2/7/98

ATHENS, Ohio -- Ohio University Trustees Saturday approved the creation of the Center for the Study and Development of Literacy and Language, which will be housed in the College of Education.

The new center will initiate, support and coordinate studies of literacy and language and provide services designed to improve the quality of educational opportunities for children, adults, families, professional teachers, and faculty. The center will be self-sustaining through external funding from grants, contracts and fees, and will be part of the college's Department of Teacher Education.

Trustees also approved a resolution to establish the Department of Geriatric Medicine/Gerontology within the College of Osteopathic Medicine, currently a section within the Department of Family Medicine. Giving the section department status is a recognition of the medical school's commitment to providing better health care and medical training for patients, students and faculty, said Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee, dean of the college. "Society as a whole is dictating the direction of medical care and medical education," she said. "We are in a position to respond to the needs of our society, including the growing number of elderly people in our population."In addition to the teaching objectives in the new department, faculty also will engage in geriatric research designed to improve the lives of the elderly and their families. This focus will put the college in a better position to receive research and education funding from a variety of sources, Ross-Lee added.

The board also heard that faculty and administrators in the African American Studies Program are working on a plan to strengthen the program's curriculum and attract more students, according to a report by Leslie Flemming, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Flemming hopes to have a formal strategy in place by the end of Spring Quarter for the program, which was founded in 1972. "I want to make clear that I am fully committed to maintaining and enhancing the African American Studies Program," she said. In other action, trustees:

* Heard a report from consultant Ira Fink on his firm's approach to long-term planning for renovations to university residence halls and apartments. Fink noted that in Ohio, only Ohio State University has a higher bed count (7,884) than Ohio University's 7,068. Fink said Ohio University is fortunate to have "very human scale" buildings. "I love the character of the low brick buildings, although I would like them to look tonier inside," Fink said. "I think your housing is very good and that it is one of your selling points as a residential campus." Fink will present options and recommendations to the trustees at their April meeting.

* Heard a report on the university's two-year-old Assessment Review program documenting quality and impact on students. "It is quite remarkable that in such a short time this has become such a strong program, a deeply rooted program, and a nationally recognized program," said Provost Sharon S. Brehm.

* Received an analysis of administrative costs which revealed that Ohio University has the second lowest administrative costs per student of the state's nine doctoral granting public universities.