Editor's note: This is the fifth in an eight-part series describing the evaluations of Ohio University deans. Seven of the 10 deans who head OU's colleges were formally evaluated this year and an eighth called for his own review.
The College of Arts and Sciences dean received the highest faculty approval rating of any dean this year, earning particular praise for his management and promotion of the college.
Ben Ogles, who was evaluated for the first time this year, received a 92 percent approval rating from faculty and a very positive evaluation from the provost. He served as interim dean from July 2005 until April 2006. Deans are not evaluated as interims or during their first year.
Ogles also received a 100 percent approval rating from college staff.
Ogles said he was eager to learn from the evaluations but was disappointed with the 34 percent response rate.
It means to me that I need to take what was there with a bit of a grain of salt because it's not everybody
it could've just been people I paid off or who are my friends Ogles joked, adding more seriously, You don't really know about the other folks how they really feel.
Ogles even put a little test in his self-evaluation to see if his faculty and staff read it. All deans do self-evaluations that are sent out to faculty in their college.
For those of you who enjoy Napoleon Dynamite
I worked on my nunchuck skills for hours
he wrote.
But the dean said there wasn't much response, even to that comment.
The number of people who caught the nunchuck thing? It was a very low number
he said, adding he took the first person to comment on it out to lunch.
Nonetheless, the college's faculty evaluation committee said the available data showed unusually strong support for the dean.
An overwhelming majority of faculty express their confidence in Dean Ogles as an extraordinarily strong leader
the committee wrote. Respondents repeatedly speak of him as being a good listener
open to others' arguments and honest and direct with his own.
Faculty evaluate deans each year through anonymous questionnaires. The data are compiled and sent to committees in each college that compile a report for the provost. The provost then issues a final evaluation in the spring.
Ogles scored lowest in communicating college news to faculty and staff. The faculty committee said this suggested he was best at face-to-face interactions. Ogles said he agrees with the comments but struggles because of the college's size. The College of Arts and Sciences has 20 departments, 342 tenure/tenure-track faculty and 4,897 students.
I would say that the feedback is accurate. We do need to do a better job of communicating
he said. Part of the problem is it's a large (college) and I have no communications person on my staff.
Ogles added that when he served on former Dean Leslie Flemming's evaluation committee, she received similar complaints about communication, but her scores did not improve after she started sending monthly e-mails.
Kathy Krendl, executive vice president and provost, praised Ogles for his efforts promoting the college within the university and throughout the state. The dean played a major role in organizing this year's Year of the Liberal Arts.
In your advocacy for the college
you are a dynamic spokesperson for the work that your faculty
students and staff do
