OHIO leaders share answers to community questions from Jan. 22 ‘University Updates’

Ohio University President Lori Stewart Gonzalez hosted the third “University Updates” (opens in a new window) event of the academic year on Wednesday, Jan. 22.

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 Jan. 22 event are now available to view (opens in a new window) on the University Updates website.

The next University Updates event will be held on Friday, March 28 at 11 a.m. in Baker Theater, located on the second floor of Baker University Center.

OHIO Leadership presentations

After an introduction from President Gonzalez, Executive Vice President and Provost Donald Leo provided an update about Ohio University’s Dynamic Strategy (opens in a new window). Leo discussed the development of the strategy, and thanked the Implementation Advisory Committee (opens in a new window) made up of individuals from every part of the OHIO community and recognized the committee’s importance in implementing the strategy, advising priorities and assessing progress.

Leo then highlighted some key implementation projects from each pillar of the Dynamic Strategy, including but not limited to, the OHIO Experience Awards (opens in a new window) for the Learn pillar, 15 new tenure track faculty hires (opens in a new window) for the Discover pillar, developing the Center for Community Impact (opens in a new window) for the Engage pillar and developing a Center for Employee Excellence (opens in a new window) for the Work pillar. He also noted that metrics used to track and measure the success of the Dynamic Strategy will be sent to OHIO’s Board of Trustees in April for approval.

Associate Provost and HLC Accreditation Liaison Officer Loralyn Taylor discussed an upcoming accreditation visit from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) (opens in a new window), the largest accrediting agency in the United States. The visit is part of the commission’s comprehensive evaluation of Ohio University (opens in a new window). Taylor explained that through HLC’s Open Pathway (opens in a new window), Ohio University engages in a 10-year evaluation cycle to reaffirm compliance with HLC requirements and pursue institutional improvement. The visit (opens in a new window) from trained peer reviewers on March 24 and 25 will hold OHIO accountable for institutional effectiveness, quality, value and federal compliance.

Taylor encouraged everyone in the Ohio University community to get involved in the process and help tell the story of OHIO through reviewing the assurance argument, mission and vision, dynamic strategy and potential questions from HLC. She also asked for participation in three open forums covering five criteria that are taking place on Monday, March 24. Finally, Taylor encouraged students, faculty and staff to visit the “What Do I Need to Know? (opens in a new window)” page for more information. The University has also shared specific reaffirmation of accreditation information and guidance for numerous OHIO audiences, including students (opens in a new window), faculty (opens in a new window) and staff (opens in a new window), via OHIO Today.

Vice President For Human Resources Mary Elizabeth Miles reflected on the accomplishments of OHIO HR (opens in a new window) in 2024 and thanked all the department’s campus partners. Miles stated that well-being and growth are priorities for all University employees and that 2024 was a year of reaffirming OHIO’s mission and values. Among HR’s many accomplishments, Miles highlighted streamlining processes (opens in a new window), adding new campus partnerships, going green with paperless solutions (opens in a new window), enhancing policies and procedures, reimagining existing programs such as onboarding (opens in a new window) and performance management (opens in a new window) and achieving compliance through delivering fraud training to more than 10,000 employees (opens in a new window) in 90 days.

Miles also emphasized ongoing efforts that will continue to make OHIO a destination employer. To build on the success of the previous year, she announced a retirement preparedness program in partnership with an independent retirement consultant that will include no-cost sessions to review financial wellness through topics like budgeting, retirement planning and Social Security.

Chief Information Officer Chris Ament began his presentation by speaking about how the ever-changing nature of technology is both refreshing and demanding, citing the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence as an example. Ament then described the makeup of the Office of Information and Technology (opens in a new window) noting that employees span 27 counties in Ohio and multiple states and that women hold around 45 percent of leadership roles—double the industry average. He then outlined the structure of the IT department and the diverse portfolio it manages as well as shared some of the department’s 2024 accomplishments.

Ament closed his presentation by highlighting future developments including telephone modernization, AI exploration, assessing and improving security, formalizing a data strategy and modernizing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software (opens in a new window).

Additional details about OHIO’s University Updates series are available online (opens in a new window).