The Word from CSEA
Columbus State Education Association Newsletter of March 12, 2009
SPRING SYMPOSIUM SEEKS FACULTY PROPOSALS
Organizers of a new academic event at the College are asking both full-time and adjunct faculty to submit proposals for the first Spring Symposium, a full-day event featuring presentations on recent scholarship, professional projects, and academic interests.
The Symposium will be held on Wednesday, May 20th, in the West Lounge of Nestor Hall.
The Symposium is scheduled on a regular class day in mid-week, when the greatest numbers of students, instructors, and staff members will be on campus, in the hope that the presentations will draw a large audience for this celebration of Columbus State's diverse and thriving intellectual life. The all-day event will be open to the public, and classes are welcome.
Columbus State faculty members from all divisions and departments are invited to send 200- to 250-word proposals on any topic to event co-coordinator Dr. Doug Gray by April 6. The Arts & Sciences Faculty Lecture Series Committee, which is sponsoring the Symposium, will select the presenters and announce the schedule for the day in May.
For more information, please contact event coordinators Susan Flatt (x5978), Dr. Mort Javadi (x5635), or Dr. Doug Gray (x5819).
PROVOST MISSING IN ACTION
The College’s chief academic officer, Provost Dr. Kay Adkins, has not been seen on campus since November. College records indicate she has not been present at any Cabinet or administrative meetings for nearly four months. The administration has offered no explanation for her absence, despite the fact that she is not on medical leave and continues to receive her salary in excess of $120,000. A conspiracy of silence surrounds Dr. Adkins’ status at Columbus State.
Deans and other academic administrators have been asked to assume many of her responsibilities, various functions that require action by the Provost have gone unfulfilled, and reports indicate that she is seeking administrative positions elsewhere in the country and has been a finalist for leadership positions at several other colleges. The Provost Search Committee is in the process of recommending candidates to replace the current Provost, but why is she still on the payroll if she’s not showing up for her job? At a time when many Americans have lost their jobs, the President's decision to continue to pay the Provost to "work" at home seems to be a colossal waste of taxpayer money, as well as an insult to the rest of the College's committed employees who serve students and the community by showing up for their jobs every day.
The Provost’s failure to fulfill the position’s duties has resulted in several embarrassing situations, conflicts between faculty and support staff, and lapses in completion of important College initiatives. It’s time for open communication: why is the Provost being paid to stay at home while much of her work is not being completed and additional responsibilities are being foisted off onto other administrators?
CSEA MEMBERS: NO EXTENSION OF PRESIDENT’S CONTRACT
At the Association’s membership meeting March 5, members voted overwhelmingly to convey to the Board of Trustees their opposition to an extension of the President’s contract beyond the end of this year.
When the Board issued the President’s last contract, she stated that it would be her last. That contract expires December 31, but sources within the administration say that the President is seeking to extend her contract into 2010. Although CSEA recognizes the President’s important contributions in expanding distance learning and developing the Delaware campus, the campus community has clearly expressed its desire for change in the College’s leadership and its direction as an institution of higher education.
Members expressed several reasons for wanting new leadership. The current top-down management style has marginalized employee input and compromised the AQIP accreditation process, as well as eroded morale among both staff and faculty. The hiring of the current Provost disregarded the concerns of faculty regarding her qualifications and commitment to Columbus State, and the Provost’s lack of active leadership has stalled numerous academic initiatives or forced her responsibilities onto administrators or, worse, paid consultants. When the Provost was hired just less than three years ago, faculty expressed concern at that time about the President's continued insistence that administrative search committees forward three names for each position, even when the committee felt that there were only two qualified candidates. This practice has too-often resulted in the hiring of the one, unqualified candidate (who is deemed to have no chance of outshining or outperforming the president) and the outcomes have been miserable.
The presidency of a college is neither an entitlement nor a dynasty. Every employee makes a contribution and eventually passes the work on to others. The College is ready for change.
OEA'S 2009 MINORITY LEADERSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM
The Ohio Education Association's Minority Leadership Training Program (MLTP) targets minority members who have an interest in Association activities and leadership roles.
The training fosters development of an understanding of organizational culture, an appreciation for cultural diversity & inclusiveness, & identification & demonstration of skills required for effective leadership in a multicultural setting. The training also explores the importance of minority involvement at all levels of the Association.
There is no cost for this training and it includes dinner, breakfast, and lunch (and hotel accommodations for Friday night if participants do not live near the training location). The registration is on a first-come, first-served basis. Training will commence on Friday evening, May 22 and conclude late Saturday afternoon, May 23. The event for Region 1 (CSEA's region) will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 33 E. Nationwide Blvd., Columbus. Registration deadline is April 21, 2009.
Each session is limited to 20 participants. The registration form for this event is available on the OEA website, www.ohea.org. Interested faculty are encouraged to attend.
OHIO BOARD OF REGENTS ISSUES REPORT ON TRANSFER OUTCOMES
With the new formula being implemented to compute the state subsidy that each Ohio public college will receive, the current College administration is finally being forced to realistically address the issue of "student success."
After over 12 years of defining success as “increased enrollment,” the President must now adhere more closely to the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR) expectations of not just larger enrollments, but also of more students actually completing courses, passing courses, completing their 2-year degrees, and successfully transferring to 4-year colleges and universities. This is good news for faculty, who have long desired to see as much attention paid to student success as has been paid to student access. We are pleased that, with the development of a new state funding formula over the last 2 years, the administration is being forced to comply or else lose state subsidy dollars.
Regarding the measure of successful transfer mentioned above, the OBR has issued a report titled "Transfer Outcomes for Undergraduate Students Attending Ohio's Public and Private Colleges and Universities (January 2009)." Perhaps the most important measure of the successful transfer of students from 2-year colleges to 4-year colleges is how prepared those students are for their junior- and senior-level coursework.
The OBR report looks at students at 4-year institutions who are considered "juniors" and compares the GPA of those juniors who earned no credits at a 2-year college versus those juniors who earned more than 45 credits at a 2-year college. Statewide, the difference in GPA between these two types of juniors range from a "favorable" difference of 0.2 in GPA to an "unfavorable" difference of 0.3 in GPA. For example, juniors at Cleveland State University who had not taken any credits at a 2-year college had a GPA of 3.0, while those who had taken more than 45 credits from a 2-year college (e.g., Cuyahoga Community College) had a GPA of 3.1, a favorable difference of 0.1 in the GPA.
With the vast majority of Columbus State's students who transfer choosing Ohio State, the report shows this group of students (Ohio State's) as having the largest unfavorable difference in GPA of 0.3, from a 3.1 GPA to a 2.8 GPA. Obviously, students from other 2-year colleges also transfer to Ohio State and are included in these numbers, but Columbus State is overwhelmingly the largest feeder institution to Ohio State. Columbus State will need to show improvement not only in this measure of student success, but the other measures of success as well.
All of this is primarily a warning to faculty: with “student success” now being tied to the money that the College receives from the state, faculty will need to guard against being pressured to improve student success in artificial ways such as inflating grades, making unreasonable accommodations (e.g., allowing make-up exams for any reason whatsoever), and bowing to pressure to “improve student performance.”
Study after study has indicated the same thing: the best way to improve student success is to have the majority of instruction done by full-time faculty whose primary focus is to help students achieve their academic and career goals. Faculty must be vigilant in not lowering our academic standards in order to inflate the success numbers to make the College President and administration look good.
GOLF SEASON READY TO BEGIN AT BRIDGEVIEW
Columbus State’s Bridgeview Golf Course is preparing for another golfing season, and is offering employees who bring their Columbus State I.D. a discounted rate of 9 holes for $9 through the golfing season. Also, golf leagues are currently forming and anyone interested in forming a faculty or employee team should coordinate this with Brent Ernsberger at the golf course at (614) 471-1565.
The course is available for small and large group events, and any faculty member who is interested in coordinating a faculty golf outing is encouraged to do this with Mary Ashley, Program Coordinator for Auxiliary Services Marketing, at x2458. Faculty participating in wellness initiatives through the college can also keep track of their “wellness points” when golfing and include these in their total points.
For more information about golfing at Columbus State /Bridgeview, visit their website athttp://www.cscc.edu/Bridgeview.
The Word is produced by the Communications Committee of the Columbus State Education Association. We welcome your comments, news, and insights.
Darrell Minor, President/ x5310
Amy Brubaker, Vice-President / x5068
Judy Anderson, Secretary / x5453
Phil MacLean, Treasurer / x5308
Kevin James, Parliamentarian-elect / x5008
Steve Abbott, Senior Association Representative / x5096
Gil Feiertag, Senior Association Representative / x5861
Beth Barnett, Association Representative / x2593
Liz Betzel, Association Representative / x5329
Dave Busch, Association Representative / x5079
Dr. Bill Cook, Association Representative / x5364
T.J. Duda, Association Representative / x5309
Cindy Evans, Association Representative / x2435
Dr. Charlie Gallucci, Association Representative / x5499
Dr. Mort Javadi, Association Representative / x5635
Dr. Sue Longenbaker, Association Representative / x2430
Jackie Miller, Association Representative / x2601
Mark Mitchell, Association Representative / x3612
Eric Nuebauer, Association Representative / x5698
Keith Sanders, Association Representative / x2588
Gilberto Serrano, Association Representative / x3863
Leslie Smith, Association Representative / x5302