OHIO leaders share answers to community questions from Sept. 26 ‘University Updates’

Ohio University President Lori Stewart Gonzalez hosted the first “University Updates” event of the academic year on Thursday, Sept. 26.

University Updates are held throughout the year as part of OHIO’s ongoing efforts to further connections and dialogue throughout the University community. At each event, OHIO leaders provide information on current projects and initiatives through short presentations. All students, faculty and staff are invited to watch the events in person or via livestream.

After each event, all members of the OHIO community can submit questions to each speaker based on their individual topics of discussion. Answers to the questions that were submitted during the Sept. 26 event are now available to view on the University Updates website.

The next University Updates event will be held on Nov. 4 at 3:30 p.m. in the Baker University Center Theater.

OHIO Leadership presentations

President Gonzalez opened the event by sharing information about the $25 million gift commitment from distinguished philanthropists Jeffery Chaddock BSC ’88 and Mark Morrow and the renaming of the College of Fine Arts to the Jeffery D. Chaddock and Mark A. Morrow College of Fine Arts. Gonzalez also discussed the naming of the new Roderick J. McDavis Residence Hall in honor of former President Roderick J. McDavis.

Updating the OHIO community on leadership searches, President Gonzalez said that Vice President of Advancement Gregory Simmons will begin his new role at OHIO on Nov. 4 and that the search committee is now interviewing candidates for the position of chief financial officer and vice president for finance and administration.

President Gonzalez will give the State of the University Address on Thursday, Oct. 10, and invited all members of the OHIO community to watch the event in person or over a livestream.

Executive Vice President and Provost Don Leo began his role at OHIO over the summer and gave his reflections on his first three months at the University as well as his goals for the year.  Several of OHIO’s colleges have seen leadership changes this year, and Dr. Leo provided information on the new leaders, as well as an update on the search for the new dean of the Jeffery D. Chaddock and Mark A. Morrow College of Fine Arts.

Leo also noted that he and Vice President for University Communications and Marketing Robin Oliver are leading the University’s implementation of its Dynamic Strategy and his excitement to help collectively and thoughtfully move the strategy forward.

Vice President for Research and Creative Activity Eric Muth also began his role at OHIO in the summer, and he discussed his first 90 days at the University in his remarks. He stressed the importance of collaboration in research and creative activity across OHIO and also provided updates regarding the overarching goals of the Research Division.

Ohio University is designated as an R1 Research Institution (very high research activity) by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. Dr. Muth explained how universities achieve the R1 status, and the steps OHIO is taking to ensure it remains an R1 institution.

Vice President for Enrollment Management Candace Boeninger provided information on Ohio University’s enrollment increases this fall, which resulted in a total preliminary enrollment of 29,625. Additionally, Boeninger discussed increases in OHIO Online enrollment rates and the enrollment growth taking place across many of OHIO’s regional campuses; she also outlined that first-year to second-year retention on its Athens campus jumped significantly for the second year in a row to 84.1 percent – the highest retention rate OHIO has seen since 2002.

Boeninger noted that, moving forward, the University will continue to monitor and assess the higher education landscape alongside programmatic demand in order to set enrollment goals that will best serve OHIO students, and the region, in the years ahead.

Additional details about OHIO’s University Updates series are available online.