TRUSTEES HEAR REPORTS ON FACULTY DEVELOPMENT, ACADEMIC ENRICHMENT

   COLUMBUS -- Professional development for faculty has become a higher priority at The Ohio State University, the Board of Trustees was told Friday (11/5). The board also heard reports on the Academic Enrichment program and a survey completed by the Inter-professional Council serving students in the university's five professional colleges, and presented a student award.

Commission recommends emphasis on faculty development

   Professional development opportunities need to become more emphasized and integrated across campus if faculty are going to maximize their university experience, a faculty group told trustees.

   In a report to the board, members of the Commission on Faculty Development and Careers recommended that Ohio State make continuing faculty development a "more central concern," and suggested that a new universitywide program be created to guide faculty development planning efforts.

   The commission was formed in 1997 by then-Provost Richard Sisson to address concerns relating to faculty professional development. Faculty development opportunities include faculty leaves, or sabbaticals; special research assignments; computer training; and attending conferences, workshops and professional meetings.

   The group gathered a wide range of information from several sources, including the provosts' offices at 21 institutions. Also surveyed were faculty and administrators on Ohio State's Columbus campus and four regional campuses.

   "Faculty surveyed did not identify any major barriers, but clearly there is room for improvement in the area of faculty development," said Distinguished University Professor Emeritus J. Robert Warmbrod, a faculty member at Ohio State since 1968 and co-chair of the 14-member commission with Vice Provost Nancy M. Rudd.

   "We need an institutional culture that plans for some sort of faculty development process," said commission member Sally V. Rudmann, chair of the Faculty Council. "It's our sense that if we want to improve the university academically and move to the next level, we need to develop the best opportunities possible for faculty development across careers that supports continued growth and contributions to the university."

   Eighty-four percent of the more than 600 faculty surveyed said they were satisfied with their Ohio State experience, and 80 percent said they believe the primary responsibility for professional growth lies with the individual faculty members. But nearly 25 percent of those surveyed said they find it difficult to make and implement long-term plans for professional development.

   Especially disturbing to the commission was the finding that, on average, only 183 tenure-track faculty out of 3,000 experienced some type of sabbatical -- or faculty leave -- each year from the 1993-94 academic year to 1996-97.

   "Over their careers, faculty members need to reinvent themselves, to become re-energized, to get up-to-date and develop new specializations," Warmbrod said.

   The most significant of the commission's 16 recommendations was the suggestion to form a Faculty Development Planning and Review program across the university. The recommendation calls for department chairs and faculty to develop a periodic faculty development plan.

   A plan might be developed during the first year of a faculty member's probationary period and another in the year following the granting of tenure, Rudd said. Tenure is determined after a faculty member's sixth year on campus. The plan would assist the faculty member in establishing goals mutually beneficial to the faculty member and department and include an agreement on the resources and actions needed, she said.

   Another recommendation calls for the Office of Academic Affairs to develop guidelines for the creation of faculty development plan programs for each academic department, college and regional campus.

   The commission's report has been widely distributed on campus. The Faculty Council, University Senate Steering Committee and the Council on Academic Affairs have reviewed the report. The report is available on the Web at http://oaa.ohio- state.edu/comfacdevel.html. Responses to the report should be directed to Rudd at Rudd.2@osu.edu. Rudd said the commission expects to forward responses to Executive Vice President and Provost Edward J. Ray by the beginning of winter quarter. She said another committee may be formed to guide the implementation of recommendations approved by Ray.

Academic Enrichment supports excellence

   The Academic Enrichment program, now in its sixth year, was highlighted in a presentation to the board that emphasized how Ohio State reallocates its resources to support existing and emerging priorities.

   "The Academic Enrichment program is one of the ways -- a major way -- that Ohio State is supporting the drive for academic excellence, excellence that will manifest itself in the quality of instruction, research and service we are able to offer," said Edward J. Ray, executive vice president and provost. "These initiatives -- and the faculty behind them -- are sources of great pride for all of us here at The Ohio State University."

   The offices of Academic Affairs and Research developed the program to stimulate and encourage excellence within and across academic units. Program funding to date has reached more than $9 million, and most units have provided matching funds to leverage the Academic Enrichment grants.

   Three faculty who have benefited from the program were introduced to the board: Mauro Ferrari, director of the Biomedical Engineering Center and professor of internal medicine and mechanical engineering; Deborah Jones Merritt, holder of the John Deaver Drinko/Baker & Hostetler Chair in the College of Law; and Maria Palazzi, associate director of the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design and associate professor of industrial, interior and visual communication design. Ferrari and Palazzi were hired as a result of initiatives that have received Academic Enrichment funding.

   Ferrari said Academic Enrichment program support helps increase the faculty in areas related to biomedical engineering; encourages closer connections among the colleges of Engineering, Medicine and Public Health, Veterinary Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy; triggers additional external funding; and enhances opportunities for technology transfer. Biomedical engineering research at Ohio State is expected to have applications in advancing methods of treatment for such illnesses as diabetes and cancer, as well as emergency treatment of heart attacks.

   Merritt discussed the college's proposed Legislation Clinic expected to begin operation in 2000-2001, which is supported by Academic Enrichment funding. She said the clinic will teach students by bringing them into the Ohio Statehouse to work with legislators and committee staff; foster scholarship among faculty who specialize in the legislative process; and provide service to citizens and legislators through nonpartisan analysis of legislative issues. Merritt also said the clinic builds upon Ohio State's location in a prominent state capital, the college's strength of teaching legislation as a first-year subject, and its Center for Law, Policy, and Social Science.

   Palazzi demonstrated new computer animation software used in ACCAD; she was instrumental in obtaining software valued at more than $6.6 million for Ohio State when she joined the university in August. Palazzi praised the Academic Enrichment program's history of supporting arts and technology, and said she sees the existence of such a program as a signal that Ohio State is a contemporary research university with an emphasis on interdisciplinary activity that is committed to being the best.

IPC reports survey results

   Eric Ley, president of the Inter-Professional Council and a fourth-year medical student, presented the I-QUE (Inter- Professional Quality of University Experience) survey results to trustees.

   Surveys were collected from 649 students from all five professional colleges on campus -- the colleges of Medicine, Law, Optometry, Veterinary Medicine and Dentistry, Ley said. Students were asked to rank each item's quality and importance on a scale from 1 to 5.

   "The surveys show that overall, most professional students are happy with their experience at Ohio State," Ley said. "They indicated the level of instruction from many faculty members is excellent.

   "But there are some problems," he added. "Students would like to see more effort put into keeping their colleges clean. They also want more time to study for boards, additional parking spaces on campus, more accessible child care services, and better health insurance that would include dental and optical coverage."

   Work on the I-QUE survey began more than a year and a half ago. The Council for Graduate Students and Undergraduate Student Government have been involved in similar efforts to conduct surveys of their constituencies, G-QUE (Graduate Quality of the University Experience) and CUE (Committee on the Undergraduate Experience), respectively.

   Ley said IPC's next step is to formulate the survey results into a report that will be presented to trustees and other university officials. Ley was joined in the presentation by IPC members Renee DeBose, April Evans, Dave Muller and A.J. Wildman.

Student recognition award

   Trustees presented a student recognition award to Amanda Wildman, a student in the College of Veterinary Medicine and secretary of the Inter-Professional Council (IPC). As secretary of IPC, Wildman, of WORTHINGTON, helps serve the needs of the nearly 3,000 professional students at Ohio State. With her degree, Wildman would like to obtain a position in an active and compassionate small-animal and/or exotic-animal clinic. She has extensive experience working in pet clinics, serving as a veterinary assistant with responsibilities in surgery and anesthesia, diagnostic laboratory work, radiology and phlebotomy, and medical administration. Last year, she received the Hermann Meyer Veterinary Anatomy Scholarship from the College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy.

Contacts:
Nancy Rudd, Academic Affairs, (614) 292-5881
Edward J. Ray, Academic Affairs, (614) 292-5881
Karissa Shivley, University Relations, (614) 292-8295