Campus remembers Sept. 11

By Joni Bentz Seal Capt. Thomas Walston, professor of naval science, lays the third of four wreaths to commemorate the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and those who have died in the battle against terrorism. The Remembrance Ceremony was held outside Bricker Hall on the second anniversary of the attacks.

U.S. News ranks Ohio State top public in Ohio

Ties for 22nd nationally among America's best

By AMY MURRAY, Media Relations

U.S. News & World Report is again naming Ohio State as the state's best public university, and one of the nation's best public institutions. The university has moved up two spots to be tied for 22nd among the top 50 public national universities in the magazine's recent edition on America's Best Colleges.

The only other Ohio university included in the prestigious listing of top public universities is Miami University, in a two-way tie for 25th.

This year, the magazine ranked the nation's top 125 public and private schools, versus the top 50 as it had in past years. In that listing Ohio State is rated 60th. The top 20 schools in the nation are all private, including Case Western Reserve University, which, in a two-way tie for 37th is the only other Ohio institution to be ranked higher than Ohio State.

"Our movement reflects the work of our faculty and staff in providing a quality education to our students," said President Karen Holbrook. "One of the key priorities of the Academic Plan is to improve the learning environment for our students, and that's where we are putting our resources. It's great to see that these efforts are paying off."

The analysis, which is based on 2002 statistics, notes improvement in several categories. Most notably, the university's six-year graduation rate increased to 59 percent from 56 percent, while the freshman retention rate continues to improve to 85.5 percent, up from 84 percent. Freshman retention was below 80 percent in 1997.

The continued improvement in freshman retention is due in large part to the university's commitment to the academic and campus experiences of undergraduate students, especially first-year students. Ohio State's First Year Experience (FYE) program, an initiative designed to improve first-year success, is listed by U.S. News as an outstanding example of academic programs that lead to student success. While the magazine ranked the program seventh last year, this year it chose to list the best programs in alphabetical order. Ohio State's FYE program is the only one cited in Ohio.

"We believe that communications and programs directed toward facilitating a first-year student's entrance into the university community are important to help students be successful academically and socially both for the first year and beyond," said Mabel Freeman, assistant vice president for undergraduate admissions and First Year Experience. "FYE efforts help personalize Ohio State and ease a student's transition from high school into a major research university. The goal of our program is to link students with the college resources and university support services they'll need while constantly reminding them that we admitted them into the university with the expectation that they will graduate with an Ohio State degree."

In addition to the overall institutional rankings, the magazine also annually ranks a small number of undergraduate programs in business and engineering. Among both private and public universities, Ohio State's Fisher College of Business was rated 17th best in the nation. Among public universities, the program is rated 10th. Ohio State's specialty program in Supply Chain Management/Logistics ranked third.

Among private and public colleges whose highest degree is a Ph.D., Ohio State's College of Engineering is rated 25th overall and 15th among publics in the category.

Trustees approve new FY 2004 budget

Spending plan focuses on aligning with Academic Plan

By DAVID BHAERMAN, University Relations

Very small increases in state support this year have Ohio State turning to new revenue sources to maintain and improve its current levels of excellence. To that end, the Board of Trustees, at its meeting Sept. 5, approved a budget for the new fiscal year that focuses its limited resources in areas that help move the university closer to the goals of its Academic Plan.

Interim Provost and Executive Vice President Barbara Snyder said that goals for the year are to target investment in four critical initiatives -- to build a world-class faculty, develop academic programs that define Ohio State as the nation's leading public land-grant university, enhance the quality of the teaching and learning environment, and to enhance and better serve the student body.

The university is facing a tough budget environment this year, Bill Shkurti, senior vice president for business and finance, told trustees. The state's share of instruction, along with state performance funding for the Columbus campus, are below the level of three years ago by 5.6 percent. To counterbalance state funding losses, student fees have increased so that now, for the third year in a row, revenue from student fees exceeds state support.

"That gap is widening," Shkurti said. "Ohio has gone from a position 16 years ago, when Ohio State's share of instructional support was nearly double its student fee income, to a position today where the state provides a minority share of the instructional funding for Ohio State. And the forecast for the foreseeable future is that state support will continue to fall further behind student fee income, which puts a greater financial burden on students and the university."

Shkurti pointed out to trustees that even with recent increases, "Ohio State's undergraduate tuition remains well below Ohio's other selective admission public universities. Tuition for an undergraduate from Ohio is seventh among the state's 13 public universities, trailing Miami, Cincinnati, Bowling Green, Ohio University, Kent State and Akron."

For the current fiscal year, state support for the Columbus campus is nearly flat at $319 million. At the same time, student fee income is projected to increase 12.2 percent to $464 million. In comparison, state support for the Columbus campus as recently as three years ago was $338 million and student fees brought in $329 million. Other strong revenue streams for the university this year include research overhead -- which is projected to increase 6.7 percent -- and health system revenues -- projected to rise this year by 7.6 percent.

"The university continues to be less dependent on state funds," Shkurti said. "But despite an uncertain financial environment, our financial goals for the fiscal year will still be met."

Overall, the budget provides for revenues of $2.72 billion and accounts for expenditures of $2.71 billion. Marginal increases in revenues are budgeted according to the priorities of the Academic Plan. Among the targets for higher spending are student financial aid and competitive faculty and staff salaries.

"A significant portion of the growth in revenues for the fiscal year is allocated to student financial aid in order to ensure that students who are otherwise qualified will not be denied admission to the university for financial reasons," Shkurti said. In terms of salaries, average pay increases for faculty range between 2.5 percent and 4.4 percent, while staff pay increases average 3.5 percent universitywide.

"By reallocating existing resources, compensation increases were on average 1 percent above market for the year, but increases are still below market for the last three years, as are average salaries for faculty and staff," Shkurti said. "Also, over the last two years, approximately 600 jobs have been eliminated throughout the university as part of our continuing effort to examine everything we do to determine what we need to do better and what we no longer need to do at all."