There’s a fall break on the horizon.
Ohio University President Roderick McDavis asked Student Senate for suggestions on how to implement a day off for the Fall Semester 2014-15 academic year at its meeting Wednesday night.
The “break” would be an extra day off from classes and wouldn’t require a makeup session.
Suggestions for break can be discussed with Senate President Anna Morton in her office, Baker 305.
Gerrod Schirtzinger, academic affairs commissioner, said his commission would put together a survey for students to determine when they would like the fall break to occur.
McDavis also announced that OU received more than 20,000 applications for first-year freshmen for the 2014-15 academic year. This is the second time in university history that OU has received more than 20,000 applications.
OU received 20,067 applications as of Wednesday morning. For the current academic year, OU received 20,770.
“Today, we achieved another milestone at Ohio University,” McDavis said.
OU has also admitted 394 more students than it had at this same point last year, said Ryan Lombardi, vice president for Student Affairs.
The selection to secure a student trustee for the university’s Board of Trustees is underway.
The deadline to apply was Feb. 14 and nine students applied. The new trustee will be appointed by Gov. John Kasich and will serve alongside Keith Wilbur, OU’s first-year student trustee. The outgoing trustee is Amanda Roden, whose term ends at the end of the academic year.
McDavis also talked about the university’s new, $75 million endowed scholarship program. University officials hope $50 million will be provided by donors. OU will put $25 million toward the program, funded by university reserves.
The fund will be used to accrue interest, about $3 million a year, at a 4 percent interest rate. That interest money will be the pool from which scholarships are awarded. The $75 million fund will not be touched, Lombardi said.
McDavis and Lombardi will hold their second “Bobcat Coffee Hour” on Thursday at 2 p.m., in the Honors Collegium on the fourth floor of the Baker University Center.
A new initiative, titled the “Calendar Development Project,” was also presented by Tasha Attaway, OU’s communications specialist.
The new calendar will be more user-friendly, Attaway said.
“Don’t hate on the (current) calendar,” she said.
@MariaDeVito13
md781510@ohiou.edu
This article originally ran in print under the headline "Changes possible for fall calendar"
