OHIO UNIVERSITY TRUSTEES ESTABLISH GEORGE V. VOINOVICH CENTER FOR LEADERSHIP AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS

12/11/98

Editors: A photo of Gov. George Voinovich with Ohio first lady Janet Voinovich and Ohio University President Robert Glidden is available on the World Wide Web at www.ohiou.edu/news/pix/voinovich1.jpg. The image is suitable for newspaper reproduction, and a photo caption appears at the end of this release.

 ATHENS, Ohio -- The Ohio University Board of Trustees voted 7-0 Friday to establish the George V. Voinovich Center for Leadership and Public Affairs to promote leadership training, public policy research and outreach programs. Trustees Patricia Ackerman and Paul Leonard were absent.

Voinovich, Ohio's outgoing governor and a U.S. senator-elect, attended the portion of Friday's meeting at which the trustees voted to establish the center. Ohio University also will house for the Ohio Historical Society the personal and professional papers of Voinovich's career. Voinovich earned a bachelor of arts degree in government from Ohio University in 1958 and an honorary doctor of law degree in 1981.

"My direction and concentration of what I really wanted to be came here, at Ohio University," Voinovich told trustees. "The education I received here, and the extracurriculars that I was involved with, helped me decide on this campus that I wanted to be governor of Ohio. I am so thrilled that this center is being named in my honor, and I really believe that the goal of the center is more important today than ever before."

The Voinovich Center will encompass both new and existing services of the university, including the new Executive Leadership Institute. The institute will provide education and training to leaders of state agencies and organizations. Outreach programs offering technical assistance, training, information and technology services to public officials across the state also will be available through the Voinovich Center. Several functions of the new center already are being carried out by the university's Institute for Local Government Administration and Rural Development and Center for Public and Environmental Affairs.

Two buildings on The Ridges on the Athens campus eventually will house the center. A capital improvements bill approved Friday by the Ohio Senate and awaiting the governor's approval includes a $5 million appropriation to renovate the buildings. Operating funds will come from a combination of university and state resources, grants and contracts.

In a presentation to the trustees earlier in the day, local attorney and former trustee Thomas Hodson reported on his efforts to form a university-community partnership working to enhance neighborhoods near the Athens campus. Hodson was appointed by university President Robert Glidden to forge the partnership of governmental units and the private sector to upgrade city neighborhoods and improve living conditions for students, faculty and other residents.

Since his last report to trustees in October, Hodson has identified the need for quality new and rehabilitated multifamily housing units close to campus, primarily for students; more diversified housing in adjacent neighborhoods; more owner-occupied housing in the city; additional single-family housing for low- to moderate-income residents; and more housing for single-parent families.

Letters have been sent to about 35 community and university representatives seeking their participation in the partnership.

Also during their two-day meeting that concluded Friday, the trustees:

• Adopted a unified alternative retirement plan to be used by all public state institutions as requested by Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery. The new plan does not change the university's current alternative retirement plan, but includes differences in wording.
• Accepted seven-year reviews of the Lancaster campus' Electronics Technology Program, the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, and the College of Health and Human Services.
• Established the Institute for Corrosion and Multiphase Technology to serve as an umbrella entity for the Corrosion in Multiphase Systems Research Center and related programs.
• Accepted an audit report of university finances for 1997-98 from KPMG Peat Marwick LLP.
• Authorized the hiring of consultants to develop plans for $3.96 in basic renovations to the Athens campus and $768,285 for the regional campuses. The funds were included in the capital appropriations bill, which covers July 1, 1998, through June 30, 2000, and includes about $38.3 million for Ohio University projects. In the last biennium, the university received about $28 million.
• Heard a report from Vice President for University Relations Adrie Nab on the university's efforts to increase visibility in Ohio, particularly in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati.
• And heard a report from Robert Zemsky, director of the University of Pennsylvania's Institute for Research in Higher Education, on positioning the university in the higher education market.

PHOTO CAPTION: Gov. George Voinovich accepts a copy of a resolution establishing the George V. Voinovich Center for Leadership and Public Affairs at Ohio University from university President Robert Glidden as Voinovich's wife, Janet, looks on. The Ohio University Board of Trustees voted unanimously Friday to establish the center.