During the fall season, the color of the leaves changes, the temperature changes and the flavor of your latte changes. This year, the staff at Ohio Wesleyan changed as well.
The head of Buildings and Grounds (B&G), Dennis Wall, recently quit his position.
âDennis has been a key member of our team who can be counted on to effectively lead our skilled trades teams, manage facilities improvement projects and special events and professionally represent the buildings and grounds department in his interactions on campus,â said Peter Schantz, director of the physical plant.
Wall accepted a job with American Electric Power. The timing of the departure was due to the immediate opening of the new position.
âWe have begun the search process for his replacement,â Schantz said. âDepartment staff will absorb his duties until the position is filled.â
Wall has worked for OWU for 20 years, has lived in Delaware for 34 years and has watched all four of his kids graduate from OWU.
âI will miss everything about OWU,â Wall said. âAll of the great assets that attract students also appeal greatly to faculty and staff, and I’m no exception. Wonderful facilities, great faculty, great support staff in every department, progressive leadership, involved alumni base and Delaware is the best small town community anyone could ever hope to raise a family in.â
Wall is accepting the new position for one last challenge.
âI’m leaving OWU for one last career challenge before I retire.â
Not only will Wall miss OWU, but the Delaware community and OWU staff will miss him as well. B&G project manager Chris Chidester summed it up.
âHe is a man of great character, who is very helpful and extremely knowledgeable in his field,â Chidester said. âIt has been a pleasure to work with him and get to know him. He will be sorely missed in buildings and grounds and all around campus.â
William Hsiao ’59. Photo courtesy of the Harvard website.
Eleven countries and one city-state have health care systems shaped by an Ohio Wesleyan University graduate.
William Hsiao, class of 1959, returned to his alma mater this week to receive an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for his work in designing health care reforms and universal health insurance programs.
âHsiao exemplifies the ideal of moral leadership in a global society,â President Rock Jones said.
Hsiao said â[he] was flabbergastedâ when informed about the honorary degree. âTo me, what I was doing [was]âŠwhat I found interesting and doing the best that I [could]. Many people do that.â
Hsiao, who received his doctorate in economics from Harvard University, shaped health system reforms and universal health insurance programs for China, Colombia, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Uganda, Vietnam and the United States.â
Robert Gitter, professor of economics at OWU, described him as a very humble person.
Hsiao, who graduated from OWU with degrees in mathematics and physics, said he ânever thought [he] would be a teacher and a researcher.â He applied to be an actuary for the federal government.
Gitter explained that â[Hsiao] realized as an actuary he wasnât really dealing with a lot of the big questions,â such as the impact specific economic decisions have on people and how they affect the economy overall.
Once Hsiao realized what he was missing, he went back to school. âIt [seemed] like economists are the ones wrestling with those big issues,â Hsiao said.
He credited OWU with developing his interest in the larger picture. He discovered âhow [ethics and moral principles] should guide our lives.â A liberal arts education â[opens] up your spirit, your mind and your interpersonal relations.â
Technology has become much more sophisticated in the past few years. While students have no problem keeping up with the new technology, larger establishments, like universities, tend to struggle.
Ohio Wesleyan is no different.
The infamous BishopNet, OWUâs wireless portal to the internet, tends to be a shared enemy all students face. Many take to social media to complain. Junior Jeremy Griffin-ÂJackson called it âunreliable.â
Itâs not uncommon to hear horror stories of BishopNet dropping in the middle of a very important task or homework. GriffinÂJackson explained, âIt has its moment, but then it drops you.â
Cuckoo Gupta, a transfer student, was surprised by the poor quality. She noted that âcompared to [her] old school, [BishopNet] is noticeably worse.â
Brian Rellinger, OWUâs chief information officer, says that the slowed performance could be attributed to various factors. âStreaming media services place demands on the network that did not exist in 2007 when the equipment was last updated,â he said. An increase in devices per student has also contributed to the strain.
But the struggle students have been facing may soon be coming to an end.
Rellinger confirmed that new access points to BishopNet are being installed across campus. He is confident that the upgrades being made will improve wireless connectivity for all.
âNew access points that are being installed are the latest generation and are replacing equipment that is approximately seven years old,â said Rellinger. âThe new equipment will offer the latest advancements in wireless network performance and coverage.â
âAs of Oct. 15, installation in 4 Williams Drive, Stuyvesant Hall and Welch Hall has been completed,â Rellinger continued. âAll of the equipment was purchased with existing funds from Information Services, and the money was made available through various internal costÂ-saving measures within our department and required no external funding or budget increases.â
With upgrades nearing completion, OWU students just might get the BishopNet they deserve.
In an effort to smooth the transition between student government administrations, the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) amended the portion of their constitution that controls elections.
Senators unanimously passed resolution 15F07 this Monday, Oct. 19, to effect the change.
Before the resolution, chapter 5, article 44 of the WCSA constitution stated that elections should be held over three separate dates. The elections of the WCSA president and vice president, executive officers and general senators were set for the first, second and third Fridays in November, respectively.
Now, executive officers will be voted into office on the first Friday in November. General senators will elected on the second Friday in November.
The change allows WCSA to begin the new year with a fresh senate, smoothing the transition time for student representatives.
After the senators broke into brief committee meetings, another short senate came to a close.
That question guided discussion at the Oct. 19 faculty meeting, underlying many of the talking points on the agenda. With enrollment declining, departmental budgets have been cut, book orders for the library reduced, staff laid off, teaching positions remain unfilled, faculty and staff benefits changed and retiree benefits slashed.
President Rock Jones said he and the Board of Trustees discussed, earlier this month, ways to maintain OWUâs liberal arts core in the universityâs current economic climate.
âWe want to continue the conversation about the importance of our mission as a residential liberal arts institution and to discuss what strategies can help us fulfill that and whether those strategies are sustainable financially, in the 21st Century.â
âWe need to be careful,â Jones warned. âIf we were to have three or four years of classes that looked like the classes this fall, that would require dramatic action and would threaten our ability to fulfill our mission.â
Provost Charles Stinemetz followed Jones at the podium, and in theme. He told faculty he had been working on a project lately âto estimate the appropriate size of the faculty in relation to student enrollments.â
As hands began to raise, Stinemetz clarified, âThe question is, we have a decline in enrollment, how many faculty do we need to serve those students?â
Zach Long, associate professor of English, was the first to speak after this explanation. âWhereâd the idea of coming up with an appropriate number of faculty members come from? What was the origin of it?â
Long repeated the question when he wasnât satisfied with the answers he got from Stinemetz.
Chris Wolverton, chair of the University Governance Committee and a professor of botany-microbiology, tried to help Stinemetz.
âIt is the charge of the Governance Committee in the faculty handbook to look at the appropriate size of the faculty,â he said. âThis initiative was taken by the Governance Committee.â
Though the investigation is only just beginning, Stinemetz said, âWe are far away from having a final model or number. We have had some preliminary discussions with the committees involved, which have brought up some very good points.â
Those committees contributing are the Faculty Personnel Committee (FPC) and the Academic Policy Committee (APC). Suggestions or data generated by these bodies will eventually be reported back to the Governance Committee, Stinemetz said.
After the floor was turned over for committee reports, Wolverton elaborated on what Stinemetz introduced.
âThe Governance Committee is tasked with determining the appropriate size of the faculty and administration,â Wolverton said. âSo one measure taken was to assemble a working group.â
âThat group met and made the recommendation to freeze open faculty positions,â said Wolverton. âThat was the outcome. That was what we did.â
When asked by Randolph K. Quaye, associate professor of black world studies, if the hiring freeze is âtemporary or permanent,â Wolverton suggested that it remains to be seen.
âOne of the variables that has a strong impact is the size of the student body. Now we have several hundred fewer students in our student body.â But, Wolverton suggested, âI would argue that the freezing is going to be temporary.â
Wolverton stressed the importance of cooperation between committee members in making decisions about the number of faculty and administrators OWU can sustain.
âThe Governance Committee wants to see a representative of our committee and APC and FPCÂ get as many variables on the table as possible and to see how these variables interact.â
At this point, Wolverton moved to begin an executive session, a period in which all nonÂ-voting members of those present, including The Transcript and members of WCSA, had to leave the room. Wolverton said he wanted the closed meeting so faculty would feel comfortable talking about the economic issues facing the university without their views being made public. The vote to close the meeting was not unanimous.
The closed session ended in about 30 minutes.
When N. Kyle Smith, associate professor of psychology and chair of the APC took the podium, to have faculty vote on a new course and other measures, it was discovered not enough faculty were in attendance for a quorum. As a result, faculty could not vote.
Smith announced that at the facultyâs next meeting in November, he would move for a vote to make UC160, an 0.25 unit course, a requirement of all freshmen.
âOverall, UC160 has been shown to increase the retention rate, to make students more aware of possibilities available to them and to make students more engaged with the university,â Smith said.
But many professors did not seem to share this sentiment.
Karen Fryer, professor of geologyÂgeography, said that for high performing freshmen âwho hit the ground running, they simply donât need it.â
Carol Neuman De Vegvar, professor of fine arts, said that âbefore we even have a discussion about this, we need to be sent information about the class as it already exists. We donât really have a sense of the shape of it. This needs to be widespread knowledge before we are in a position to talk about this.â
Expanding UC160 to all freshmen would require a considerable expansion of the number of sections offered, which would mean adding to the faculty workload or hiring adjuncts to teach the sections. Given a tightening budget, faculty said they we were concerned about the added cost.
Earlier in the meeting, Jones said a current goal of his administration is to focus renovation efforts on University Hall. But assessments show that the initial estimate of $10 million for the work wonât be enough to foot the bill.
âWe need to put everything on the table,â Jones said. âWhat are the best uses of that building for the future and what is the cost of allowing that building to serve those purposes?â
Jones also announced that longÂtime supporters of the University, Phillip J. and Nancy Meek, both members of the class of 1959, recently pledged $10 million to added to the $10 million the Meek family has already donated to the University.
Ohio Wesleyan University and the Delaware community came together on Oct. 11 to help raise awareness and funds for hunger.
The Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty (CROP) Walk, is an annual community event created to help support the Church World Service (CWS). CWS helps provide food, water and resources for people in need.
The Community Service Learning Center (CSLC) at OWU organizes CROP Walk. Students walk 3.1 miles with other community members to raise money. Sally Leber, the director of CSLC said that it is one of the larger services and advocacy programs at OWU.
For five years, student participation has dwindled, but this year it saw âmore than 250 walkers overall,â and it raised $2,273 in total, according to CSLC and CROP Hunger Walkâs website.
âStudents here at OWU have always loved participating in CROP Hunger Walk,â Leber said. âIt has grown exponentially this year, many athletic teams, Greek organizations and SLUs represented. Also, other unaffiliated people got involved.â
OWU volleyball team member Brianna La Croix, a sophomore, said, âCROP Walk was a great way to meet new people who care about raising awareness. Crop Hunger Walk was well organized. I am so happy that I was able to volunteer with my teammates and coach, and walk for such an amazing cause.â
Leber was satisfied with the turnout of students and community members. âEveryone enjoyed the weather and each otherâs company,â she said. âThey all had fun, mingled, as well as gave importance to issues surrounding hunger and food scarcity.â
âI think it is a great cause and something that many students at OWU feel strongly about,â junior Shashank Sharma said.
Junior Khayyam Zubair, a participant at the walk, said, âAs a young person I feel it is my responsibility to help bring about change, to actively participate in well being of the world.
CROP Hunger Walk is a way I can do this.â
Currently, over 2,000 communities across the U.S. join in more than 1,300 CROP Hunger Walks each year. More than five million CROP Hunger Walkers have participated in more than 36,000 CROP Hunger Walks in the last two decades alone.
Dr. Eddie Glaude. Photo courtesy of the Princeton website.
On Oct. 8, a Princeton professor visited Ohio Wesleyan to speak about one interpretation of religion in the black community.
Eddie Glaude, professor of religion and African American studies at Princeton University, discussed âAn Uncommon Faith: Pragmatism and Religionâ at OWU in Merrick Hall.
The lecture was sponsored by OWUâs religion department. Susan Gunasti, assistant professor of religion at OWU, invited Glaude, her former professor, to speak at the university.
Glaudeâs talk focused on American pragmatism and African American religious history.
Throughout the lecture, Glaude referenced and quoted James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, W. E. B. Du Bois, William James and John Dewey.
â(Deweyâs) and, by extension, mine is a practical faith in ideal ends,â Glaude said. â(Itâs) a faith that lights up our imaginations and convinces us to act in pursuit of those ends.â
Freshman Jade Jin said she didnât follow all of his ideas, but liked Glaudeâs assertion that human salvation lies in our hands, not in some metaphysical realm.
Senior Kaila Johnson said Glaudeâs talk was necessary.
âHe raised a lot of good points and questions that, I think, would help facilitate more understanding about the black community, especially (regarding) religion,â she said.
Besides teaching at Princeton, Glaude has also written several books. His forthcoming book is titled âDemocracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soulâ and is a reflection on racial politics.
âIn this country, there is a value gap. And the value gap is that white people are valued more than others,â Glaude said. âTo the extent to which thatâs true, it animates our social practices, our political arrangements and our economic arrangements.â
âDemocracy in Black: How Race Still Enslaves the American Soulâ will be released in January 2016.
OWU’s Perkins Observatory Photo courtesy of the OWU website.
Itâs better than the Ivies’.
Recently, OWUâs Perkins Observatory was listed 15th on âCollege Rankâsâ 35 Best College Astronomy Observatories list thatâs above Harvard, MIT and the US Naval Academy.
According to its website, âWhen the observatory was completed in 1931, the Perkins Telescope was the third largest in the world. Perkins had one of the best Astronomical Libraries of the day, as well as facilities to accommodate visiting astronomers from all over the world.â
Though the 69Â-inch telescope once housed in Perkins not longer belongs to OWU, the observatory is a staple of OWUâs academic life.
Senior Mark Chalmers, an astrophysics major, is indebted to the Perkins Observatory for all his research.
âI take Observational Astronomy and do summer research,â Chalmers said. âFor one project we go to Perkins (when the weather permits), take images of an eclipsing binary W Ursa Majoris and make light curves with the data.â
And though Chalmers did not know about Perkinsâs recent ranking, he was not surprised.
âPerkins is an amazing place,â he said. âIt’s not only an observatory, but a library. And the basement is full of scientific demonstrations. There is also a workshop where people make telescope lenses.â
When asked if prospective students should see Perkins as part of their visit to OWU, Chalmers was emphatic.
âI would tell them to definitely check it out,â Chalmers said. âProfessor Harmon [in the astrophysics department] is very willing to give prospective students and their families tours. It’s a beautiful building full of history and not taking the time to see it while you’re here is a missed opportunity in my opinion.â
But Perkins is for more than just prospective and current OWU students. Thomas Burns, director of Perkins Observatory and a professor of English, says there is a lot going on almost every night.
“The observatory hosts a variety of public activities,â Burns said, âincluding two lecture series, our regular Friday night stargazing sessions, and day- and night- Âtime programs for groups of all descriptions; fraternal organizations, daycares, senior groups, scouting organizations, and school classes from kindergarten to college ages. We’ll do in excess of 100 public activities this year, both at the “O” and at various locations around central Ohio.â
One recent event held at Perkins was an installment of the “Astronomy And…” lecture series.
The talk featured Donald Lateiner, professor emeritus of the OWU classics department. On Oct. 8 he spoke on “Astronomy and Astropoetry: The ‘Stars’ of Ancient Greek & Roman Epic and Lyric.”
The sign over the Jay Walk says it all. â#1 in Ohio, #17 in America!â
Shortly after being ranked No. 17 in the nation among âAmericaâs Most Entrepreneurial Colleges 2015â by Forbes magazine, Ohio Wesleyan University announced that the department of economics will add a business administration major in fall 2016.
OWU has offered business related courses since 1921, but a businessÂ-specific major has never existed. Barbara A. MacLeod, chair of the economics department and professor of management, believes this change will make a difference.
âProspective students donât understand the management economics major has some business,â she said. âThis business administration major is more clear, not just in the name, but in content itâs a full business major.â
According to admissions data, many prospective students show interest in having the word âbusinessâ in their majorâs name.
OWUâs business administration major will encompass coursework in management theory, human resources management and behavior, marketing and strategic decisionÂ-making.
Along with the business coursework, the new major will work with other departments within OWU to establish related speakers, projects and ideas that can span across many academic fields.
âOur students will not only be taking the other distribution courses, but we hope to be doing a lot of cooperating with other departments on speakers, ideas and projects,â MacLeod said. âThe key aspects of a liberal arts are ideas like critical thinking, analysis, the ability to think effectively and write effectively and those are all under the program that we have proposed.â
MacLeod sees more schools like OWU heading in the same direction in their near future.
âSince it has been approved, I have heard from other schools in our area, in the North Coast Athletic Conference and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference that they are also looking into how to expand into business,â she said. âI think in 10Â15 years weâre going to see a very different landscape of all the liberal arts colleges in Ohio.â
Nick Norman, a junior on the economics board, agrees with MacLeod.
âI think it will help with marketing for the school and especially help increase enrollment in the next few years,â Norman said. âI think a lot of students choose to go to schools with a business school or major.â
Freshman Anna Day was in that position not long ago.
âIt was a little unclear coming in as a prospective student if there was exactly a business major,â Day said. âI know a lot of my friends are interested about business and are happy that they can focus on what they want to do.â
After short reports by the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs (WCSA) committee chairs, Â Will Kopp presented OWU’s new publicity strategies to the Oct. 12 full senate. Kopp, Ohio Wesleyan’s chief communications officer, calls the fresh approach to marketing the “OWU Branding Platform.” Changes include a major overhaul of the website, updated promotional materials sent out to prospective students and alumni and physical modifications to campus. Facing a declining enrollment, Kopp and his office of about seven full-time staffers asked why OWU wasn’t drawing students. “Research showed that OWU was not students’ No. 1 choice,” he said. “There was no emotional connection for them. We had a lack of identity in the marketplace.” The new identity is all about impact. “We wanted to tell the OWU story in a bold, compelling way,” said Kopp. “It’s a crowed marketplace out there. We had to be bold, to stand out, to highlight our strengths and to differentiate us from all our competitors. We wanted to increase enrollment right now.” Focus groups were organized and an outside branding consultant, MindPower, was called in. After only two months, the communications office settled on a theme: hunger. Kopp emphasized that this theme is encapsulated in a metaphor, not a tagline. “OWU students are hungry,” Kopp said. “They are insatiable problem solvers, they feast on a bounty of interconnected experiences. Basically, OWU students are hungry to get involved.” When he had reached the end of his slideshow, Kopp asked for questions. When that didn’t get any response, he asked for complaints. Sophomore Areena Arora, chair of the academic affairs committee asked if “we are using ‘Opposite of Ordinary’ at all anymore?” Kopp said that no, the former tagline would not be used in the future. Senator Billy George, a senior, asked if there was “anywhere online I can find out more about the OWU connection? Because I still don’t understand it.” Kopp said that the current website has a wealth of information about the OWU Connection and that the new website will have even more. Senior Emma Drongowski, vice president of WCSA, asked if there had been “any response or feedback from students so far?” “Yes,” Kopp said, “on social media it has been overwhelmingly positive. Lots of students and parents have been seen taking pictures with the new banners and putting them online. We even had one of the city managers of Delaware, whose son is starting to look at colleges, say that the OWU promotional piece they got in the mail was far better than other schools’.” Kopp concluded his presentation–and the full senate meeting–by saying that school visits were up, a trend he hopes continues.