After more than a decade of combining research and academic service, the George V. Voinovich Center for Leadership and Public Affairs was given school status.
The new school, which was officially re-named the George V. Voinovich School for Leadership and Public Affairs at Friday's Board of Trustees meeting, will continue the center's mission of applying research to problems within Athens.
It's a very good fit for where we want the university to go
said trustee Larry Schey.
The school will still focus on the current model of using students as interns for hands-on research rather than on class-based curriculum, but there are several curricular programs on the table, said Provost Kathy Krendl. Currently, only students enrolled in the Honors Tutorial College or those who have at least a 3.5 GPA are considered for internships.
Giving it school status will allow the center to gain more external research funding and help retain faculty members, as well as create closer ties between the university and the community.
Other universities have this sort of school Krendl said. It's important that OU be able to offer the same opportunities for applied research through the Voinovich school.
Though the school will not be offering any official classes for the time being, the experience students gain from the work done there is valuable enough to garner school-status, Krendl said.
This meets the internal academic mission as well as the research aspect of our university she said.
In addition to fostering leadership through its new school, Ohio University also is working toward creating a university-wide leadership program. The goal is to have a leadership minor in place by fall of 2008, according to Kent Smith, vice president of student affairs.
Part of the challenge is helping young people to be actively engaged and committed to leading for the public good
he said.
This summer, a consultant, Sarah Skipper, will be coming to OU to help develop a plan for the leadership center. Skipper has already established a similar program at Auburn University, where Smith worked before coming to OU in summer 2006.
Several universities, including Miami University, already have similar programs in place. OU already has several programs in place to foster leadership, but this would supplement their efforts instead of crippling them, Smith said.
This is not an effort in terms of student affairs going in and taking over everyone's programs
he said.
The leadership program would affect recruitment for the university as well by attracting more high-caliber students, Smith said, adding that the program should eventually pay for itself.
Obviously
we're being asked to do more with less. How do we find funding for this? I believe that this will pay for itself real long-term
Smith said.
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