Board of Trustees met for the first time for the 2017-2018 school year on Friday. The meeting covered goals for this year and subsequent school years as well as recent accomplishments by the Board and partners of the Board.

The Board approved a three percent salary increase for President Mary Ellen Mazey as well as adjustments to her deferred compensation. This increase will raise her salary to $424,000 annually.

One of the topics the Board will be addressing is the degree attainment rate. The University’s level of degree attainment, which is currently at 43 percent, is 22 percent below the goal that Governor Kasich has set for the state to achieve in the next eight years. This goal is to make sure Ohio has a ready workforce since it is expected that two-thirds of Ohio jobs will require post-secondary education. The University hopes to put itself in a better position to achieve this goal by working together with other colleges in the region and creating better pathways between community colleges and the University.

The Board also heard motions from the Academic and Student Affairs Committee on items such as the new winter session, a new School of the Built Environment and the presentation of honorary degrees to Allen Schmidthorst and Raymond Marvin.

The Financial Affairs/Facilities Committee brought up the upcoming renovation of Hanna Hall into the Robert W. and Patricia A. Maurer Center as a new location for the College of Business.

Representatives from groups such as the Administrative Staff Council, the Classified Staff Council, the Faculty Senate as well as a graduate student representative and an undergraduate student representative spoke about the recent progress of each of their organizations. Respectively, the groups spoke about collaboration between faculty mentors and first-year undecided students, expressions of appreciation for the help staff members offer students, movements to make textbooks more affordable as a means of increasing the retention rate, student-level support for the strengthening of Title IX and DACA policies on campus and further collaboration between student government and groups such as the Black, Latino, and Queer/Trans Student Unions.

President Mary Ellen Mazey reminded everyone of the items the Board of Trustees hopes to make progress.

1. Create new academic programs to respond to workforce needs such as cyber security and social media.
2. Increase number of internships, study abroad, research experiences and community projects with students.
3. Improve the integration of technology in classrooms for both students and faculty.
4. Continue to increase the retention rate.
5. Increase external funding from multiple sources including partnerships in the private sector and with nonprofits.
6. Expand the number of partnerships such as that with between Wood County Hospital and the athletic teams at the University.
7. Emphasize entrepreneurial work, research and service such as that done by The Hatch and The Collab Lab.
8. Increase level of our regional and international reach and engagement.
9. Promote and ensure the educational benefits of diversity, tolerance and openness.
10. Expand health and wellness options and programs for faculty, staff, alumni and students.
11. Continue to implement the Master Plan and ensure the success of the Board’s campaigns.
12. Increase student body headcount to 25,000 students through more professional masters degrees and more online programming.