Holbrook welcomes scholars
Photos by Joni Bentz Seal At right, President Karen Holbrook was among those who welcomed more than 200 of the top-performing high school seniors in the region to Scholars Day Jan. 11. Above, Holbrook shares the strengths of Ohio State with Jason Stalter and his father Steve, from La Plata, Md. During her speech, Holbrook invited the prospects to explore Ohio State, and learn about the benefits and opportunities offered by a large research university. Scholars Day, marking its fourth year, gives University officials the opportunity to share information about its academic resources. Students, attending by invitation only, rank in the top 20 percent of their high school class and average a minimum score of 25 on their ACT.
In addition to Holbrook's address, students also toured the campus and met with faculty and staff members, and with current students enrolled in the Scholars program.

Reaching goals: Academic investment, flexibility are key, Ray tells Senate in annual address

By Joni Bentz Seal, onCAMPUS staff

Fulfilling strategic investments and promoting flexibility to meet the operational needs of various academic units will be necessary to respond to competitive market conditions colleges, departments and programs are facing in these uncertain financial times, Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray told University Senate in his annual address Jan. 16.

In a speech titled "Letting Go to Reach Our Goals," Ray noted the significant changes that have occurred at Ohio State, acknowledged the challenges still ahead, and focused on specific actions needed to advance Ohio State in its mission to become one of the world's great universities.

Among those specific actions: improving quality and function of its operation by allocating significant funds to academic initiatives that serve broader institutional needs; recognizing the need for changes in personnel practices to meet special needs in some areas, such as the removal of the cap on regular clinical faculty in the College of Medicine and Public Health; and enacting administrative changes in the management of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences to better serve the University as it moves forward.

As provost and executive vice president, Edward J. Ray is focused on helping the University reach its potential.   By Kevin Fitzsimons

"We have faced many changes in the last year, and our fortunes as an institution going forward will rest upon our ability to create as well as adapt to change," he said. "The Academic Plan and the Diversity Action Plan provide vital guidance for our collective actions."

Arts and Sciences

Perhaps one of the most far-reaching examples of the University's need to adapt is the examination of and proposed changes to the structure of the arts and sciences, which is composed of the colleges of Arts; Biological Sciences; Humanities; Mathematical and Physical Sciences; and Social and Behavioral Sciences.

As he discussed a year ago when he established an ad hoc committee to study the configuration, Ray believes substantial integration and enhancement of the arts and sciences programs is essential to realize their full potential.

"The aspirations for this University cannot be achieved if the arts and sciences are not in a leading position," Ray said.

After reviewing the report submitted by the ad hoc committee and gathering input from numerous committees and colleagues, Ray said he agrees that further discussion is needed before any changes are implemented, and offered a summary of his proposed changes to the Senate for discussion.

"Colleagues need to hear from me regarding specific changes that I believe should be enacted and they need to have another chance to provide me with comments before actions are taken," he said.

Ray shared some highlights from his plan, including separating the existing executive dean position from the five college dean positions to oversee the administration of the proposed arts and sciences federation; the fiscal management and collaboration with the deans of each of the five colleges; and the scope of authority of the individual deans. (See accompanying story for details about Ray's proposal and timeline for response and implementation.)

Ray said he remains convinced that administrative changes are needed in the arts and sciences if they are to serve their appropriate central role in the advancement of the University.

"Faculty and student teaching, learning and research opportunities and the resources needed to sustain them are limited by top-heavy administrative structures and artificial boundaries," Ray said. "The review of the core curriculum must continue in a less restrictive environment, and we must enhance our ability to create new interdisciplinary programs for increasingly talented and demanding students and faculty colleagues."

Academic investment

While implementation details continue to be addressed, Ray said the University's restructured budget "is a tool that should support our ability to implement our Academic Plan, and not an end in itself."

He emphasized that the University has flexibility within its new budget process to direct resources across the institution, and he shared his plans to use those strategic investment funds to enhance common interests.

"The new budget process is designed to include central investment funds to permit the University to invest and to maintain existing strategic commitments, despite adverse financial conditions," Ray said. "Perhaps more importantly, during this first year of implementation of the new budget, we must demonstrate that we maintain the capacity to undertake new collective investments that provide benefits broadly across the University. In a sense, how we address collective academic needs in this first year of the new budget process can serve as an example for years to follow."

Ray announced that the Office of Academic Affairs will allocate $1 million in continuing funds available from existing central strategic investment reserves to:

• provide the Honors and Scholars program with faculty and staff support for its Collegium project, the undergraduate research forum, and additional honors course offerings in key areas;

• support the continuation of a departmental teaching award program as a tangible link between academic program excellence and the learning experience of students, as called for in the Academic Plan;

• substantially increase the discretionary budget the Council of Graduate Students and the Inter-Professional Council have available annually to support graduate and professional student research, travel and program needs;

• provide funding for enhanced training of teaching assistants through collaborative efforts of the Office of Faculty and T.A. Development and departments; and

• support additional competitively awarded fellowships for outstanding graduate students, as well as minority mentoring programs, and recruitment visit funds for fellowship candidates, through the Graduate School.

Acknowledging the financial sacrifices and challenges of academic and support units, Ray offered perspective on the importance of this commitment.

"The University has sustained $28 million in cuts the last two years," Ray said poignantly, "yet we're purposefully investing $1 million to promote quality and excellence. This effort reflects our commitment to invest in the future even in difficult times."

Clinical caps

Ray said he believes successful institutions will be those that recognize that challenges to achieving excellence are different for different academic programs and, therefore, provide operational flexibility for each college, department and program to compete most effectively in their respective academic markets.

A notable example of this need for flexibility is in the College of Medicine and Public Health, which submitted a proposal to the Senate to eliminate the cap on regular clinical faculty in clinical departments. Passage of the proposal would help the college achieve its missions and become consistent with national trends and benchmark institutions.

"The University will have to accommodate a greater degree of local diversity with respect to personnel and other matters," Ray said.

Demonstrating its recognition of this, the Senate voted to accept the proposal at the meeting.

Ray encouraged the Senate to consider seriously other requests that come forward from colleges outside the health sciences regarding the ability to make regular clinical faculty appointments.

"I am encouraged by the foresight Senate leaders and college representatives have displayed, not only in providing the needed relief for the College of Medicine and Public Health, but in establishing appropriate safeguards for parts of the University that do not want to make such changes, given the academic markets in which they compete to retain and recruit outstanding faculty," Ray said.

However, Ray stressed that the bigger challenge is to find proper balance between letting go with respect to employment and administrative practices in some parts of the University, and holding on to traditional policies elsewhere, consistent with the competitive needs of all programs.

"Just as we are challenged to demonstrate that we can adopt personnel practices that differ across the University to meet the needs of different units, we are challenged to demonstrate that we are capable of administrative changes that will best position our academic programs to achieve excellence in the future," Ray said.

The full text of Ray's speech is available on the Web at http://oaa.ohio-state.edu/speeches/01_16_2003.html.

Ray submits administrative operation changes for arts and sciences

Responding to faculty concerns, Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray submitted a proposal to University Senate Jan. 16 outlining changes to the administrative operations of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences.

Ray's plan details the executive dean's administrative responsibilities to oversee the proposed federation of colleges, the financial governance the dean will have with the five arts and sciences colleges, and the scope of authority of the deans of those colleges.

In October, the ad hoc committee -- appointed by Ray last February -- provided its report, which was distributed through the Senate to appropriate committees, through the five deans to faculty and staff colleagues, and to the other colleges through the Council of Deans. Two open forums for faculty and staff in the arts and sciences were held, and final recommendations were submitted in December.

In question, however, was the role of the executive dean, and at the request of a number of colleagues and governing bodies, Ray submitted for discussion his proposed plan for administrative operations of the federation.

Based on feedback from the Senate and others, requested by March 14, Ray will modify the administrative plan for the arts and sciences and look to implement changes by July 1.

Administrative responsibilities

According to Ray's proposal, the current arts and sciences executive dean position will be made a separate position from that of the five deans of the Colleges of Arts and Sciences. Primary responsibilities of the executive dean will be delegated from the provost and include the following, for the arts and sciences only:

• advise the provost regarding promotion and tenure recommendations in the arts and sciences, conditional on a University rules change;

• review existing base budgets and re-basing allocation schedules and advise the provost regarding appropriate changes;

• allocate common funds in consultation with the five deans;

• promote interdisciplinary undergraduate and graduate programs and research excellence within and across college boundaries;

• oversee curricular changes;

• implement a strategic plan;

• oversee development activities and communications;

• coordinate, as appropriate, advising and career counseling services and the recruitment of undergraduate students within the arts and sciences in collaboration with Undergraduate Student Academic Services;

• oversee the Honors and Scholars Program in arts and sciences;

• oversee the management of the University Press; and

• oversee interdisciplinary programs that draw faculty expertise from more than one college among the arts and sciences, such as the Undergraduate International Studies Program, the Asian American Studies, Latino/a Studies and Disability Studies minors, as well as course sequences that draw from more than one college such as the American Sign Language sequence.

Ray proposes that the executive dean or his/her designee chair all searches for the five deans on behalf of the provost.

With regard to curricular matters, he proposes the executive dean ensure that curriculum changes in the arts and sciences enter the review process at the level of the Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee, which will have a faculty representative from each college.

Financial arrangements

In Ray's plan, the Office of Academic Affairs will provide continuing funding to cover staffing and operating costs of the Office of the Executive Dean.

The executive dean, in consultation with the five arts and sciences deans, will be charged with streamlining administrative costs among the five colleges and distributing the resulting savings among the colleges for interdisciplinary faculty and program enhancement purposes.

"This process would be complete within three years and save a minimum of $500,000 in continuing administrative costs," Ray said of the plan.

The Office of Academic Affairs will provide the executive dean's office with $500,000 for each of the next three years to seed program initiatives funded long-term through reductions in the administrative costs of the five colleges. Administrative cost reductions in excess of $500,000 and up to $1 million will be matched by central investment funds for distribution by the executive dean in consultation with the five deans.

Given the central role of the arts and sciences in the successful implementation of the Academic Plan, Ray proposes the Office of Academic Affairs provide periodic cash and continuing funds in support of collaborative initiatives within the arts and sciences through the executive dean's office.

Ray's plan also proposes that the 5 percent University strategic investment tax on marginal income from tuition and the state share of instruction will continue, with an additional 3 percent marginal tax on growth of tuition and the state share of instruction within the arts and sciences. The additional tax will be used at the discretion of the executive dean, in consultation with the five deans, to promote collaborative hires, programs, course offerings and research initiatives. Based upon marginal income gains for FY03, the 3 percent tax would yield at least $333,000 per year. The 3 percent tax rate would be reviewed after several years to determine if it is sufficient to meet the needs and opportunities for collaboration within the Arts and Sciences. The authority to change the common pool tax would reside with the provost.

Authority of the deans

According to Ray's plan, the deans of the five colleges will continue to:

• serve on the Council of Deans, and be evaluated by the provost in consultation with the executive dean;

• send tenure and promotion cases directly to the Office of Academic Affairs for University-level review, pending the University rule change referred to above; and

• manage their existing base budgets and budget re-basing allocations locally, subject to the review by the provost in consultation with the executive dean.

The term of the current Executive Dean, Michael Hogan, will be extended for three years, until June 30, 2006. Ray also will meet with the College of Humanities faculty and staff for recommendations prior to appointing an acting dean to replace Hogan in the College of Humanities, to serve from July 1, 2003.

The full text of Ray's administrative operation plan is available at http://oaa.ohio-state.edu/speeches/01_16_03-Attachm.pdf. The ad hoc committee's full report is available at http://senate.ohio-state.edu/SpecialReports.html.

Work/life survey of faculty planned

By Susan Wittstock, onCAMPUS staff

A Faculty Survey on Work Environment and Work-Life Quality at OSU is scheduled to take place Feb. 10-21. The survey, co-sponsored by the offices of Academic Affairs and Human Resources, is the latest in a series of steps taken by the University to address the work/life needs of Ohio State faculty and staff.

"In our quest to build a world-class university, we need to recruit and retain diverse, talented faculty and secure their full commitment. Ohio State is dedicated to creating and maintaining effective work/life practices and policies that will ensure that our faculty can achieve a high level of satisfaction at work -- and at home," said President Karen Holbrook.

All regular faculty will be notified via a postcard a few days before the Web-based survey begins. Participants will be able to log in and complete the 15-minute survey at any point during the 12-day window.

The survey will be similar in scope to a survey of staff, completed in 2001. That survey, conducted by the Commission on Staff Development and Work/Life with the support of OAA and OHR, found that work/life issues are of high importance to staff, and are nearly as important to retention as salary and benefits.

WFD Consulting, a nationally recognized research and consulting firm, worked with University officials to design the staff survey and analyze the data, and is serving in a similar capacity for the faculty survey. The survey results will be processed by a third-party administrator, to ensure confidentiality.

Surveying faculty should give administrators insight into concerns that may differ somewhat from those of staff, said Larry M. Lewellen, associate vice president for human resources.

"For many faculty, work and life are highly interwoven, with less distinction between the two. They have more flexibility with their schedules," Lewellen said. "Faculty also may have much greater peer pressure to excel early in their career, causing decisions that over-emphasize work and under-emphasize personal and family goals. In other words, faculty work/life balance may not be driven by their institution nearly as much as by their own aspirations and by peer pressure. This survey will provide an opportunity to gather data on these kinds of faculty life complexities."

Survey results will not wither on the vine, Lewellen said. "We will definitely create a multi-year action plan with the data we gather, at the University level, and also will encourage colleges to create action plans from college data where sufficient participation exists," he said.

He pointed to the progress made on the FY03 Action Plan for Work/Life and Professional Development, which was created in response to work by the Staff Commission on Work/Life and Professional Development and the SRI Committee on being a Family-Friendly Employer.

"Conducting this survey of faculty is a key -- and time consuming -- item from our FY03 Action Plan," Lewellen said.

Other actions taken include:

• In August 2002, Gabrielle Reinicke was appointed to a new full-time position, Program Director -- Work/Life, in the Office of Human Resources. Reinicke is responsible for coordinating the University's diverse efforts in the areas of work/life and assists with strategic, policy and development issues.

• In fall 2002, OHR offered an introductory course on work/life policies and issues to human resources professionals.

• In spring 2003, OHR will offer training to managers on how to implement alternative work arrangements in their units.

Results from the faculty survey and a new action plan are scheduled to be reviewed by the President's Planning Cabinet in May, with widespread communication to the University community taking place in early June. The multi-year action plan will follow soon thereafter.

"We need participation by faculty in all colleges and a full representation by gender, age, ethnicity, discipline, rank and family status," said Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray. "The more fully the responses reflect our faculty profile, the more relevant our findings will be and the more effective our investment in work/life programs will be in the future."