More than 40 students had a broad range of questions for Provost Kathy Krendl at yesterday's Pizza with the Provost event, a forum organized by Student Senate.
Some students wanted the provost to clarify points she made in her 10-minute overview of Vision Ohio, a comprehensive plan for the future of OU, at the beginning of the program. Krendl repeatedly emphasized the accountability that the document will require from all OU departments in measuring achievement.
All of this suggests that we will be living in an environment much more characterized by goal-setting
Krendl said. One of the guiding principles of the documents is accountability.
Because the budgeting process outlined in Vision Ohio demands measurable results from all OU departments, junior anthropology major Bryan Rupert expressed concern that the arts, humanities and social sciences will not be able to produce the lucrative research partnerships that define success in other fields.
The word on the grapevine is the way these things are going to be evaluated is financially Rupert said.
Departments will be able to outline their own metrics for which they will be accountable, Krendl said, adding that she was aware of the concern but puzzled by it. The individual discipline will have to identify how they assess the quality of their various disciplines she said. The question is
'What is the highest level of performance within a given discipline?'
Money is only one of many criteria
she said.
Students expressed interest in increasing the number of interdisciplinary projects, like a recently approved Integrated Learning and Research Facility, and Krendl said they are a significant part of Vision Ohio.
If you look at the graduate and research priorities in Vision Ohio
all of them are collaborative
she said.
Krendl also described changes to the university's recruitment practices proposed by Vision Ohio. Each academic department will have an enrollment target, and faculty members will place calls to prospective students according to their intended majors, she said.
Student Senate planned to host between 40 and 50 students and met that projection, said Patrick Heery, senate academic affairs commissioner. He said he wants to make Pizza With the Provost a regularly scheduled event.
I would like to have this happen every quarter and provide a direct link between the provost and students
he said.
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