Ohio University Faculty Senate met Monday to discuss various topics, including university retention and amending the faculty handbook.
The meeting started with President Lori Stewart Gonzalez and Provost Don Leo presenting their topics of deliberation.
Gonzalez updated the Senate on the executive searches and discussed the university's most recent faculty addition.
Gregory Simmons, coming from the University of Maryland Baltimore County, will start Nov. 4 as vice president of advancement.
“He has a long history of fundraising,” Gonzalez said. “He’s excited about being here, and we’re very excited about adding him to our philanthropy activities.”
Gonzalez mentioned her due diligence, thoroughly checking each candidate to ensure they fit the university.
“We announced that we would invest in 15 new tenure track faculty members to grow our research enterprise,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez also mentioned the university’s goal to offer more guidance to students through mentors.
“One of the things we want to do is get more of our alumni to be mentors for our students, so mentoring them in their discipline or related discipline,” Gonzalez said.
Additionally, Gonzalez discussed increasing the retention rate in the next few years and finding the factors that make a difference. The university's retention rate is 84.1%, at a two-decade high.
Faculty compensation was also discussed during the meeting. Faculty asked the president and provost how they view merit compensation.
“Compensation is one of our very top priorities,” Gonzalez said.
Leo also discussed his view on merit-based compensation.
“How do we use resources more wisely so that we can reinvest in people and programs?” Leo said. “The president, in her address, outlined the ideas around being more efficient across campus so that those savings can be reinvested in people and programs.”
Kyle Butler, associate professor of instruction in the Ohio Program of Intensive English, and Cory Crawford, assistant professor of Classics and World Religion, presented their topic of discussion as representatives of the United Academics at Ohio University.
Butler discussed the potential unionization of faculty and which faculty members will qualify to be part of the union.
“We have not yet voted on whether or not to form a union, and before we can do that, we have to determine who will be in the bargaining unit,” Butler said. “That also means who would be eligible to actually vote to form this union.”
Different qualifications determine which faculty members can vote in this matter. Butler reminded faculty that this will be discussed in more detail at the next faculty forum in November.
Doug Clowe, professor and director of the Astrophysics Institute, then spoke on behalf of the University Professional Ethics Committee.
Clowe discussed a five-page section of the faculty handbook and how these pages need to be written clearly to direct faculty to other areas of information in case the handbook contradicts university policy.
“We want to strip roughly five pages out of the handbook and replace it with a summary paragraph instructing faculty where we go to find this information,” Clowe said.
Other faculty members presented updates to their respective committees, and the meeting was adjourned shortly after.
