The March Faculty Senate meeting kicked off with good news from Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit and ended with the approval of two resolutions.
At Monday night’s Faculty Senate meeting, members of Ohio University’s administration delivered good news about the university's accreditation.
The university met all the criteria for academic accreditation during the evaluation that occurred last November. The next evaluation will not occur for another 10 years, Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit said. Accreditation is the process of evaluating the educational quality of universities.
“Whenever I need to have a positive aspect to what’s going on in my daily life, I get that report out,” Benoit said. “It really says some wonderful things about this institution and reminds us of the wonderful things we’ve been doing.”
Benoit also announced that university officials are working with the superintendent of the Athens City School District to align OU’s spring breaks with local schools. Next year, the spring break of both the college and Athens schools will be March 6 through March 10, she said.
“As a parent, I think having spring breaks at the same time is life changing,” Kamile Geist, director of the music therapy program, said. “When our children are on spring break and we are not, it becomes an issue of childcare. It’s also important to have time when the family can be together.”
Two resolutions to change the language in the faculty handbook were approved at the meeting. The first resolution gives Group II faculty some of the same powers as Group I faculty. Eight faculty members voted against the resolution and there were two abstentions.
The other resolution, which amended handbook language so it better reflected the current practices of the university, was passed unanimously.
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Also at the meeting, Joe Lalley, senior associate vice president for Information Technologies and Administrative Services, broke down what construction will be taking place on the Athens campus this summer.
When it comes to residence halls, Boyd Hall and MacKinnon Hall will both be receiving bathroom upgrades during the summer break. James Hall will have lobby, bathroom and apartment upgrades.
Some of the summer’s projects will continue into the fall semester, such as the renovation of the West 82 Food Court. The window replacement for Seigfred Hall that was supposed to start in May was delayed until late July because the estimates for the project were over what was expected, Lalley said.
Lalley also mentioned that the cooling systems on campus will be starting up three weeks earlier this year since it has been “unseasonably warm.”
David Thomas, professor of film and vice chair of Faculty Senate, said he is pleased with the amount of work that has gone into planning the construction on campus, but he is concerned about potential parking issues.
“Think about the difficulties that the remodeling of the Scripps College presented as many parking places were taken up by refuse containers and many workers private vehicles,” Thomas said in an email. “The (Campus) Master Plan calls for significantly more construction, some of which will be done at the same time and include several cranes. So I see an unavoidable parking problem.”
Greg Fialko, senior director of benefits on the Benefits Advisory Council, presented the council’s recommendations for next year’s faculty benefits.
For the 2017 fiscal year, the council is going to recommend enhancing dental and vision plan benefits, implementing a voluntary short-term disability plan and converting the pilot parental leave program to a permanent policy. Those recommendations will go to the Budget Planning Council and OU's president next, Fialko said.
Faculty Senate Chair Beth Quitslund also announced at the meeting that Joe McLaughlin, former chair of Faculty Senate and an English professor, is the nomination for next year’s faculty chair.
“He’s done this job before,” Quitslund said. “He knows what’s involved, and he’s worked very hard for the faculty at Ohio University for many years. So I think the position will be in competent hands.”
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