University System spurred initiative

READ a draft of the proposal.

The Regional Campus Think Tank is working toward expanding the number of baccalaureate degree offerings at regional campuses by refining the approval process.

This initiative was spurred in part by University System of Ohio nudges to increase the number of graduates with bachelor’s degrees, university officials said.

“When I go out there and talk to students at our various campuses, the thing that they ask me all the time is, ‘When will we start to have this degree on this campus?'” President Lester Lefton said. “They’re hungry for more degrees and for growth of their campuses.”

The question now is how best to facilitate that growth.

The Regional Campus Think Tank first met in July to discuss ways to “improve the functioning of the Regional Campuses and the Kent Campus,” according to an Oct. 17 draft of their proposal.

“The provost (Robert Frank), with a team of faculty and administrators, has come up with a conversation piece, a think tank proposal,” Lefton said. “It’s not the only way. I’m not intellectually committed to the provost’s proposal, although I think it’s a good proposal.”

The think tank has scheduled town hall meetings to discuss ideas from the proposal.

It includes recommendations to give regional campuses more autonomy in the areas of faculty promotion and the approval of new four-year degrees.

Currently, any faculty or curriculum changes move through committees that include members of the Kent campus.

The proposal outlines a new path for promotion and tenure of regional campus faculty which would:

&bull Begin with a review by a committee of colleagues from the candidate’s own campus.

&bull Then, a review by the representatives from all regional campuses.

&bull Finally, a review by the dean of the candidate’s own campus before going back to following the current model – through the provost, the president and the Board of Trustees.

Under the proposal, baccalaureate degrees would reach approval through a streamlined process.

“The goal is to have a more efficient mechanism so that we can move more quickly to the delivery of programs and services to the community,” said Gregory Andrews, dean of the Tuscarawas campus and interim executive dean of the regional campuses. He is a member of the Regional Campus Think Tank.

“Certainly one way to go about that is to create an environment where the campuses have more autonomy to respond,” he said.

For example, under the think tank proposal, a new degree in the history department of a regional campus would not necessarily require members of the Kent campus history department to agree before it continues in the normal approval process.

The proposal also includes measures to encourage the Faculty Senate to “use a thoughtful and judicious approach, minimizing the number of approval processes required.”

“It’s not like they’ll be running their own university,” Lefton said. “The provost feels, and I agree, that the regional campuses make good decisions. They have good faculty who do a great job with the students, and I trust faculty to make good decisions.”

But Lefton said he anticipates disagreement about the proposal among faculty of both regional campuses and the Kent campus.

Kristen Figg, associate dean of Kent State-Salem, said two points of view have emerged.

On one side, faculty are glad to have more control over their own promotions and degree offerings. On the other, faculty are unwilling to distance themselves from the prestige of Kent State.

“I don’t disagree with either position, really,” Figg said. “I can see that they both have validity. My sense of it is that’s the most controversial issue.”

Contact administration reporter Ben Wolford at [email protected].