The Transcript

By Spencer Pauley, Copy Editor 

Ohio Wesleyan’s staff has a voice through the Staff Council, which provides a platform to present ideas that will benefit OWU as a whole.

The council, which was formed in 2014, has been working hard to benefit staff members at OWU. From the time it first formed, the council has discussed topics ranging from salaries and insurance, to staff handbooks. But the main aspect the Staff Council works on is employee satisfaction.

Ed Lenane, the newly appointed chair of Staff Council, said he knows how important satisfaction among employees is to success.

“We all love OWU, but there are always challenges, so we host welcome back picnics and recognition luncheons,” Lenane said.

A new way the Staff Council is trying to improve employee satisfaction is through a newsletter that goes out to all staff members quarterly. The first issue was released in August and the council penned a note to the staff on the front page.

“Our hope is that each of you will participate by sending us news and stories that everyone can enjoy and benefit from,” according to the note. “Through this fun, casual communique, you will meet new employees and have a chance to say goodbye to others.”

One way this newsletter gives recognition to employees is through a piece titled “It’s all about OWU.” This gives a profile of staff members, including their history and what they do for the university. The most recent issue featured Rev. Jon Powers.

Last semester, the Staff Council announced official members, including Ed Lenane as chair. But there are a total of 16 members of the Staff Council that head departments such as enrollment management, academic affairs, student affairs, finance and administration and university advancement.

Director of Human Resources Scott Simon is a member of the Staff Council. He helped develop the new structure of the Staff Council that now has official members. With this change, the meetings have fostered more discussions among staff members.

“One thing I tried to bring was some organization and function to [the Staff Council] so that it wasn’t really a [President] Rock Jones-oriented meeting,” Simon said. “It was really the staff taking ownership for Staff Council and running it.”

Simon also said he was excited to have Lenane take leadership as Chair of the Council and believes that he is a perfect fit to lead the Staff Council toward the goal of employee satisfaction.

By Spencer Pauley, Copy Editor 

With the Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs’ help, students will now receive coupons they can use at Dan’s Deli in the near future.

WCSA members discussed this issue at the last two meetings, held Sept.18 and Sept. 25, to determine whether or not to pass a bill that would allocate $1,500 toward Dan’s Deli coupons.

The coupons will take three dollars off of a purchase. In the end, the bill passed and WCSA will fund two out of the three dollars for every coupon. The bill was introduced by Public Safety (PS) in an effort to increase the safety among students late at nights and to prevent causing disturbance within the Delaware community on weekends.

Because Dan’s Deli is a prime spot for students on weekend nights, PS chose the food truck for a collaborative business. PS Director Robert Wood spoke to WCSA members about the bill at the full senate meeting.

“The idea is to try and keep students on our property where we think they’re safer,” Wood said. “We’ve had one fatality and one very serious injury that have occurred … on late nights off our property.”

There have been several issues specifically with Spring Street. Wood said students will cause more trouble there than anywhere else in Delaware on the weekends.

“We’ve had a lot of issues with students walking up and down Spring Street with trash and arrests [have also occurred] because they’re upsetting the neighbors,” Wood said.

A bill that would allocate $175 towards a punching bag in the Welch gym was pushed to be discussed in the WCSA meeting next week.

Junior Armando Polizzi and sophomore Maxwell Aaronson, who proposed this resolution, told WCSA members what the bag would do.

“The bag would attract more students to go and workout and stay active,” Polizzi said. One of the questions brought up about the bill were whether the bag would be used by students. A decision on this bill is yet to be determined.

By Reilly Wright, Photo Editor 

The dirt covered construction site on Ohio Wesleyan’s Rowland Avenue has since been replaced by blanketed green grass, indie music and happy painters.

Junior Alix Templeman hosted Tree House’s first house project of the year on Friday, Sept. 22, in the front yard of the newly constructed Small Living Unit. Her event invited community members to paint on two environmentally-themed canvases and purchase baked goods.

“The money that I get from [the food] will go toward purchasing a terracycle box that will be able to recycle everything,” Templeman said. “Delaware can only recycle plastic ones and twos. With the terracycle box, you can recycle literally all the plastics.”

The two canvases began blank, sporting tape spelling “The Earth does not belong to us” and “We belong to the Earth.”

Within the first 30 minutes of the two-hour event, the pieces were dutifully colored by SLU members and passersby. Tree House members are required to complete one house project a year with the only stipulation of it to relate in some way to the mission of the house.

“This [event] relates to the house mission because we’re spreading the message of loving the earth,” said junior Eva Blockstein, the moderator of Tree House. “It’s all about engaging the house with the outside community and making sure that people know tree house has a presence on campus.”

Blockstein said future house projects such as building garden boxes and a wind chime workshop of recycled materials are coming soon.

“House projects show the community who we are,” Templeman said. “I think, depending on what you do, sometimes it really does benefit the community and get the word out about environmentalism.”

Templeman said she plans to have the finished canvases hung inside the house to show the power of people getting creative together.

“I think [Templeman]’s kind of a pro now because she’s an older member and she’s lived in the house longer than a lot of the new members,” Blockstein said. “So this is a really good way to show the new members how great a house project can be.”

By Reilly Wright, Photo Editor

Ohio Wesleyan University’s newest psychology faculty addition can either be found in Phillips Hall or Meek Aquatic Center.

The new assistant professor of psychology and avid swimmer, Chris Modica, joined the OWU community in August.

Previously an assistant professor at Wright State University’s School of Professional Psychology for three years, Modica was chosen for OWU after a nationwide search for a clinical or counseling psychologist.

“Though we brought in three very strong candidates, Modica ended up rising above the rest and received the job offer,” said Kyle Smith, associate professor of psychology. “We’re very fortunate that he decided to accept it.”

Smith also said Modica’s pre-OWU experiences are different from what most of the faculty have had. His fresh perspective on the faculty’s old questions made Modica a strong candidate.

Professionally, Modica specializes in areas such as psychotherapy and counseling, but he has a primary interest in sociocultural variables within eating disorders and body image.

“I was really kind of undecided for much of my college time … my senior year I took a class in abnormal psychology—which I teach now—and psychotherapy theories … and I thought that was the coolest thing in the world,” Modica said.

Modica has taught students since he began earning his Ph.D. in counseling psychology from Ball State University in 2008. Currently a licensed psychologist in Ohio and Indiana, he has experience in private practice and clinical work since 2012 with therapy and assessments.

“I think [psychology] is a good fit for my personality,” Modica said. “I don’t think I knew that at the time, but I tend to be much more gentle and I tend to be a deep thinker … But it’s a good fit for that.”

Since his move to campus, Modica expresses his enjoyment with students’ engagement and how familiar the community is with one another. He encourages any student interested in psychology to reach out and ask deep questions.

“Modica is very approachable, so I’d encourage people to come to Phillips and meet him,” Smith said. “You also might bump into him at Meek where he puts in some laps just about every day.”