73 million funding package needed to balance the University budget for next year.

The reports were due Jan. 30 to Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray and Senior Vice President for Business and Finance William J. Shkurti. Over the next five to six weeks, the two will review the internal plans, which will be returned to deans and vice presidents for a July 1 implementation.

Faced with $20 million in state cuts at the end of last fiscal year, Ohio State dipped into its rainy day fund and reallocated other money to accommodate the one-time loss. But because the cuts came from state general funds, steps had to be taken to accommodate the loss permanently, as well as to locate additional funds to help bring faculty and staff compensation levels up to par with benchmark institutions.

Last October, President Brit Kirwan announced that the central administration would cut its budget 10 percent, and directed academic and administrative units to reduce their budgets by 5 percent and 7 percent, respectively, with the following guidelines:

• Provide sufficient funds to maintain and enhance the educational opportunity for students;

• Continue to provide and improve course access for timely progress toward graduation;

• Provide additional funds to improve faculty and staff compensation;

• Preserve tenure-track faculty; and

• Minimize layoffs through retirements and by not filling open positions.

"One of our guiding principles is to minimize layoffs," Ray said. "No tenure-track faculty will be laid off, although a number of faculty positions may be left vacant. For staff, we'll look at vacancies, retirements and transfers within the University, but it's unrealistic to say that there will be no staff layoffs." Funding from the Eminent Scholars program, Academic Enrichment and Selective Investment commitments will also help to create more faculty positions and will help reduce the impact of vacant faculty positions.

Shkurti's Business and Finance unit, for example -- with 1,100 full-time equivalent employees -- will face a staff reduction of 10 percent, or 100 positions, including 40 custodians, he said. Of eight upper-level positions in the unit, three that are vacant will not be filled.

The College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences is one college that submitted its plan early, calling for $8.5 million in cuts and reallocations to its $100 million budget. "We tried our best to keep the Academic Plan in mind," said Dean Bobby Moser. "Our first objective is to protect our academic core, where the primary teaching, research, and outreach of the college take place."

Moser said the plan calls for the reduction of 85 FTE positions, including 12 faculty and 73 support jobs. "Some of these are open positions, some have been moved to other accounts, and still others have been assigned to other positions," Moser said. "We're trying to protect people."

In the College of Humanities, which teaches approximately 20 percent of all undergraduate and graduate credit hours, nearly 90 percent of the budget is tied to instruction. This portion of the budget cannot be reduced without sacrificing student services. On the contrary, according to Dean Michael Hogan, the college is "moving more money into the classrooms to help handle teaching, by turning several of our research associate positions into graduate teaching associates. Still, some class sizes will increase."

To protect student services, the college has had to carve over $1 million in state-mandated budget cuts and another $2 million out of the noninstructional portion of its budget. Faculty hiring in 10 of the college's 14 departments has been frozen. The only faculty positions to be filled are those supported by Selective Investment and Academic Enrichment funds in the comparative studies, English and history departments. For the most part, however, the college has managed the budget crisis through dramatic reductions in equipment -- computers and technology services -- and operating budgets, which cover travel, funds for outside speakers and professional development, and in support for its academic centers. Some of those centers have been cut between 13 and 40 percent, including the Center for Teaching and Writing and the Humanities Institute, which sponsors the Humanities Summer Chautauqua program and the Encyclopedia of the Midwest.

"The intellectual life of the college will be dimmed over the next couple of years," Hogan said.

Bill Hall, vice president for student affairs, has proposed cuts to a nationally ranked forensics program, the homecoming budget, the student radio station, health service hours and exercise programs at the student recreation center. "We're struggling to find the right mix of programming, to cut those offerings that are contributing but not in a way that maximizes the student experience," Hall said.

Hall expects abolishment of 24 positions, and has not replaced three assistant vice presidents who left this year. Administrative work has been redistributed among current staff. Hall also expects to eliminate contingency funds previously used to support program ideas occurring after the completion of the budget cycle.

At Larkins Hall, renovation plans are being modified to move some components to areas of campus where they can be built more economically. Hall said he anticipates longer lines and waits for services.

Ray said that, as an educational institution, the University is doing the right thing by focusing on academic programs that will be strengthened in the long run. "We remain fully committed to the implementation of our Academic Plan," he said. "It may just take us a little longer to achieve our goals."