March Staff Forum Minutes

Town Hall Meeting– Staff Forum Minutes for March 11, 2010

Attendance: Jenny Barthen, Morgan Evans, Faith Phillips, John Roberts, Tim Deaver, Lisa Smith, Spence Kearton, Maggie Camstra, Kelly Kirkpatrick, Steve Veyon, Jeff Crabtree, Kasia Wilson, Howard Imhof, Karen Prost, Sandy Sturman, Jan Tomlinson, Cheryl Lopeman, Leslie McLaughlin, Charlene Santee, Mike Neff, Bo Courson, Dan Longstreth, Norman Holmes, Doug Patrick, Greg Halbe, Bud Warner, Mark Fegley, Francesca Amigo, Mark Labutis, Kendra Linkous, Debra Clark, Derek Thatcher, Mary Miller, Jeremy Pursley, Jim Woolard, John MacDonald, Rick Nelson, Lori Crocker, Jena Pugh, Jennifer Roberts, Kyle Morgan, Alice Hutzel-Bateson, Faye Bodyke, Casey Ray, Ray Irwin, John Berry, Richard Prystowsky, Mary Kay Yaus, Terri Jackson, Tauni Graham, Leslie Holler, Candy Sheradin, Marilyn Lees, Kathy Millard, Cherie Snyder, Liz Edwards, Marilyn Barber, Jamie White, Ann Donahue, Jessica Mautz, Kathy Holmes, Jeseca MacDonald, Susan Jaeger, John Merrin, Jacqueline Stewart, Kim Wortkoetter, Patsy Henderson, Sherry Abbott, Bruce Weaver, Susan Adams, Connie Zang, Elaine Stevens, Becky Smith, Julie Ketner, Jasmin Hennosy, Corri Edwards

Welcome: Corri Edwards
• Welcome to two special guests: Dr. Coe and Dr. MacDonald.
• Welcome to the extended campuses: Knox, Coshocton and Pataskala.
• Thanks to Table of Contents for hosting the breakfast this morning.

Town Hall Meeting begins

ACADEMICS

1. Where does Ohio State Newark and COTC see themselves in five years with online course offerings?

Dr. MacDonald:
• Dr. MacDonald reported that there will be some increase for Ohio State Newark due to a large initiative coming from the Columbus campus to increase online and hybrid course offerings. There will be more online course offerings coming from the Columbus campus.
• The number of online courses offered from Newark has declined since instructors have left that taught such courses.

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe stated that COTC has had online courses for ten years. Starting in January 2010, the Business Management online degree program began to be offered.
• If you look at the research, there is no question that the greatest learning occurs in a hybrid environment. Not completely online and not completely face-to-face. We have much emphasis on hybrid learning.
• We do not expect to see all 40 degrees online. Gradually over time, there will be more degrees offered online, but they will be hand-picked under Dr. Prystowsky’s leadership.
• We will not replace the hybrid or face-to-face instruction with online courses. They are simply more options for students.
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2. What do you consider to be the greatest barrier to offering more online courses at OSU-N, and what is being done to overcome that obstacle? (OSU Specific)

Dr. MacDonald:
• Dr. MacDonald stated that there are two substantial barriers; faculty and time. Faculty that come in and are enthusiastic about online learning are often straight out of graduate school. Faculty straight out of graduate school need to focus their efforts on establishing their research record in order to earn tenure. Once that occurs, then faculty will have opportunity to develop online offerings.
• Departments- the Columbus campus owns the course material.


3. Given COTC’s vision to be the top technical college qualitatively will COTC be investing any additional personnel to support faculty in curriculum development and course design? (COTC Specific)

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe confirmed that administration is very interested in qualitative improvement. There are multiple factors that contribute to this-
o Faculty credentials- there has been emphasis on bringing in the highest caliber faculty members possible.
o Overall quality of curriculum- this increases as high caliber faculty are brought in.
• Dr. Coe stated that the direct answer to this question right now is no- there are no discussions at this time to supplement staff. However, administration is investing thousands of dollars to offer professional development opportunities for faculty to improve on course design.

4. As we’ve waited for the new Chemistry Lab, the suggestion has been made several times, to offer Chemistry Labs in the evenings and/or on weekends. Students who are desperate to stay on track in their science and engineering majors have expressed willingness to sign up, if the courses were offered. Why is it that we have not been able to offer sections at these times? (OSU Specific)

Dr. MacDonald
• Dr. MacDonald stated that he conferred with Dr. Paul Sanders and Dr. Jose Cabral on this issue. Neither of them feels that OSU Newark is losing large numbers of students due to this issue.
• Dr. MacDonald reported that Dr. Cabral feels there wouldn’t be a great enough demand to justify evening and weekend courses. The scheduling of Math, Physics, Biology, and Chemistry classes needs to be reevaluated as a whole to facilitate students that need to take all of these courses. Additionally as stated by Dr. MacDonald, Dr. Sanders and Dr. Cabral support the idea of hiring another faculty member in this area.
• Because of budgetary reasons and semesters looming, they will need to wait until 2012 to consider hiring a new faculty member in chemistry.
• Dr. MacDonald noted that Dr. Sanders and Dr. Cabral would welcome any questions from staff if more details are wanted.

5. I am very excited about the Culinary Program offered by COTC. When is the program slated to start? Will it only cover technical skills or include management and hospitality? Will classes be run out of the Reese kitchen? (COTC Specific)

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe stated that she is also very excited about the Culinary Science program. Dr. Coe emphasized Science.
• In the state of Ohio, it is sometimes heard that manufacturing and agriculture are dead in Ohio. Dr. Coe stated that the academic administration at COTC does not believe this. Not only is the college going to continue to offer manufacturing curriculum but is intensifying it over time.
• Dr. Coe clarified that the program will not be a culinary arts program, but a culinary science program which will be perfectly articulated with the College of Agriculture Department of Food Technology at The Ohio State University.
• The program has been approved (as of early March) by the Ohio Board of Regents. This program will begin over the next twelve months while faculty members are hired and a marketing campaign is developed.
• This will be a two year associate degree program that could serve as the first two years of a four year program. The curriculum will cover technical subjects as well as general education, liberal arts and humanities subjects.
• Dr. Coe stated that the Reese kitchen is in consideration to be used as a culinary laboratory. Nothing has been decided.

ENROLLMENT GROWTH

6. As COTC and Ohio State Newark continue to grow, are there any plans to expand the IT infrastructure and staff to support the increased demand?

Dr. MacDonald:
• Dr. MacDonald stated that we have had a lot of growth in our IT infrastructure and staff. There isn’t necessarily a correlation between enrollment growth and number of staff and there are currently no plans to increase IT staff.
• Currently there are more than 125 email systems across the University. The university is moving to one single system and there will be some reduction of staff due to this.
• There may be some change due to residence halls, but it is hard to know the impact that might have.

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe stated that she has agreed with what Dr. MacDonald has said. Dr. Coe added that she has enormous confidence in the current leadership of the IT department. Over a year was spent assessing the infrastructure of the IT department. Under Howard Imhof’s leadership, changes were made. Dr. Coe stated that administration endorsed that plan and look to Howard’s leadership for the future.
• Dr. Coe reported that over $75,000 was committed to furnish IT resources for the new facility, the Grand Host East, on the Pataskala campus.

7. What is the total enrollment goal for each COTC campus? Are there any plans to also increase the existing personnel and resources at each campus in order to accommodate the growing number of students? (COTC Specific)

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe explained that once a year, John Merrin calculates the expected enrollment growth for each of the campus. The enrollment goal has grown every year. There are currently no facilities that are at capacity at this time.
o Coshocton Campus- Montgomery Hall has a capacity of 1000 students and we are not there. That is the goal.
o Knox Campus- Ariel Hall is being renovated and will also have a capacity for 1000 students. In autumn 2011 when the Knox campus comes back to Ariel Hall, it is expected that full capacity will be reached.
o Pataskala Campus- the potential there is several thousand students. Enrollment for spring quarter is 500 face-to-face students. There will also be hundreds of online students.
• The projections for the next academic year, the goal will be 5000.
• Dr. Coe reported that there is constant investment in facilities and personnel. Dr. Coe along with campus administrators constantly assess whether the infrastructure is in place to support enrollment growth.
• Dr. Coe concluded by saying that she believes that COTC is doing a great job resourcing during a time that there aren’t many resources.

FACILITIES

8. Are there any plans to modify the Warner Center to alleviate the noise issues that cause conflict between people in the quiet study areas and the noisier student lounge areas?

Dr. MacDonald:
• Dr. MacDonald stated that the short answer is ‘no’.
• Dr. MacDonald stated that he has only received extremely positive comments from students regarding the Warner center. And that there are some issues from time to time but the approach that Susan Scott, John Berry, Mike Neff and the library committee has taken been effective. The approach has been to take progressively stricter measures until results are seen.

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe agrees with Dr. MacDonald and appreciates his articulation of this viewpoint that is shared by both institutions.
• Dr. Coe stated that this building presented a very bold design. Administration knew exactly what they were given with that design and there is no intention of making any changes.
• Dr. Coe said that this reminded her of her time back in K-12 when principles would get excited (not in a good way) when students are out of their desks.
• Dr. Coe summarized by saying that the students are happy, they are the customer and therefore we’re happy.

9. Are there any renovation plans for Adena Hall?

Dr. MacDonald
• Yes, but the funds do not exist at this time. The master plan calls for expanding Adena Hall into a large recreational facility.
• There should be the money to build a building that will house maintenance vehicles in 2011. They will expand and create a space to house maintenance vehicles. Then the existing space where vehicles are housed at this time will be able to be used to expand the current fitness facilities.
• In response to a question from the audience about whether or not there will be a swimming pool, Dr. MacDonald answered there is a swimming pool in the master plan.

10. It has taken quite a while to get started on construction of the new Chemistry lab. Long waitlists have plagued us for three years or more (at least on the OSU side of the house), losing us talented recruits who didn’t want to risk a freshman year without their required Chemistry, and damaging student morale and progress toward graduation. Why has it taken so long for such a vital, high-priority project to get started?

Dr. MacDonald:
• Dr. MacDonald stated that it is very frustrating to wait so long. These plans were drawn up 7 or 8 years ago. The capital bill was put on hold repeatedly and the money was not available to use. The delay in the labs has been due to delays in state funds.

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe commented that this has posed a challenge for both institutions. Because of this, a brand new college level chemistry lab was installed in Montgomery Hall in Coshocton. Also in Ariel Hall in Knox, there will be a new college-level chemistry lab. It has been a challenge.

11. What is the status of our campus getting additional or new residence halls? Do we have support from Columbus on this issue? If we do not get any more residence halls, how do you think this will affect enrollment numbers?

Dr. MacDonald:
• Dr. MacDonald reported that yes, there is support from Columbus and has been there for a while. There has been transition in leadership in Columbus. Members of The Ohio State board stated that they support residence halls at the regional campuses. Dr. Gee fully supports this as well.
• Mike Sherman, the liaison for the regional campus to Provost Alutto, and who is leaving to become Provost at the University of Akron called Dr. MacDonald to mention there is very good news coming. There will be information coming in the next few months regarding developers to work on residence halls.
• Dr. MacDonald stated that if we were not to get residence halls, he thinks that the enrollment would not grow to the level it could if there were residence halls.

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe wished to make very clear that COTC is extremely supportive of the idea of residence halls. COTC has been involved in discussions about residence halls and that Columbus is interested in their level of commitment.

12. Will there ever be any availability to purchase coffee on the Hopewell/Founders side of campus?

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe stated that there are currently vending machines available. Additionally, in the Hopewell/Founders renovation project, there will be strategically located kitchenettes where people could prepare coffee. There are no plans in the immediate future to sell coffee on this side of campus due to costs and demands.

SAFETY AND SECURITY

13. Who is responsible for addressing the issues when student behavior creates an adverse work/study environment?

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe began by stating that as an agent of the organization, if you witness an occurrence or behavior, the responsibility begins with you. You can’t turn your head or walk away. It is your responsibility to deal with what you have witnessed. You should also feel comfortable to summon safety and security immediately. Student Life should be the next step. You could also talk to your supervisor.

14. When will the new security chief be on board?

Dr. MacDonald:
• Dr. MacDonald answered that the new security chief will be on board soon.

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe states that administration has been very pleased with Mike Neff’s leadership.

15. Since the completion of the Warner and security moving over to their new location, we have seen a drastic difference in security presence in Hopewell. I realize the location where security was in Hopewell had been outgrown, but I’m not sure why security was completely moved from this location. In addition to Warner, Hopewell handles a lot of money each day in the Gateway area. Also, Hopewell staff are sometimes faced with very agitated students over financial aid issues that require security intervention. Is there any way for security to have two locations? Students need to know security exists in Hopewell.

Dr. MacDonald:
• Dr. MacDonald stated that Security does exist and students should know. There probably won’t be an additional center for security created in Hopewell.
• It’s very difficult to predict where something is going to occur. Dr. MacDonald stated that we need to have good security all around campus and believes that we do.

Dr. Coe:
• Dr. Coe reminded everyone that Security is here. If a staff member is worried about putting money away, please call and ask for a security escort. Additionally, staff can request this if on campus late and would like someone to walk to your vehicle you to your vehicle.
• Dr. Coe also mentioned that there are security cameras around campus and that there certainly is monitoring of several areas on campus.
• Dr. Coe reminded staff to try to anticipate problems. Dr. Coe mentioned that on occasion in their office, there may be a potentially agitated person. If this occurs, always ask for security backup.

Open forum for questions:
• Faith Phillips asked if Security come more often to the Hopewell Hall Mall. Financial Aid is in the process of requesting a security button but a greater visibility would be greatly appreciated. Officer Neff responded and informed staff that Fees and Deposits currently has a Panic button and would hope that if someone from another office hears an issue, they would call security, too.
• Dr. Coe mentioned that she brought a handout of items that were discussed at the her President’s Cabinet meeting. The council brainstormed large, overarching projects and the context that the campus does business in. The following list covers the large projects that the campus is involved in:
o COTC Strategic Plan 2009 – 2013 is the overarching umbrella that will guide administration for the next few years.
o The State of Ohio FY 2012 and 2013 is the context that will guide decisions.
o Quarter to Semester Conversion affects both institutions. This affects both institutions differently.
o 40th Anniversary Celebration for COTC will be a year-long celebration.
o Comprehensive Capital Campaign is in the final stages for commencing a joint capital campaign involving COTC, Ohio State Newark and the Newark Campus Development Fund.
o Focus: Scholarships 2011-2012
End of Town Hall session
Winter Employee of the Quarter: Marilyn Lees
• Winter Employee of the Quarter nominees: Marti Chaatsmith, Deb Clark, Spencer Kearton, Jessica Mautz, Jeremy Pursley, Bruce Weaver, Kasia Wilson, and LeeAnn Wilson,
• Winter Employee of the Quarter honoree: John MacDonald

Hopewell/Founders Renovation: Rick Nelson and Faye Bodyke- Newark Campus Liaison
• 16 months of construction, broken into three sequences
• Phase 1 includes: Hopewell hall receiving dock temporarily relocated, demolition starting June 15th that will occur during 2nd and 3rd shifts, science lab construction, new restrooms, and addition of a lactation room.
• Phase 2 includes: renovation of Hopewell Hall mall and radiation technology areas, replacement of Hopewell classroom doors.
• Phase 3 includes: Marketing department moving to Hopewell hall. The former marketing area will become a student lounge areas.
• Question from staff at the meeting: How will staff know about the progress of the construction? Answer: Rick Nelson will send a campus update every 4 weeks.
• Question from staff at the meeting: Is the cooler going to be located behind Financial Aid? Answer: No

Area Updates

Academic Labs: Terri Jackson
• Hazardous waste collection will be Monday. If you have something to bring in to be collected, contact Terri no later than today.
Human Resources: Sherry Abbott
• Employee updates, see end of minutes
• Health screenings are on April 28th
Information Technology Services: Jeff Crabtree
• Jason Kruder has started with us as a PC Technician. He works alongside Mike Drobnack and Terry Gill.
Marketing: Alice Hutzel-Bateson
• COTC has selected Early Childhood Development, Forensic Science and Human Services as the programs for special marketing and recruiting focus for fiscal year 2010-2011.
Staff Development: Marilyn Lees
• The annual Soup & Chili Cook-off was held in February. There were seven competitors: Chuck Balue, Leyla Billman, Lori Garrabrant, Terry Gill, Tauni Graham, Casey Ray, and Candy Sheradin.
o Judges for the event were Bob Klingensmith, Doug Warthen, and Barry Riley (who is a member of the COTC Board of Trustees).
o First place was awarded to Lori Garrabrant of Dining Services, Second place went to Leyla Billman, COTC Gateway, third place honors went to Chuck Balue, Dining Services
• Staff Development will be hosting a food drive for the Food Pantry Network of Licking County during April and May. Watch for more information within the next few weeks.
• The mobile mammography unit has been schedule to be on campus. It will be here April 21, 9:00am – 4:00pm. Contact Tauni Graham for more information.