Ohio University hosted its second public update session Monday in Baker University Center to give more information to students, faculty and staff about what is going on at the university’s vice president level.
OU President Lori Stewart Gonzalez began the session by briefly updating everyone on the success of survey responses for her initiative Dynamic Strategy The strategy’s purpose is for anyone to share their ideas and goals for the university to work toward on a five-year plan.
She then introduced Lyn Redington, vice president of student affairs, as the first presenter.
Redington began her presentation by highlighting certain aspects of the Division of Student Affairs, which includes the division’s $130 million budget; the budget is delegated mostly toward Culinary Services and Housing and Residence Life.
The four areas of focus with the Division of Student Affairs are Care and Well-Being, Inclusive Excellence, Engagement and Leadership and People and Partnerships. Redington said these areas then translate into how the division influences the rest of the university.
“We're very focused on ensuring that what (students are) doing in their jobs is going to be connected to what they're learning in the classroom to what they want to do when they graduate,” Redington said.
The second presenter was Candace Boeninger, vice president for enrollment management, to discuss enrollment management for the 2024 academic year.
“A lot of you might associate us with a record freshman class,” Boeninger said. “Happy to have that association, but we also have a lot of other things that are happening in the division and work that we work across the institution within the organization, with partners around the country and sometimes around the world.”
Several points Boeninger mentioned about enrollment management included collaborating with many partners. She said the department has 150 staff members located within six of OU’s campuses and across 10 states, including one staff member in India.
“We try to be everywhere that our students are, and that helps us serve our students better,” Boeninger said
Other news Boeninger presented included looking ahead into future priorities for 2024, which included the financial aid changes by the Free Application for Student Aid, or FAFSA, Simplification Actto provide affordable access to OU’s campuses.
“I think the most important things that you should know about our priorities is that we are really standing up resources in partnership with OIT and Communications and Marketing and others to weather this really disruptive change in the (financial aid) process,” Boeninger said.
Next to present was John Day, interim vice president for finance and administration, to discuss passed budgets and the university's budget projection for the 2024 academic year.
Day said the budget for the division is $49 million, which is about 10% of the university’s budget.
“My goal in the division is to do everything as effectively as possible, as efficiently as possible and minimize the impact on the budget for running everything in the university,” Day said.
Day also showed several graphs that visually represented the university’s current budget projection for next year.
“We built a budget that was a macro level positive $5.6 million, so it was a balanced budget that we took to the trustees in June,” Day said. “After you make the changes by saying, ‘Well, we did get a 3% tuition increase, and we did have more students,’ the result is a $7.9 million positive budget.”
Last to present at the update session was Stacey Bennett, general counsel, who discussed some of the responsibilities and issues the division represents.
The main areas in which Bennett touched on involved what students, faculty and staff can legally do through the Office of Legal Affairs. These areas included ethics, conflicts of interest and signature authority.
Bennett also encouraged everyone to reach out to the office as early as possible if they have any questions or concerns.
“We're here to help you achieve your academic, professional and personal goals in the job,” Bennett said. “Let us help you, and let us get involved early.”
Any university community members can submit additional questions to the presenters on the website, and the answers to these questions will be posted soon after the event ends.
