1. Sarah Blouch, Director of Transportation and Parking Services, reviewed the Campus Parking Plan. She noted that there was a decrease in the planned increases in parking fees.
                    98-99 projected for 2002-3

A stickers:
Central         288                 474
West             72                 120

B stickers:
Central         150                 249
Garage         267                 438
West             39                 62
 

She noted that because of stadium construction and other projects, parking will get worse before it gets better. There has been a large increase in ridership on the busses -- almost a doubling..
 

When asked about driving habits of bus drivers, she noted that the number of drivers had gone from 16 to 39, and that more monitoring is needed. She suggested that if anyone experiences speeding or other bad behavior on a bus, send an email to her at blouch.2@osu.edu

2. Vice Provost Nancy Rudd and Professor Emeritus Robert Warmbrod reviewed what is happening with the Commission on Faculty Development and Careers.

A survey was done of faculty at Ohio State. Most faculty are satisfied. Most faculty think that they continue intellectual growth during their careers. Issues identified as barriers include limited funds for professional travel and limited assistance for seeking research grants.
 

One of the key issues identified by the Commission was why many faculty did not take advantage of Special Research Assignments (SRAs) and Faculty Leaves ("sabbaticals"). SRAs can be taken for periods of up to one quarter at full pay, subject to limitations on the total number in a college. Faculty Leaves can be taken every eighth year (1 quarter at full pay, two quarters at 75% pay, and three quarters at 67% pay.) Two thirds of faculty have never taken an SRA and a similar portion have never taken a Faculty Leave. Only 4% of the faculty who had never taken an SRA had applied for one.

The Commission will send a report to the Provost by the end of Winter Quarter.

II. University Senate

1. President Kirwan discussed the reorganization of the Office of Academic Affairs. In addition to Ed Ray's new title of Executive Vice President and Provost, various other positions had changes in titles and duties. For instance, Nancy M. Rudd's title is now Vice Provost for Academic Policy and Human Resources. {For those new to the College of Human Ecology, Nancy M. Rudd is a faculty member in the Family Resource Management area of the CTS department, although she has spent the past 6 years in the Provost's office. Nancy A. Rudd is a faculty member in the Textiles and Clothing area of the CTS department. Mnemonic device: M=Management, A=Apparel.}

Both Kirwan and Ed Ray stated that the plan is that the reorganization would not require any significant extra cost to the university.

Kirwan mentioned that the university will be sending to university staff some information on an alternative retirement system that employees with fewer than 5 years could choose instead of PERS or STRS, even though the Governor has not yet signed a bill authorizing this new system. There will also be information in On Campus. (Note from SH: this new alternative system may make the most sense for those who will spend less than 15 years in the Ohio system, or more than 25 years and are willing to choose aggressive funds. Otherwise, the traditional system is probably better, and much easier.)

2. Report of the Library Committee
In addition to stating the need for massive repairs of the main library, the report mentioned the rapid movement of the library into electronic journals, etc. For instance, 1100 journals published by Elsevier and the Acadmic press are available in full online to OSU users.

The Libraries received an Academic Enrichment Grant to implement electronic course reserves. Because of copyright concerns, the library may implement a system whereby students enrolled in a course would have to input a special password to access copyright materials.