Category: News

By Reilly Wright, Managing Editor

Ohio Wesleyan University’s Office of Career Services, once part of the Division of Student Affairs, shifted to the Division of University Advancement on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018.

The Division of University Advancement primarily handles engaging OWU alumni, families and friends through significant networking, volunteer involvement and financial support. This move means Career Services will be more closely intertwined with alumni, allowing OWU students to have greater access to alumni and any opportunities they offer.

“The shift occurred to provide greater access, career-related programming and experiential opportunities for students,” Director of Career Services Leslie Melton said.

Colleen Garland, the Vice President for University Advancement, says alumni are one of the greatest assets Ohio Wesleyan students have for internships, career mentoring and eventual job placement.

“Housing Career Services within Advancement strengthens opportunities for students by connecting them with successful alumni willing and eager to assist with student career development,” Garland said.

By restructuring this department association toward alumni relations, Ohio Wesleyan is joining a common trend that other institutions like Amherst College (MA) and Colgate University (NY) have done.

“It is increasingly common for Career Services to align with Alumni Relations and University Advancement at institutions like Ohio Wesleyan,” said President Rock Jones. “This allows for greater partnerships with alumni in providing externships and internships, in mentoring students in preparation for work after college and even in leading to employment opportunities.”

Originally, Career Services was part of Student Affairs, which handles supporting students in engagement, resources, opportunities and involvement. Student Affairs currently holds a variety of departments including Counseling Services, Student Conduct, Residential Life and Public Safety.

The Office of Career Services provides individual counseling for students regarding career plans and development, job searches, and networking. The department is comprised of four employees and multiple OWU student interns on the second floor of Hamilton-Williams Campus Center.

“We are still working to determine [changes] however, in the meantime, neither students nor staff will notice any major changes until the office has fully integrated into the [new] division and determined opportunities for advancement,” Melton said.

By Alameina White, Transcript Reporter

The Ohio Wesleyan bookstore has faced a few challenges since becoming independently owned back in Sept. of 2017 but is working to improve things for next semester.

Earlier in the semester, instructors/professors started having issues with the bookstore not processing their orders and students weren’t able to get their books. This caused frustration as some instructors/professors had to delay their syllabuses.

According to Melanie Kalb, Director of Purchasing, when some instructors/professors had submitted their book adoptions (orders), the bookstore was still being sourced by Follett. Some professors/instructors had then submitted their adoptions to Follett causing some of them to be misplaced.

The transition to an independently owned bookstore hasn’t been smooth but Lisa Tackett, an employee of the bookstore, has been working hard to improve the process.

“We’re working to expand our supplier base, Lisa’s adding new suppliers and new wholesalers every day as we grow,” said Kalb.

Since becoming independently owned Tackett, who oversees the book adoptions, has set up accounts with numerous publishers from scratch.

“Some are quick, some are one phone call and you order at the same time and there are some that’ve taken four weeks just to set up an account to place an order,” said Tackett.

In the process of trying to find new publishers to source the books, Tackett has also had to work with international publishers that can take up to six months to process an order. Instructors/Professors had also adopted books that were out-of-print or print-on-demand. Orders for books that are print-on-demand can sometimes be held until a certain number of copies are requested and take anywhere from a month to six months, according to Tackett.

The process of submitting book adoptions was also new for professors.

“They normally turned them in to me in the past and now they go in and enter it themselves,” said Tackett.

Given the issues and changes at hand, the bookstore employees found different ways to get students their books.

“We’ve gone as far as to order books on Amazon and resell them in the bookstore,” said Tackett. “We want to make sure students can get the books they need.”

Tackett and Kalb encourage students to visit the bookstore’s website, https://owucampusstore.secureweblogin.com, where they can order their books from the bookstore or from six other vendors. This also allows students to compare the bookstore’s prices to those of other vendors.

“One of our main goals is textbook affordability and trying to get the best price for the students in comparison with all the other websites out there,” said Kalb.

Kalb believes that next semester will go a lot smoother and many of these issues will be worked out by then.

“That’s not going to happen next semester, we’ll have owned the bookstore for a longer period of time so those textbooks that may be older or print-on-demand can be available here for students,” said Kalb.

By Maddie Matos, A&E Editor

The city of Delaware and Ohio Wesleyan University have collaborated on a new project, that benefits both the campus and community.

Inside the center will host both businesses and educational resources. It is designed for students to gain access to the corporate world and prepare them for jobs.

“The entrepreneurial center will enhance and transcend a traditional liberal arts education and be a model for creating an interdisciplinary culture that brings together students, work centers, and community to improve local economic, cultural and social enterprises,” Woltemade Center Administrative Director, Megan Ellis said.

The center was announced to students in an email sent on January 22 from President Rock Jones. The email outlined the idea for having the center and what it will do for campus.

The center was approved by the Delaware City Council on January 22. The council will invest $250,000 in the next five years. OWU is also talking with Delaware County staff members as well to see if they are interested in the project.

The idea for the center came from a group of faculty, who wanted to further enhance the connection between campus and OWU. People involved in the project include Ellis, Sean Hughs, Economic Development for the City, Bob Lamb, Economic Development for the County and Assistant Professor of Economics Dan Charna.

The committee was inspired by other campuses connecting with their cities but have made the center their own.

“There are other innovation labs and entrepreneurial spaces on other campus and we did a lot of homework to learn best practices and examples we could learn from,” Ellis said. “This is unique in that we’re the first partnership including a small liberal arts institution and the surrounding city and county.”

The center will be at 70 S. Sandusky Street, where the current Stewart Annex is. The location allows easy access for both students and business to collaborate, a goal for this center.

“The center will add important educational opportunity for students at OWU, and it will add important economic benefit for Delaware as new companies are formed and ultimate as new jobs are brought to our community,” Jones said.

What businesses will be housed in the center are undetermined but will provide opportunity for OWU students to connect with the community of Delaware.

By Reilly Wright, Managing Editor

Influenza and influenza-like illnesses are storming campus this semester with several cases now confirmed, the Ohio Wesleyan University Student Health Center reported.

Marsha Tilden, director of student health services, says the OWU Student Health Center staff has seen 30 students with influenza or an influenza-like illness as of Monday morning.

“The majority of students that we are seeing for illness have influenza,” Tilden said. “We have seen a few students with a stomach flu and upper respiratory infections.”

Symptoms for flu-like illnesses include body aches, fever, coughing and sore throat. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports symptoms for the common cold are more gradual and moderate compared to the flu’s abrupt onset that can last up to two weeks.

“[I feel] like a gross, sniffly, drippy-nosed child,” said Larisa Keating, a junior whose flu-like symptoms began Sunday.

According to the CDC, current nationwide hospitalization rates for the flu are some of the highest in years with numbers still rising.

“The worst semester that I can recall was during the [2009] H1N1 outbreak,” Tilden said. “This semester ranks high with the number of students we have seen.”

Known as a complex and difficult illness to predict, multiple influenza viruses are currently widespread including influenza B and influenza A H1N1 and H3N2. This season, influenza A H3N2 is fiercely dominating.

The Delaware General Health District notes 96 percent of flu-related patients in Delaware county have influenza A while influenza B and unknown types compose the following 4 percent. This H3N2 strain typically leads to higher flu activity because it more severely affects the elderly and the young while naturally mutating, causing flu vaccines to be less effective.

Although researchers in Canada had reported this season’s flu vaccine to be around 10 to 20 percent effective against the widespread H3N2 strain, there is no confirmed vaccine effectiveness report for the U.S.. Despite this, CDC officials continue to recommend the vaccine for anyone over 6 months old to combat other flu viruses and reduce symptom severity.

The Ohio Department of Health reports over 8,600 influenza-related hospitalizations statewide since Oct. 1, 2017 with 97 of those coming from parts of Delaware County according to the Delaware General Health District.

Tilden says the OWU Student Health Center has received no word of student hospitalizations or deaths this flu season.

On average, flu seasons last between 11 to 20 weeks, beginning as early as October and peaking between December and March. This leaves several predicted weeks ahead with increased flu activity.

“No classroom seems to ever have kleenex so if you’re going to class, stock up,” Keating said. “Avoid other sick people because you probably have the immune system of a child at this moment and become a couch potato for the next few days.”

Students with flu symptoms are recommended to contact the Student Health Center at (740) 368-3160 or visit their office in Stuyvesant Hall between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. By appointment, flu vaccinations are still offered for both students and employees. The Delaware General Health District at 3 W. Winter St., also offers vaccinations and health tips.

To avoid getting the virus, the Student Health Center recommends getting the flu shot, thoroughly washing your hands, covering your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing and sanitize commonly used surfaces. If you feel ill, they recommend simply staying home until you are fever free for 24 hours without using medication.

The CDC recommends taking antiviral drugs as soon as possible for those becoming severely ill or highly vulnerable to its symptoms.

By Reilly Wright, Photo Editor 

Current financial projections for the 2018-19 Ohio Wesleyan school year predict a deficit of $3 million that will cause expenses to be decreased or revenue to be increased.

From 2016-17 and 2017-18, OWU’s Board of Trustees approved endowment draws of more than $3 million to balance the projected budgets, but they expect the estimated $6.5 million total drawn to be paid back.

The fiscal 2018-19 does not anticipate an endowment draw. Thus, the current budget for the coming year currently forecasts a deficit of approximately $3 million. Lauri Strimkovsky, the vice president for finance and administration and treasurer, leads the budget projection and said balanced budget comes to either increasing the revenue or reducing expenses.

“Vice President Strimkovsky is leading us in a review of various options available to increase revenue and reduce expenses in order to achieve a balanced budget,” President Rock Jones said. “This will be an ongoing process over the coming weeks and months.”

Strimkovsky’s assessments show an expected focus on expenses including outsourced services and high-spending areas, including investigating health care for potential savings. Compensation-related elements such as salary and benefits will be examined while non-compensation expenditures such as major contracts and spending patterns will be reviewed.

Strimkovsky said this process of expenditure evaluations will involve large investigations as well as collaboration across OWU in coming months. While income items will be reviewed, such as accuracy in financial aid projections and growth in summer school enrollment, so will outcome items with housekeeping, Anthem Blue Cross and food services.

“This will not be a painless process as budgets at the individual department level will have to be reduced,” Strimkovsky said.

Strimkovsky said this budget process is in the beginning stages and a projected deficit so early is not unusual, but this large of a gap should be addressed now.

“Good stewardship and a commitment to financial sustainability dictate that we have a balanced budget; no institution can sustain deficit budgets over the long term,” Strimkovsky said.

The largest area for compensation is health insurance with an Insurance Committee currently looking into various plans that still provide good service with lower costs. The OWU health plan is self-funded up to $110,000 with no effort to develop a profit with the process.

Strimkovsky said Ohio Wesleyan’s budget is often observed by other institutions, banks and the U.S. Department of Education as a measure for financial health. Donors, students and parents use a balanced budget to determine their decisions in contributing to OWU.

 “Our goal will be to implement reductions, while maintaining the high quality education and student life that is expected by our students and their families,” Strimkovsky said. “Again, this won’t be easy, but I am certain that, through collaboration, we can develop a realistic balanced budget.”