Greetings,

Welcome back to another outstanding year at Kent State! I hope that you took the opportunity to relax and recharge over the summer months. These first few weeks will undoubtedly be busy.

The summer months have been very productive at the university. Here are some of the activities and projects that have been occurring.

Tiger Team

The July 21 e-Inside touched on an exciting project currently underway to enhance academic support functions. Academic support functions are all the services which touch and interact with students as they navigate the university – for example, academic advising, registration, orientation, the bursar, first-year experience and career planning.

The Tiger Team, a full-time team of experienced members of the university community, representing a broad cross-section of academic support, has spent the summer collecting information across the university to uncover every aspect of how students are presently served. They are charged with determining the challenges and issues concerning each academic support function and developing a plan for supporting, enhancing, and revising current strategies by year’s end.

If you are contacted by the team during the fall semester, I encourage you to support this very important initiative. The work we do now to support our students will greatly enhance student experience and student retention at Kent State for years to come.

Graduate Studies News

It has been a busy and productive summer for Graduate Studies. During the Spring semester, the unit previously known as Research and Graduate Studies underwent a transition reflective of the maturation of both into stand-alone, self-sufficient units. The transition will allow for a more directed and independent response to both research and graduate studies initiatives. A continued collaboration and close working relationship will continue between the two units, as their relationship is intrinsically interdependent.

On another note, graduate students will no longer need to worry if they are contacting the correct office when applying for graduate school. Beginning at the end of the year, on-line application will list one central office as a point of contact, thus eliminating current confusion in the application process.

21^st Century Graduate Update

The 21^st Century Graduate Project, under the direction of Associate Provost Stephane Booth, is moving forward as planned.

At the Town Hall Meeting held at the end of the Spring semester, we received vital feedback on the 21^st Century Philosophy Statement. The feedback has resulted in a revised philosophy statement that incorporates the comments and feedback from the meeting. The new draft statements have been distributed for review to deans, chairs and directors and the EPC for input prior to the next Town Hall Meetings, to be held:

· Sept. 2 at 4 p.m. in KSC 204
· Sept. 5 at 11 a.m. in KSC 310

I invite and encourage you to attend one of these meetings. For more information on them, you can contact Stephanie Dowler at x28525.

The First-Year Experience committee has completed its discussions. They have resulted in a good deal of innovative ideas and plans that will be beneficial to student success. The Office of Student Success is taking the feedback it has received from the discussions and is implementing new First-Year Experience strategies that will be complete for the Fall 2009 Freshman Class.

Moving forward, the Liberal Education Requirement and Curriculum committees will be named in mid-September. Discussions on the last two Elements of Excellence will begin in mid-October, with committee reports due for open discussions in February.

Responsibility Center Management

As you will recall, the RCM model will provide for a decentralized approach to budgeting at the university and assign greater control over resource allocation decisions, in most cases, to deans. The decentralized nature of the model provides leaders with more control of financial resources and leads to a more informed decision making process for the university.

During the Spring semester, the Faculty Senate Budget Advisory Committee (FaSBAC) was convened to work in conjunction with the Academic Affairs RCM Committee on planning for the new university budget model. The budget model will be implemented on July 1, 2009.

You can find out more about the Responsibility Center Management budget planning process at http://www.kent.edu/Administration/business_finance/RCM/Index.cfm.

Interim Coverage for the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Curriculum

Associate Provost Gayle Ormiston’s departure to serve as senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at Marshall University this month has left many roles to be filled. A search is currently underway to fill the position of Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Curriculum. In the meantime, a core group of individuals will handle the duties of the position:

· Academic Personnel: Laura Davis, Associate Provost
· Curriculum: Therese Tillet, Director, Curriculum Services
· Grievances: David Ochman, Associate University Counsel
· Promotion and Tenure: Stephane Booth, Associate Provost

Please feel free to contact these individuals when you have a question or concern.

Upcoming Events

Mark your calendars for the following upcoming events:

21^st Century Graduate Town Hall Meetings on the 21st Century Graduate Philosophy Statement
· Sept. 2, 4 p.m.; KSC 204
· Sept. 5, 11 a.m.; KSC 310
Parent’s Day – Sept. 13
Faculty Club hosted by the College of Nursing
· Sept. 15, 4 – 6 p.m.; Crossings at Golden Pond
Doctoral Students’ Academic Commitment Ceremony
· Sept. 24, 4 p.m.; Cartwright Hall Auditorium
State of the University Address
· Sept. 25, 4 p.m.; Kiva

On August 22, we had the opportunity to welcome new freshmen to Kent State at the annual University Convocation. Seeing the excitement on their faces reminded me of how each academic year is a new start, with new opportunities for academic and personal discoveries and successes. In that spirit, I wish you the best on the start of the 2008-2009 academic year.

Sincerely,

Robert G. Frank
Senior Vice President for
Academic Affairs and Provost