Editor's Note: This is the third installment of a seven-part series examining the evaluations of Ohio University deans. Seven out of 10 were formally evaluated this year.
A faculty committee refused to draw any conclusion from surveys designed to evaluate the dean of Ohio University's Scripps College of Communication this year, citing too few responses from the college.
Greg Shepherd received 80 percent approval on his overall leadership from faculty, but only 18 percent of the college's faculty completed the survey. Last year, the dean received a 64 percent approval rating from 36 percent of the faculty. The provost and college staff gave Shepherd high marks for the second year in a row.
Shepherd said he supported the faculty committee's decision not to evaluate.
I'm sort of with the committee
he said. I don't know what to make of such a low response rate.
Although the Scripps committee was the only one that did not evaluate the dean, committees in other colleges also noted the low response rates and suggested faculty workload, the timing of the survey and a lack of reminders as possible factors for lower turnout across every college.
Executive Vice President and Provost Kathy Krendl still issued her evaluation of Shepherd, however, praising his work in facilities development, hiring and undergraduate enrollment. Shepherd had a goal of enrolling 2,500 undergraduates by fall 2010, and met that goal this year.
Our programs continue to be in strong demand he explained. We are right where we need to be.
Krendl also addressed the problem of falling research awards, something Shepherd attributes to the loss of a few key faculty. Faculty brought in just $172,046 in 2008, down from $325,991 in 2007.
Shepherd said he hopes to raise money in the next few years for named professorships, which offer funding to faculty for research, travel and graduate assistants. He said such positions will help recruit and retain faculty.
We have incredibly talented faculty that deserve that recognition Shepherd said.
Although it is difficult to draw any real conclusions from the faculty evaluations, there continued to be comments from journalism faculty who feel underappreciated and ignored. Others wrote that the dean does not understand all five schools. Shepherd received similar criticism last year.
Shepherd said he thinks it is a minority voice expressing those complaints.
I actually feel pretty good about my relationship with the faculty in the school
he said, adding he thinks being dean has increased his understanding of schools outside his home department of Communication Studies. I think it's one of the best things about being a dean - that you get to continually learn.
The dean's lowest score from faculty this year was in the category of shared governance, where he got a 65 percent approval rating. Shepherd's low score last year was a 60 percent approval rating in communication, a category he received 73 percent approval in this year. He was not evaluated on shared governance last year.
Shepherd said he visits each school and WOUB once a quarter for meetings with faculty. In an effort to improve communication, he also began holding a collegewide meeting in the fall and will have another this spring.
Scripps staff rated Shepherd well, giving him an excellent rating in job performance (4.3 out of 5) and a good rating in confidence level (3.5 out of 5). Staff had a 75 percent response rate.
One suggestion for Shepherd, however, was to improve communication with the administrative staff in his office. The dean said he is trying to do that through quarterly staff meetings, but said he thinks budget cuts have made it harder to work on things as a team.
People now are working more in isolation than they once did
he said, adding he has tried to take the majority of Scripps' budget cuts in his office.
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Emily Grannis
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Greg Shepherd
